Tag Archives: swirl

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

Leave a comment
Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds
Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds

Clouds Rest, With Resting Clouds. Yosemite Valley, California. March 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter evening clouds swirl around the snow-covered ridge of Clouds Rest, Yosemite

This will be the final photograph in this recent series of winter Yosemite Valley photographs from our late-winter 2014 visit to the park. As I hope for when I go there at this time of year, there was interesting and variable light, clouds that ranged from scattered to socked-in, the usual assortment of meadows and trees and rocks. We had the better part of three days to explore.

On this evening we ended up at that most iconic of iconic landscapes in Yosemite, the Tunnel View overlook. I often either pass by Tunnel View, or perhaps stop and get out to look around a bit before heading on. Being lucky enough to live a reasonable drive from the park and to visit the Sierra often, I’ve become a bit more selective about when I’ll stop there and take out the camera. On this visit, as clouds came in, many of the other potential subjects in the Valley were under rather poor light, so I guessed that there was a chance that we might “get something” (or maybe not) from this higher overlook. The clouds were challenging. At times they obscured many interesting things, and most of the time the interesting light was blocked. However, for a few moments they cleared partially at the far end of the Valley and it was briefly possible to see the sunlit and snow-covered slopes of Clouds Rest and a few other points in the distance.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Coit Tower, Fog

3 Comments
Coit Tower, Fog
Coit Tower, Fog

Coit Tower, Fog. San Francisco, California. December 16. 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Swirling fog and mist engulf San Francisco’s Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill.

One more in this series of photographs of the San Francisco waterfront and downtown areas in brightly back-lit, early morning conditions in which the City was nearly obscured by drifting fog. All of the photographs in the series were made from a location near the north end of the Golden Gate Bridge, just a bit up the road into the Marin Headlands. Like several of the others, this one was shot with a 400mm focal length lens, pointing almost directly in the direction of the rising sun. For some of the exposures I had to stand a couple feet in front of the camera, at the maximum extension of my remote release cable, and carefully position my hand to shade the front element of the lens.

Here the fog has almost completely obscured Coit Tower at the top of Telegraph Hill. If you look very carefully to the left of Coit Tower you can barely make out the ghostly image of the top of one of the towers of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. It was my good fortune that a slightly less opaque section of the drifting fog momentarily framed the summit of Telegraph Hill.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
Flickr | Twitter | Facebook Fan Page | Facebook | Friendfeed | Email

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Fog-Shrouded Trees and Ridges, Yosemite Valley

Leave a comment
Fog-Shrouded Trees and Ridges, Yosemite Valley
Fog-Shrouded Trees and Ridges, Yosemite Valley

Fog-Shrouded Trees and Ridges, Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. October 30, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

As an autumn storm begins to clear, fog and mist swirls among trees and ridges along the rim of Yosemite Valley.

After a few days of gaudy fall color, I am returning briefly to non-gaudy fall black and white! This is another – and perhaps the last for a while – in the series of misty and cloudy photographs from my visit to Yosemite in late October as a fall storm was passing over the Valley. I was happy when I saw that my planned visit would coincide with a storm, since I love shooting the Valley in the fall in cloudy and wet conditions. As much as I enjoy the beautiful and wam late-summer days, I find the “bad” weather a lot more interesting photographically. The Valley did not disappoint during this visit – I had light rain, clouds ringing the valley, fog both on the Valley floor and among the ridges and trees along the rim, and even some cloud-filtered sunlight.

The subject of this photograph could be any of what seems like an infinite number of scenes of cliffs and ridges and trees along the upper walls of the Valley. The specific spot isn’t important, though it was just to the west of Glacier Point. At times the clouds almost completely obscured the cliff and trees, but as they moved across the face they would periodically clear enough to make bits of the scene momentarily visible. This was another of those situations in which the landscape was emphatically not static – instead it was in a constant state of flux, and it required close and constant attention to catch the photographable moments.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Winter Shadows on Tiles

1 Comment
Winter Shadows on Tiles

Winter Shadows on Tiles. San Jose, California. January 20, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shadow of a winter tree falls on a tile wall in San Jose, California.

I was originally thinking of photographing redwoods yesterday, but instead I decided to save some gas and again photograph within walking distance of my home. (I may try the redwoods today – it seems like time to do some landscape photography again.) As I walked , the winter shadows of trees that appear nearly everywhere in the low angle mid winter light caught my attention and became the subject of perhaps half of the photographs I made. This is a very simple photo – simply the shadows of a nearby tree falling obliquely across some stone wall tiles.

On a slightly technical note, I took along a new lens, the Canon EF 85mm f/1.8 prime. I’ll have more to write about this lens in the blog before long, but for now I’ll say it is performing a bit beyond my expectations.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: winter, season, shadow, tille, wall, grout, leaf, branch, tree, squares, pattern, geometric, swirl, rock, stone, yellow, red, abstract, nature, urban, street, willow glen, san jose, california, usa, stock