The summit ridge of Ragged Peak is reflected in the still morning surface of Lower Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.
On the final morning of my mid-August backpacking/photography trip to the Young Lakes area I awoke to some overcast to the east. Photographically speaking, this was a mostly good thing. As the morning light builds, it can otherwise become harsh, but when just the right thickness of clouds is overhead the light can be diffused a bit and the shadows are lit and the bright granite surface reflections are a bit subdued. In addition to having a bit of thin cloudiness overhead, there was virtually no wind, so the surface of the lake remained glass-like longer on this morning, and showed a clear reflection of Ragged Peak, the dominant feature on this end of the ridge that runs alongside these lakes.
The saddle to the left of Ragged Peak reminds me of a previous late-season to this lake. I thought I was the only person there – it must have been very late September or perhaps even the beginning of October – but in the morning someone showed up as I was sitting by the lake shore. It turned out that he was a “seasonal” – a back-country ranger during the summer months who did something else the rest of the year. We had a long conversation about a variety of things, including his musings about whether it was perhaps time to apply for a “real” job with the park service. Near the end of our conversation he mentioned that he had been over this saddle, so of course I had to try it. I won’t say much more about it, except to point out that it does not really have a trail and it ascends a very steep slope filled with very large boulders before topping the rough edge of an old moraine – in other words, it isn’t quite like taking the trail to Glen Aulin.
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.
Sunset light illuminates trees on a rocky peninsula, reflected in the surface of alpine Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.
This is one more and perhaps the last in the sequence of photographs made on a mid-September evening at Upper Young Lake. I mentioned in a previous post that I had walked up here from my campsite to photograph in the beautiful evening light, and after wandering about and making a few other photographs I finally decided to focus my efforts on this scene featuring tree-covered rocks at the end of a small, curving peninsula. I began shooting just as the “golden hour” time began, and continued until the light was quite dim… and I had to start heading back down what passes for a trail to my camp at a lower lake. This photograph was made at a point at which the light had really begun to warm up as the sun dropped toward the horizon, but before the very last (and very red) light.
A comment on why I have posted several photographs (four by now?) of more or less this same scene rather than selecting “the best” one… I’ve previously written about my reasons for posting daily photographs at the blog, which include practice and encouraging me to regularly take photographs all the way through at least an initial post-processing workflow. The latter gives me a better opportunity to get to know the different images, both as I work on them and I I consider them after posting. So, frankly, I don’t necessarily have a clear favorite at this point.
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.
The last sunset light strikes trees growing on a boulders at the end of a peninsula at Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.
After arriving at Upper Young Lake with the intention of photographing a small, lone shoreline tree… I promptly wandered off and photographed a number of other subjects instead. (I mentioned elsewhere that I ran into John Sexton and Anne Larsen also photographing here, and John pointed out correctly that the tree would end up shaded at the time of best light. Need to go back in August for that one…) First I did a bit of reconnoitering around the west side of the lake, wandering down to and beyond the outlet stream, and thinking about how to photograph this rocky prominence at the end of a small curving peninsula. Then I photographed a bit near the drop-off from the upper lake towards the middle lake. After that I walked back toward the outlet stream again, noted the predicted shadow on the tree, and decided to focus my attention on this peninsula/rocky/tree subject, which I stuck with until the light faded.
When I began photographing this subject the low angle evening sun was casting its warm light on the rocks, trees, water, and even parts of the distance rocky slopes. As the sun dropped various areas began to fall into shadow and the light became warmer and warmer. I made this photograph just before the very last direct light left these trees.
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.
Early evening light on a tree-covered rocky peninsula at Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.
I’ve visited these lakes almost annually for a number of years, since I first visited one autumn on a long day hike from the Tuolumne Meadows area. Many people visit the lower lake on day hikes, quite a few others backpack to the area and visit all three, and climbers on their way to Mount Conness also pass through the area. My plan was to stay several days so that I could do a lot of photography in the area. The upper lake provides a beautiful sub-alpine scene, surrounded by relatively level meadows with small hills interspersed with rocky rises and groves of trees. Because the area is open to the west there can be stunning evening light here… and that I precisely why I went to the lake on this evening.
I was camped at the lower lake, where I had photographed in the morning. After I finished up my morning photography I spent a good part of the late morning and early afternoon eating a post-shoot late breakfast, more or less hanging out, reading, doing a few camp chores, and finally having a very early dinner at about 3:00 – the plan is to eat the big meal of the day early, go off and do photography as the evening light approaches, and then return to camp after dark and have something to eat before climbing into the sleeping bag.
The route that I prefer to use to get to the upper lake is not really exactly a trail. Anticipating that I’d be returning from the upper lake via this route in near or actual darkness, as I climbed it I made sure to remember a series of landmarks that I could use to find my way back. At various junctures on the route – as I would do on any similar route – I stopped to look backwards and fix in my mind certain obvious route cues that I could follow on the way back: stay above the thicker trees, stay in the middle of the bench, cross the low rise while heading straight toward a certain distant ridge, begin the descent at the two groves of trees next to the lake, and so on. I was so focused on this that when I reached my final landmark at the upper lake I barely looked around – I arrived at the final grove and immediately turned right to walk the short distance to the lakeshore and look for compositions. At about this point I recalled that I also had planned to check out camping possibilities for a future visit, so I looked back up at the grove I had just left.
I saw a tent and two people and tripods – all of which I had completely overlooked at first, so fixated was I on my “route.” I walked back up to say “hi” when I noticed that one of the two photographers looked quite familiar. I approached and said, “You bear a striking resemblance to John Sexton” – which made a lot of sense in that he was John Sexton. (If you don’t know who he is… you should. Follow the link to his web site and perhaps do a bit of searching to find out more.) I have, of course, known of John’s wonderful photography for some time and I had most recently been to a lecture at the opening of a show of his work in Carmel earlier this summer. The other photographer was Anne Larsen.
The wilderness is always full of surprises, but meeting John and Anne in the Yosemite back-country was one of the most pleasant in recent memory. We spoke for a while until the light began to become more interesting, but at various times during the evening we again ran into one another and talked about this and that. The next morning I met them once again as we were heading back to the trail head. (I felt a bit guilty about my “tiny” 15 pound load of photography equipment – they were each carrying close to 30 pounds of film gear!)
The photograph is of a tree-covered rocky rise at the end of a narrow curving peninsula that forms a small lagoon near the outlet of the lake. My initial thought had been to photograph a small tree near the edge of the lake – one that I have photographed in the past – but John correctly pointed out that it would be in shadow at the time of best light, so I decided to focus on this subject instead.
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.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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