Tag Archives: tioga

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

Fog at Forest’s Edge

Image July 6, 2025 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fog at Forest Edge — “Fog at Forest’s Edge” — Morning fog drifts among forest trees after rain, Yosemite National Park.

There is enough of a story behind this photograph that I will eventually post an article about it in my “A Photograph Exposed” series. It involved an afternoon and evening of heavy rain, a subsequent morning of fog and mist, moisture-enhanced colors, and a subject that I have almost intentionally chosen not to photograph much at all for decades. It is, obviously, a scene where a forest meets a wet meadow, photographed on a morning when fog drifted from that meadow and through the trees.

I was up early — likely around 4:00AM — since I suspected that there might be fog and mist on this morning after heavy rain. As I drove over a pass to get here there were piles of hail everywhere from the previous evening’s storm. Soon I came to a familiar small lake — the one that I almost never photograph — and I saw fog rising from the lake and drifting into the trees.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

Join the discussion — you are welcome to leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

(All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.)

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Ridgeline Trees, Incoming Storm

Image September 24, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A late-summer storm sweeps over high mountain terrain, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

My favorite time of year in the Sierra Nevada high country is right now — roughly between mid-September and mid-October or a bit later. I love the place all year, wonderful stuff happens during this season. The overbearing crowds of summer are mostly gone — and I can just show up and get a campsite! The sun is often still warm, but its intensity has diminished. The light trends toward warm and soft and golden. Fall colors arrive and, of course, we sense winter out there on the seasonal horizon. These last easy, warm days seem even more precious as they come to an end yet again.

On the other hand, this transitional period brings surprises including cold, rain, graupel, hail, wind, snow… all of which I experienced on a few recent late-September days. I made this photograph from my camp at 9000’+ of elevation just outside Yosemite’s eastern border. Shortly after I set up my tent the sky darkened and soon rain, hail, and graupel arrived. The trees on this rocky prominence we in the last bit of soft light before the storm arrived and I took cover.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Baby Forest

Image August 12, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Lodgepole pines growing at the edge of the meadow at Tioga Pass

While I often prefer to minimize the content of photographs when possible — some of my favorites qualify as minimalist images — I also have a weakness for trying to make photographs out of extremely dense subjects. (If you know a bit about “minimalism,” you may recognize that filling space with details can also be a characteristic.) Sometimes the pure density and complexity of the scene is enough, though at other times the challenge is in finding a viable composition among so much detail.

This little “baby forest” vignette is from high in the subalpine zone in the Yosemite Sierra, in the young forest near the edge of a meadow, a place where new trees can gain a foothold out of the literal shadows of the more established trees. Particularly in the early season — late spring and the start of summer — spots like this can be lush and full of new greenery and wildflowers.

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Evening Sky, Meadow and Mountains

Image July 31, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This is a view I’ve known for many decades, looking across Tuolumne Meadows toward peaks in the area of Mount Conness. Tuolumne was where I had my first experience with the “High Sierra” many years ago, when my Dad took us there for a camping trip — and an aborted attempt at backpacking. (I think he always wanted to backpack. I recall that he acquired various pieces of fascinating gear. But I also recall that, for whatever reason, several times he came close to heading out on the trail only to call it off at the last minute.)

The photograph comes from that wonderful early summer period when the meadows are still green and lush… but no longer so wet that they often are more lake than land. I’ve backpacked to, around, and over that distant ridge too many times to remember them all. That isn’t just a line of anonymous ridges and peaks to me — it brings back memories of many backcountry trips… including one memorable cross-country adventure across a portion of it!

COMMENT OR QUESTION? Scroll down to the comment form.

G Dan Mitchell Photography