Tag Archives: tree

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree and Rock Face

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Tree and Rock Face
A tree next to an eroded and fractured rock face, John Muir Wilderness

Tree and Rock Face. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree next to an eroded and fractured rock face, John Muir Wilderness.

Here I am back, once again, to that trip into the John Muir Wilderness from which so many recent posts have come. Believe it or not, there still may be a few to come! With a full week to photograph there, I had ample opportunities to explore all sides of this area.

Above our camp the landscape opened up, becoming more rugged and alpine. This is a land of exposed rocks, glacially smoothed and ground down, with rocks and slabs interspersed with meadows. As I followed a creek up into this drainage, often skirting along the edge of wet, meadowy areas, I saw some interesting rock patterns a bit higher up at the base of a nearby ridge, so I climbed up to photograph the rocks and the small trees and wildflowers growing there.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Forest, and Mountains

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Meadow, Forest, and Mountains
Clouds in the sky above meadow, forest, and mountains, John Muir Wilderness

Meadow, Forest, and Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds in the sky above meadow, forest, and mountains, John Muir Wilderness.

This is another photograph that emerged from the raw file archives as I reviewed photographs from a weeklong backcountry photography expedition a couple of years ago — that year’s version of the annual trips I make with a group of like-minded photographers. As per the usual plan, we made our way to a beautiful backcountry location, set up a base camp, and went to work spending the next week photographing the area like mad.

A short walk above our camp the country opened up into the terrain that is among my favorite in the Sierra — forests of smaller trees, broken up by rock-dotted meadows, and expansive high-elevation views to surrounding ridges and peaks. I made this photograph on a morning visit to this spot, starting to photograph before dawn and continuing into the early morning after sunrise. For the most part, the sky was typical “perfect Sierra blue,” but I was fortunate when a few clouds began to form about the distant ridge.

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 and Amazon.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Snag, And Boulder

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Meadow, Snag, And Boulder
An old snag lies across a boulder at the edge of an alpine meadow, John Muir Wilderness

Meadow, Snag, And Boulder. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old snag lies across a boulder at the edge of an alpine meadow, John Muir Wilderness.

This view looks across a high meadow, past an old snag resting on a boulder, across a low ridge covered with wildflowers, and towards a more distant ridge on the other side of the main canyon. It is, in many ways, a classic Sierra Nevada view. It is also a view of my favorite Sierra Nevada terrain — that land just below timberline where the forest of small trees opens more and more to the light, with meadows and granite areas providing open views of the surrounding peaks.

We (a group of photographers and fiends) were camped above a nearby lake for a week, spending out days in a combination of intense photography and the backcountry camaraderie that develops among such people in such places. This spot was perhaps a 15-20 minute walk from our camp, and we visited it often. On this day several of us were up before dawn and headed this way, intending to photograph the first light on mountains, meadows, and 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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek

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Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek
The trunks and branchs of a group of closely spaced trees high in the Sierra Nevada backcountry

Tree Trunks, Tyndall Creek. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The trunks and branchs of a group of closely spaced trees high in the Sierra Nevada backcountry.

A simple photograph of some tree trunks, of a sort you could perhaps find in locations all over the higher portions of the Sierra Nevada, can evoke a surprising number of memories and associations. While I might walk past such a thing and not take much notice, I have often spent time in the company of such trees — pausing for lunch on the trail, living among them in a high country campsite.

Some of these memories are general, which is not a surprise given that such trees are everywhere. In that light, I’ve often contemplated how such trees seem to occupy a middle ground between the relatively short lives of creatures like ourselves and the “deep time” of rocks. The trees live hundreds of years, and as they adapt to their rooted locations they can sometimes seem to have more in common with the rocks than with us. Other associations are quite specific — and this photograph takes me back to a specific location along the JMT, a place I’ve camped a number of times, and to the people I was traveling with and those we encountered on a couple of specific days.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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