Tag Archives: trees

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

Trees in Morning Sun

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Trees in Morning Sun
Silhouetted trees in brilliant morning sunlight along the shore of a Yosemite Wilderness lake.

Trees in Morning Sun. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Silhouetted trees in brilliant morning sunlight along the shore of a Yosemite Wilderness lake.

This is another photograph from the Sierra Nevada that seems place-specific only in the most general sense. You can find similar scenes of trees and boulders along the edge of countless lakes and ponds in the range. If you explore them in the early morning or late in the day you are bound to end up looking into this brilliant light and perhaps shielding your eyes in the shadows of one of the trees.

This particular scene is in the Yosemite backcountry at just such a lake — a moderate-sized body of water nestled among trees interspersed with the ubiquitous granite boulders left behind by glacial action. It can produce a complex and detailed scene, but one with a definite sense of order once you see it. Beyond the physical reality of such places, I always thing of the sensations that accompany a walk through this terrain — the careful steps over and around boulders, climbing over the fallen snags, the contrast between cool air and intense sunlight, and perhaps the sound of water along the shore.

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.

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

Boulder-Covered Ridge and Trees, Sunset

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Boulder-Covered Ridge and Trees, Sunset
Gentle sunset light on wilderness trees on a boulder-covered ridge, Yosemite National Park.

Boulder-Covered Ridge and Trees, Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Gentle sunset light on wilderness trees on a boulder-covered ridge, Yosemite National Park.

You have already seen these trees if you have been following along here in recent weeks. To quickly recap, on this evening in the Yosemite backcountry wilderness I went for a long looping walk out beyond the lake where we were camped. I climbed a ridge beyond the opposite shoreline, and followed its spine over a rounded granite dome before descending back to ward the lake on the other side. It was late in the season, and wildfire smoke hovered far to the west between my location and the setting sun. As the sun dropped toward the horizon its light came through the smoky sky and turned the landscape an intense red-orange color.

I stopped and quickly began to photograph, knowing that these lighting conditions would be very brief. When this happens the process of photography is anything but a slow and considered process. Instead my photography instincts kick in and I tend to work fairly quickly, hoping to get something before the ephemeral light is gone. Rather than perfecting a single “perfect” composition, I may try several different approaches in quick succession, working out the details by making photographs and adjusting. A photograph I shared recently focused on this same scene but it used a wider angle. Here I began to eliminate distractions from the larger landscape by tightening the composition.

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.

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Sunset, Wildfire Haze

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Sunset, Wildfire Haze
Trees in Yosemite wilderness sunset light made colorful by wildfire smoke.

Sunset, Wildfire Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees in Yosemite wilderness sunset light made colorful by wildfire smoke.

This is one more in the series of photographs I made during a few moments of intensely colorful light one late-season evening in the Yosemite backcountry. The physical location (high, with a clear line of sight to the western horizon) and the presence of wildfire smoke created intensely colorful light just as the sun set. It was one of those exhilarating photographic experiences when something quite unusual happens, but it is so transitory that one must act quickly and photograph almost without conscious thought. I was working quickly, relying on instinct, and trying to respond intuitively to the landscape and the changing light. (Having a lot of prior landscape photography under one’s belt helps a lot in situations like this!0

I suspect that the light in the photograph looks almost unreal. It seemed that way to me at the time, too! In this photograph the hazy quality of the atmosphere is more apparent — take a look between the darker trees and toward the more distant granite slope, where details are muted by this glowing haze.

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.

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

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees, Rocky Ridge, Sunset

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Trees, Rocky Ridge, Sunset
Wildfire smoke turns the sunset deep red on a rock and tree covered Yosemite wilderness ridge.

Trees, Rocky Ridge, Sunset. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Wildfire smoke turns the sunset deep red on a rock and tree covered Yosemite wilderness ridge.

Every so often the sky coughs up some light that is almost unbelievable, and I feel obligated to say that, yes, this really did happen… and perhaps offer an explanation. In this case the story is a combination of location Every so often the sky coughs up some unbelievable light, and I feel obligated to say that, yes, this really did happen… and perhaps offer an explanation. In this case the story is a combination of location and conditions. This granite dome-like ridge is located in the Yosemite backcountry overlooking a large canyon and with an unobstructed view to the western horizon. That distant horizon is across the Great Central Valley and marked by the Coast Range. Because the ridge is high the line to the sun right at sunset goes though a lot of atmosphere, which tends to soften and warm the light. On top of that, this was the season of widespread wildfire smoke, and that added to the bloody red color of the light on this ridge.

I had been out on an evening walk away from camp that took me up to a high point on the ridge behind this camera position. I made photographs up there and then started to walk along the backbone of the ridge that would take me back to camp. As I came around to this section that is open to the west, the color of the light was just about as intense as it gets. I dropped my camera bag, popped up my tripod, and made a few exposures during the last moments before the sun dropped below the horizon.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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