Tag Archives: trees

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

Slabs and Domes, Clearing Storm, Evening

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Tuolumne Meadows in evening light as afternoon storm clouds begin to clear

Slabs and Domes, Clearing Storm, Evening. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tuolumne Meadows in evening light as afternoon storm clouds begin to clear

This was an evening of dramatically evolving light, alternately brilliant and blah! Thunderstorm weather in the Sierra is such a tricky and transitory thing, and there are frequent swings from “meh” light to astonishing light. When the storm conditions are at their peak, the light can be very flat and “gray,” with little contrast — and it can be a challenge to find ways to make effective photographs. (Not impossible, mind you… just challenging!) But these conditions often bear the seeds of remarkable and dramatic light, especially as the storms begin to clear. Breaks in the cloud cover often send beams of light — frequently warm, saturated golden hour light — across parts of the landscape, and this light may highlight specific features against a backdrop of contrasting darker scenery and dramatic clouds.

These effects can appear (and disappear) quite quickly, and landscape photography in these conditions becomes anything but a leisurely and meditative process. In fact, it is more a matter of “photograph now or it will disappear!” In truth, things happen so quickly that they often disappear before there is time to set up a camera and make a photograph. The light on the foreground meadow and its protruding granite slabs and boulders came in at a low angle from the west, here more clearing was taking place. I was fortunate in that it not only highlighted the foreground formation but also lit up the more distant granite domes, which stand out against their darker surroundings.

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Meadow, Tarn, and Trees

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Meadow, Tarn, and Trees
Small trees near timberline grow in a meadow surrounding a subalpine tarn

Meadow, Tarn, and Trees. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Small trees near timberline grow in a meadow surrounding a subalpine tarn

In the Sierra Nevada photographers are nearly always grateful for clouds. There is a reason that these mountains are referred to as the “range of light” — there is a lot of light! In the summer months we often experience many days of perfect blue skies, often without a single cloud in sight, at least if you don’t include jet contrails from the many routes passing above the range. Clouds play a small part in this photograph, but I think they make a difference.

I made the photograph very near Tioga Pass, along the Sierra crest. I rarely photograph in this specific spot since it can be busy place and it is a bit overdone. (I have plenty of work in my archives that I have photographed from right around here.) But on this day the late light, as the sun was just about to pass behind the tall ridge to the west, was both warm and softened by the clearing overcast. So I stopped and wandered briefly into this intimate landscape of trees, meadow, and tarn.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest, Dome, and Ridge

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Forest, Dome, and Ridge
Stormy evening view from Tuolumne Meadows, across forest and granite dome, to the Sierra crest

Forest, Dome, and Ridge. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stormy evening view from Tuolumne Meadows, across forest and granite dome, to the Sierra crest

This had been a challenging day for photography for the most part. While there was some good light in the early part of the day, later on the sky was covered by monsoonal clouds and building thunderstorms. It never really rained much where I was, but the potential was there and it did rain not far away. Thunderstorm photography can be exciting, especially if you are in a position where you can see the tops of the clouds… but down below, if the sky is completely overcast, the light can become blah and gray.

But there is always a hope that evening will bring a break-up of the clouds and even allow in some sunset light. By the time I made this photograph that process was already starting. The uniform cloud ceiling had begun to break up, with openings to blue sky here and there, and an occasional beam of light moved over the landscape. Here the light from the west, shining in beneath the clouds, illuminated the foreground meadow and the gigantic forests winding up the slopes toward granite peaks further away.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snags and Mountains

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Snags and Mountains
Trailside snags to the east of the Great Western Divide in the Sequoia National Park backcountry

Snags and Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trailside snags to the east of the Great Western Divide in the Sequoia National Park backcountry

This is another of the photographs from the 2008 trip that I mentioned in an earlier post — a trans-Sierra crossing with friends via the High Sierra Trail. The route, while less known that the John Muir Trail (and shorter) crosses the Sierra from west to east, connecting the west side in Sequoia National Park with Mount Whitney and then Whitney Portal on the east side. The route provides a tremendous cross-section of the Sierra. It starts not far from middle-elevation redwood groves on the west side, follows the gigantic canyon of the Kaweah River to cross the Great Western Divide at Kaweah Gap, drops down into Big Arroyo to reach the depths of Kern Canyon, follows the Kern upstream, climbs steeply to the John Muir Trail, passes through the alpine boundary and then into alpine country to ascend Mount Whitney, and ends with the immense descent from the crest to Whitney Portal.

I made this photograph in the Big Arroyo section of the trail. We had cleared Kaweah Gap and camped in the valley below and were climbing above the Big Arroyo canyon in preparation for a short side-trip to Moraine Lake. This low ridge provided extensive views down Big Arroyo, up into the Kaweahs to our left and behind us, and across the canyon to the Great Western Divide.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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