Tag Archives: trees

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

Dana Fork, Evening

June 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Dana Fork of the Tuolumne River curves through subalpine meadows in evening light

Mid-July, at least in a relatively dry year, as was the summer of 2016, can be the time of the most natural loveliness in the High Sierra. Most snow has melted, the creeks and rivers are flowing, the vegetation is green, the days are long, wildflowers are appearing, and the light is beautiful. If it weren’t for mosquitos, the world would be perfect. (This year July will likely look quite different, and I suspect that there will still be patches of snow on the ground and that the water will be much higher.)

Last July I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows area, a place that is comfortable and familiar to me by now. This time I car-camped, staying in the busy Tuolumne Meadows campground, but heading out early and late in the day to find photographic subjects nearby and as far away as Mono Lake. On this evening I found myself along Tioga Pass road late in the day as sunset approached, so I stopped and wandered out into this intimate landscape of the Dana Fork of the Tuolumne, rock-filled meadows, and forest, with the point of Cathedral Peak silhouetted against the sky in the distance.

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

Monolith, Trees, Snowy Ledge

May 16, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A band of resilient trees growing on a snow-covered ledge at the base of a granite monolith

By the time this photograph appears at my website and on social media, the snow at the base of this famous monolith should be long gone — having melted, flowed down in rivulets to join the rushing Merced River, crossed into California’s Central Valley, perhaps reached the San Francisco Bay, and even made it out into the Pacific Ocean.

These trees, growing on a narrow ledge at the base of one of Yosemite’s most famous and visible granite faces, always draw my attention. Their location is impressive, but so is the fact that they have managed to grow relatively straight and tall while located in a world of rock, most of which came from (and continues to come from!) weathering of the giant monolith above. Winter snows highlight their dark forms more clearly.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Pinnacles and Oak Trees

April 3, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Pinnacles tower above a grove of oak trees, Pinnacles National Park

I made this photograph in the late afternoon on the March day when I returned to Pinnacles National Park for the first time in quite a few decades — since before it was a national park! I had arrived early in the morning, when few others were yet there, and loaded up my camera pack to hike up to and along the High Peaks Trail, and impressively narrow and exposed route along a ridge and among the huge rock formations that give the park its name.

Exhausted (I carry a lot of photography gear!) I arrived back at the trailhead in the middle of the afternoon and decided it was time for a snack and a nap. That, by the way, is not an uncommon plan among photographers, who often find that the light at this time of day can be less than inspiring, and a typical day may start with very early photography, end with very late photography, and include some down time in between. As early evening approached I loaded up once again and headed down a nearby canyon that passed by more of the formations, stopping here for a photograph that includes three of the main spring icons of this area: the impossibly green new grass, oak trees, and the rock formations.

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

Dormant Trees, Granite

March 30, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A granite cliff towers above dormant trees along the Merced River, Yosemite Valley

Winter can produce a softer and subtler Yosemite Valley, one that can sometimes be just a bit tricky to photograph. Perhaps the most obvious subjects in the winter are found on days when there is snow, or when storm clouds and mists shroud the cliffs and ridges. As a matter of fact, those are the things I’m usually hoping to find when I visit the Valley at this time of year.

But the true nature of the Valley in winter includes some subtler subjects, sometimes nearly devoid of the greens of spring and summer or the colors of fall. Truth be told, the meadows are brown and trees lose their leaves, the clouds can block or filter the light, and many sections of the surrounding cliffs can be in shadow. This photograph is such a scene — winter dormant trees along the banks of the Merced River, brown meadows underneath and stretching beyond, and the steel-gray colors of shadowed granite above.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: trees

Dana Fork, Evening

Monolith, Trees, Snowy Ledge

Pinnacles and Oak Trees

Dormant Trees, Granite

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.