Tag Archives: trees

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite, Post-processing Workflow

Trees, Granite Slabs, Morning Light

December 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Trees scattered along granite slabs are backlit by morning light, Yosemite National Park

I am a complete sucker for scenes with scattered trees, separated enough to allow light to pass, that are backlit by morning or evening sun. Among my photographs, they are a bit of a theme, or so I’ve been told, but they are also almost an icon of the Sierra for me. When I think of the term “range of light,” it is most often this light that comes to mind. I know that I’ve always been intrigued by light that makes the atmosphere glow, is so bright that it is hard to look into it.

Early on this morning I began by making a bee line for this rounded granite ridge at the top of a large system of sloping slabs above the lake where we were camped. Initially I was thinking of the location as a place from which to photograph distant subjects in a different direction, but once at this high point, with the sun spilling brilliant light my direction after having just topped the farther ridge, I turned my attention to these trees and rocks, backed by luminous haze and more granite, tree-covered slopes leading toward a higher ridge.

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

Cascades, Tuolumne River

December 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Tuolumne River crosses cascades past rain-dampened granite to begin its descent into the Tuolumne River Canyon

We had some “interesting” and somewhat surprising weather on this early September back-county Yosemite visit. We were out for nearly ten days, and before hitting the trail many of us had been following long-range weather forecasts. As photographers, we were actually hoping for some “interesting” weather, but nothing appeared to be coming our way. A few days from the end of the trip, as we moved from one location to another, we were surprised to find ourselves under a huge plume of wildfire smoke, which we later found out came from the “Meadow” fire that quickly burned out of control in a somewhat different area of the park.

That evening we were in camp after dark, sitting around and talking and doing the usual camp stuff, when we were completely surprised by a flash of lightning in the sky to our southeast. Since we had not seen anything remotely suggesting rain or thunderstorms earlier in the day we weren’t quite sure what to make of this… but within a short time we started to pick up some rain. Overnight we all had plenty of opportunities to hear rain pattering on the roofs of our tents. When we awoke the next morning, a decent amount of rain had fallen, and there were still clouds around. It turned out that the rains continued off and on through them middle of the day. Between showers we headed out to make photographs, and as one shower approached a couple of us headed back to camp. Topping a ridge on a shortcut route, we had a clear view of the rocky terrain through which the Tuolumne River cascades into the upper Tuolumne Canyon, with the rocks still wet from the rain.

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

Quiet Shoreline, Morning

December 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A quiet morning shoreline at a subalpine lake, Yosemite National Park

This is a “quiet” photograph — no warm golden hour coloration, no grand vista, no motion. This is a very early morning scene. The sun has risen, but is still behind higher ridges to the east, so the shoreline is in shadow. The water is almost completely still, and although the photograph can’s show this, it is very quiet.

This is a beautiful time of day in the high country. The cold air makes fingers numb and encourages one to look for those first beams of warm light that will soon come over the ridge. The place itself is quiet, and that quiet seems to encourage me to move quietly as well, as I start my search for photographic subjects.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Trees and Cliffs, Morning

December 5, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on red rock cliffs and trees

Zion National Park, especially to a California Sierra photographer, is an almost ridiculously colorful place. One California friend describes Zion Canyon (which is not where this photograph was made, by the way) as “Yosemite Valley in Technicolor.” Another friend, a California landscape photographer, points out that somehow the Sierra looks “so gray” when one returns to their after photographing in Utah. And the color contrast is even more striking in the fall when the red rocks are not the only source of intense color — there are also the wild colors of autumn leaves, the deep blue of the sky, and the greens of pinyon pine and juniper.

I’m always a sucker for photographs of trees and mountains lit from behind, and I knew in advance that such an opportunity might arise when we went to this slightly less popular canyon in the early morning. In fact, I even rephotographed a few subjects that I had shot on the previous visit, partly because the conditions were different this time and partly because I think I understood them better on the second visit. This ridge sits below a much larger — monumental, actually — sandstone cliff at a bend in the canyon. As the sun rises above the much higher canyon rim it begins to cast light obliquely across this buttress and the single tree that grows on top of it.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: trees

Trees, Granite Slabs, Morning Light

Cascades, Tuolumne River

Quiet Shoreline, Morning

Trees and Cliffs, Morning

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