Tag Archives: trees

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

Trees and Boulder, Sunset

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Trees and Boulder, Sunset
Trees and Boulder, Sunset

Trees and Boulder, Sunset. Yosemite National Park, California. July 27, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large boulder against the base of lodgepole pines at sunset in Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.

After finishing up an earlier evening shoot in a place that might be described as a mosquito-infested hell, but a very beautiful one, I left that location with as much haste as I could muster. Having done so, I found myself with a bit of extra time just as the final light of the day approached. Since I wasn’t too far away, I headed towards Tuolumne Meadows, figuring that I might just catch the last light that slants across the length of the meadow right below sunset.

When I arrived there I had very little time to carefully consider where and what I might shoot since the light was within minutes of disappearing for the day. So as I drove along the road through past the meadow, I kept my eyes open for any trees or boulders that might be catching this final light. As luck would have it, as I passed the RV holding tank dumping station – pretty rustic, no? – I saw this combination of lodgepole pine and boulders against the background of the sunlit trees across the meadow on the other side of the river and the ascending slopes beyond. I quickly pulled over, got out the tripod and camera, and made a few exposures here as the last light left the tree.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Forest Meets Meadow, Yosemite

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Forest Meets Meadow, Yosemite
Forest Meets Meadow, Yosemite

Forest Meets Meadow, Yosemite. Yosemite National Park, California. July 28, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small sunlit meadow filled with shooting star flowers meets the edge of a dense lodgepole pine forest, Yosemite National Park.

For some reason many of the photographs I made on my recent trip to the Yosemite high country seemed to focus on the trees and the forests, and perhaps a bit less on the rocky peaks and prominences of the park. This photograph was made in a place that is not “special” in the ways that specialness is often measured in this park. As far as I know, it has no name, though it is not too far from Olmsted Point. It is simply a little area like so many others in this part of the Sierra, but one that I feel a connection to now that I have revisited it on several occasions and gradually pushed out the boundaries of my familiarity with it.

I first stopped near this spot along Tioga Pass Road several autumns ago on an evening when fog blanketed the nearby ridges. Very close to this spot there was a break in the fog, and I could see the sunset light and its effect on the fog clouds, so I pulled over and made some photographs. A year or so later, now having an actual awareness that there was a pull-out at this spot in the road, I stopped again on a summer morning for no particular reason and saw that a faint trail headed off into the lodgepole forest that was mixed with glacial boulders. I walked a short distance out on this path and found a small pond that I photographed, and I filed the location away as one to investigate again later.

On this July’s visit, I put this spot on my agenda and made a plan to visit it early on morning after photographing first light on a nearby ridge. Because there is no single attention-grabbing icon at this spot, rather than leaving my car with a target in mind I wandered slowly into this forest and simply kept my eyes open. (And I tried not to think about the mosquitos that are always thick in the lodgepole forest at this time of year!) First I stopped at the pond that I had previously photographed; then I picked up that trail and followed it through the forest, past other ponds, and across some glaciated granite near the edge of this small meadow filled with shooting star flowers, with the light coming through the forest beyond.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Juniper Trees, Morning Light

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Juniper Trees, Morning Light
Juniper Trees, Morning Light

Juniper Trees, Morning Light. Yosemite National Park, California. July 28, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light falls on rugged Juniper trees growing in glaciated terrain near Yosemite’s Olmsted Point.

The Yosemite high country along (and beyond) Tioga Pass Road, which crossed the Sierra through the national park, is a land shaped by glaciers. The night before I had decided that the morning photography subjects would be in an area of granite domes, glacial erratics, small ponds, and rugged granite-bound trees in an area generally centered around the iconic Olmsted Point viewpoint.

My first subject, generally defined, was going to be an area of large granite slabs on a ridge that I knew would be hit by the early morning sun shortly after sunrise. I arrived in the general area after dawn but before the direct light arrived here, and I headed up the slabs to scope out possible subjects. The atmosphere was quite hazy, which can be a mixed blessing for photography. On one hand, distant subjects are muted an indistinct. On the other, the light on closer subjects can be diffused and soft, and this helps fill in shaded areas. It also means that more distant background elements can be muted both in contrast and color saturation. When I found this rugged cluster of old juniper trees, I looked for a composition that would catch the first light striking them from behind and also include a bit of the more distant exfoliated dome as background.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Offshore Fog Bank, Marin Headlands

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Offshore Fog Bank, Marin Headlands
Offshore Fog Bank, Marin Headlands

Offshore Fog Bank, Marin Headlands. Golden Gate National Recreation Area, California. July 14, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Offshore fog lies beyond Point Bonita and Rodeo Beach and the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

I was surprised to find a clear view like this during my mid-July visit to the Marin Headlands of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) across the Bay from San Francisco. I had almost decided to stay home or go elsewhere based on weather reports that had the coast completely socked in my dense fog for most of the day. Indeed, it was foggy as I passed through San Francisco and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge. The fog was high, and I could see some distance beneath it, but it was still a rather gray day.

Since the lower section of Conzelman Road, the normal quick and scenic route up into the headlands, was closed for construction, I took that alternate route that passes through a tunnel to come out near Rodeo Beach. I turned left up the hill to reach the upper section of the road. After photographing near Battery 129 for a while, the sun began to break through the fog, and I was surprised to find a fairly clear patch just outside the Golden Gate.

The photograph shows the last section of the headlands as the hills drop towards the historic fort and batteries near the Point Bonito light house, which is barely visible at the end of the peninsula on the left. The line of surf at the upper right is Rodeo Beach, a popular spot with Bay Area folks.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)