Tag Archives: tufa

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Purple Dawn, Mono Lake

Leave a comment
Purple Dawn, Mono Lake
Purple Dawn, Mono Lake

Purple Dawn, Mono Lake. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. June 29, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pastel shades of purple and blue just before dawn at Mono Lake.

Back at the end of 2010 I wrote that I was going through all of my 2010 raw files to look for images that I had passed over, as I do near the end of every year. Things got busy, I got distracted, and I only got about half way through the year’s files. Recently I have returned to the 2010 photographs to try to complete the task, and this is one of the photographs that I rediscovered as I resumed the search with images taken near the end of June.

This was my first real photographic trip to the Sierra during the summer season of 2010. I had made a brief trip up there, visiting Yosemite Valley and then crossing Tioga Pass, back in early June right about the time that the pass opened. However, on this trip I was able to spend several days in the high country and kicking around near Mono Lake. This can be a great time of the year up there since conditions range from what seems like late winter in the high country to real summer in places like Owens Valley and around Mono Lake.

On this morning I decided that I’d head down to Mono Lake well before dawn and see what I could turn up. I did not go to the iconic South Tufa area on this morning, thinking instead that I’d try for some different and longer views of the lake. (Later in the morning I traveled a good distance south of the lake on the less-used section of highway 120.) There were, obviously, clouds in the morning and they blocked the sunrise. However, the light glowed through and over and under and around them, and even though there was not direct light in very early morning image, the colors were quite something. The group of tufa towers at the lower left are offshore not far from the South Tufa area.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | 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.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Black Point and Negit Island, Mono Lake Shoreline

Leave a comment
Black Point and Negit Island, Mono Lake Shoreline
Black Point and Negit Island, Mono Lake Shoreline

Black Point and Negit Island, Mono Lake Shoreline. Mono Lake, California. October 10, 20120. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The north shoreline of Mono Lake leads from foreground offshore tufa past the base of Black Point to Negit Island and beyond.

You would never know it from this black and white photograph of the austere desert landscape around Mono Lake, but I was there to photograph… fall aspen color! Earlier in the day I had photographed further south along the eastern slopes of the Sierra, gradually working my way north with a plan of heading back to the “west side” over Tioga Pass at the end of the day after doing a last bit of  fall color photography near Conway Summit and Dunderberg Road in late-afternoon light. By mid-afternoon I had made it to Lee Vining for an espresso stop at Latte Da and a break to check some email and so forth. Soon it was time to get into position for the low angle sun that would light the aspens a bit later, so I headed north out of town.

The road north from Lee Vining skirts the west shore of Mono Lake. Before leaving the lake there is a turn-off to another road that passes along the north shore of Mono Lake and can take you to places such as Black Point. I often stop at this turn-off since it provides a slightly elevated view of the larger terrain around the lake including the low hills to the east and Mono Craters and higher mountains to the south. On a typical blue sky mid-afternoon I might not make any photographs, but something about the light and the forms of the shoreline, Black Point, and Negit Island leading into the distance convinced me to make a few exposures, using a long lens to compress the distance.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
Flickr | Twitter | Facebook Fan Page | Facebook | Friendfeed | Email

Commentary

Mono Lake Shoreline and Tufa, Dawn

Leave a comment
Mono Lake Shoreline and Tufa, Dawn
Mono Lake Shoreline and Tufa, Dawn

Mono Lake Shoreline and Tufa, Dawn. Mono Lake, California. July 25, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn illuminates the shoreline of Mono Lake, tufa towers, and the smooth surface of the lake.

In my previous post (“Abandoned Buildings, Eastern Sierra”) I wrote about not quite making it to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake at dawn, instead stopped five or ten minutes earlier to shoot some amazing red sunrise light on the eastern Sierra escarpment in the Parker Pass area. Fortunately, because Mono Lake is lower in elevation that the spot where I shot sunrise, by the time I got to South Tufa the sunset wasn’t that far along. In fact, by rushing out to the shoreline I managed to get there shortly after the first light hit the tufa towers.

This was one of the first photographs I made when I arrived, hence the very golden “first light” and the long shadows on the shoreline rocks in the foreground. It was an interesting morning: there were already plentiful signs that this would be a day of thunderstorms and rain with virga to the east and a developing weather cell already over the Sierra crest to the north. Despite all of the potential for “weather action,” it was very quite and still at this point, with only the sound of seagulls breaking the morning silence.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: mono, lake, county, shore, shoreline, ripple, water, surface, smooth, reflection, tufa, towers, rock, mountains, hills, sky, clouds, morning, dawn, light, sunrise, shadows, california, usa, north america, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, desert, stock

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Morning Virga, Mono Lake

2 Comments
Morning Virga, Mono Lake
Morning Virga, Mono Lake

Morning Virga, Mono Lake. Mono Lake, California. July 25, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Isolated Mono Lake tufa towers stand in the morning light below clouds dropping morning virga.

Early in the morning, Mono Lake is often a very still and quiet place and the sense of empty space and the scale of the landscape are palpable. Down close to the water the only sound comes from the gulls and the water is often nearly glass-smooth. (For a while – later in the day the wind often rises and the things become more agitated.)

I had spent an hour or more photographing at the shoreline in and around tufa towers and had finished for the morning. I had packed everything up and loaded the car and was actually starting to drive away when I saw this scene composed almost entirely of blue tones, with the clouds dropping virga (rain that doesn’t reach the ground) above the distant mountains, and a few isolated tufas offshore.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

keywords: mono, lake, county, clouds, morning, virga, tufa, towers, silhouette, mountains, outline, haze, blue, sky, water, high, desert, california, usa, north america, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, stock