Tag Archives: tuolumne

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

Unicorn Peak, Grazing Deer, Evening

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Unicorn Peak, Grazing Deer, Evening
A small herd of deer grazes in the evening at Tuolumne Meadows below Unicorn Peak

Unicorn Peak, Grazing Deer, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. August 12, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small herd of deer grazes in the evening at Tuolumne Meadows below Unicorn Peak

On the first evening of this July visit to the Yosemite high country I happened to run into several photographer friends, completely by chance, as I pulled over to take a look at some interesting trees. I had set up my camp and was out scouting, as yet with no clear plan, when I found them, and we decided to join forces and head off to photograph a section of the Tuolumne River. As the end of the day approached we headed back to the main meadow to photograph the final evening light, and I ended up at the edge of Tuolumne Meadows at the base of a low dome.

I went to work making photographs of some distant subjects, but became more and more aware of the large herd of deer grazing nearby. Eventually I could not ignore them, as some of the animals were brave enough to pass within feet of my position! It was cloudy, and as a single ray of light passed across the forest on the far side of the meadow I made this photograph that includes the deer, the forest and some peaks of the Cathedral Range.

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

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

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Meadow, Forest, and Dome
Afternoon light along the edge of Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

Meadow, Forest, and Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon light along the edge of Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park

Late in the afternoon, about the time that many day visitors leave Tuolumne Meadows for their lodgings and when many campers are fixing dinner, I wandered out into the meadow with no particular destination in mind. With the exception of a few other walkers and two or three deer, I mostly had the meadow to myself. I walked slowly along a narrow finger of grasses between trees encroaching that are gradually encroaching on the meadow, passed through the last trees in one of these stands, and found myself in a large section of open meadow. After so many years in the Sierra and particularly in this place, it has a quiet and comfortable and unhurried feeling on an evening like this one.

Farther downstream the larger forest trees came to the edge of the meadow, and late afternoon golden light slanted across the meadow past these trees. Beyond the shoulder of a granite dome sloped down toward the lower terrain, catching the sun from the west.

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

Morning, Tuolumne Meadows, Mount Dana

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Morning, Tuolumne Meadows, Mount Dana
Lembert Dome and Mount Dana rise above Tuolumne Meadows on a cloudy summer morning

Morning, Tuolumne Meadows, Mount Dana. Yosemite National Park, California. July 13, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lembert Dome and Mount Dana rise above Tuolumne Meadows on a cloudy summer morning

This is yet another of the stopped-on-my-way-somewhere-else photographs, often made unexpectedly as I encounter something I wasn’t really looking for and get distracted — though another way to put it is that I quickly fall into a different mode of seeing when I photograph, and I begin to recognize the potential in subjects that I might otherwise not have noticed. In this case I was headed towards a specific location that I had planned to visit this morning, with a rather specific subject in mind. I set out and, as almost always, my “photographer’s brain” engages and I start seeing potential photographs everywhere. There is a tricky balance sometimes between stopping for the thing I see right here and sticking to a plan to photograph that other thing that I want to see. (This is an old question in photography with the extreme answers ranging from “never pass up a subject in front of you for one that you might see elsewhere” to “make a plan and stick to it if you want to get the photograph you have in mind.” The truth is complex, situational, and depends as much on good fortune and good guesses perhaps as much as on any rational considerations.)

In any case, I skipped past a few opportunities/distractions but ended up stopping for this one. This is a fairly well-known view in this part of the Sierra, though not everyone sees it right at sunrise. I’ve often stopped to admire the scene and on occasion photograph it, usually with some beautiful haze partially obscuring distant details and perhaps making closer details clearer by contrast. Since I am familiar with the view and had a good idea of what I wanted the photograph to look like, stopping for a few minutes was sufficient to make the photograph… and I was back on the road to my original destination.

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 | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

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

Trees, Meadow, Morning Fog

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Trees, Meadow, Morning Fog
Low morning fog floats above Tuolumne Meadows and nearby trees

Trees, Meadow, Morning Fog. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low morning fog floats above Tuolumne Meadows and nearby trees

With this photograph I move back to landscapes, and temporarily away from urban subjects. In early July I spent a few wonderful days in the Yosemite Sierra, camping at Tuolumne meadows, photographing morning and evening, hiking to interesting places in the middle of the day, and running into various photographers and friends (and photographer-friends) almost every day. I’ve been going to this place for years — to camp there, as a launching pad for many backpacking trips into the Yosemite backcountry, and to do photography.

As was the case each morning, I was up early — well before sunrise and before most anyone else in the campground. In the morning I typically already have some sort of plan, usually hatched the evening before, since guessing about sunrise locations in the dark is often not a very profitable activity! On this morning I had a plan to photograph a particular area filled with granite domes and with the potential for interesting early morning light. Thinking of this, as I passed the low fog in Tuolumne Meadows I almost didn’t stop, since a similar morning detour earlier in the trip resulted in my arrival at the day’s planned location too late for the good light. But unable to resist the temptation of ground for, I decided to make a brief stop near these trees (familiar to me from many previous visits) and at least make a few quick exposures before moving on.

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 | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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