Tag Archives: tuolumne

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

Spring Pond, Tuolumne Meadows

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Spring Pond, Tuolumne Meadows

Spring Pond, Tuolumne Meadows. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon light on a small runoff pond at the edge of Tuolumne Meadows with impressive clouds in the distance, Yosemite National Park, California.

If you have ever been to Tuolumne Meadows – or at least spent a few moments wandering about there – you probably know this little pond. It is right alongside the road where the John Muir Trail crosses on its way across the Meadows to Parsons Lodge, the old Sierra Club facility on the far side of the meadow by Soda Springs. It is a frequently-photographed feature of the meadow, though often it is used as a foreground for photographs of Lembert Dome. This photograph looks a bit fore towards the north or northwest towards Ragged Peak and the north boundary country of the park.

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

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

Snowmelt Pond, Sunset

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Sunset sky reflected in a Tuolumne Meadows early-summer snowmelt pond.

Snowmelt Pond, Sunset. Yosemite National Park, California. July 8, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset sky reflected in a Tuolumne Meadows early-summer snowmelt pond.

On a more typical Tuolumne visit than the one I experienced last week, this might have been the first photograph I would have shared. If you have followed my posts during the past few days, however, you know that I was fortunate to photograph a very atypical evening two days after I made this photograph – and I’ve been focusing on those images from this visit first.

This photograph was made two nights earlier, on the first evening of my Tuolumne Meadows visit. The location is at the edge of an extensive meltwater pool near the west end of the Meadows, a spot where I like to photograph early in the season. The distant ridge holds Ragged Peak (near Young Lakes), the distant tip of Mount Conness, and other peaks to the north of the Meadow.

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

Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest

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Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest

Twilight, Tuolumne River and Tuolumne Meadows, Sierra Crest. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G DanMitchell – all rights reserved.

Light from lenticular cloud-filled twilight sky illuminates Tuolumne Meadows and the Tuolumne River with Lembert Dome, Mount Dana, and Mount Gibbs beyond, Yosemite National Park, California.

Yes, one more in the series – perhaps the final one, but we’ll see. I suppose it could be titled, “It ain’t over until it’s over.” After the astonishing colors of the brightest moments of the sunset fade, one might think that the show is over – but frequently it isn’t over yet.

I remember the time I first learned that when shooting evening scenes like this one should never leave until it is too dark to photograph any more! This “lesson” happened a bit further west in Tuolumne Meadows some years ago. I was photographing in the evening, shooting across the transitory early-season lake that forms there in wet years. Another photographer was nearby shooting the same beautiful evening, and I remember him remarking that some of his favorite photographs actually came after the intense light of sunset and during the time when the light almost begins to feel more like night than day. Two wonderful things can happen at this hour. First, you can still get some very unexpected color surprises even after the show seems to be over. (I learned this a second time a few years later after packing up at the summit of Lembert Dome and heading down – only to be surprised by a wonderful and completely unexpected suffusion of beautiful light, and having to quickly unpack and squeeze off a couple shots.) Second, as astonishing as the brilliant colors are that precede this darker time, this is the hour for some very wonderful deep and subtle colors that you just won’t see at any other time of day.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more. Blog | 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.

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

Fiery Evening Sky, Tuolumne Meadows

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Fiery Evening Sky, Tuolumne Meadows

Fiery Evening Sky, Tuolumne Meadows. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fiery sunset colors illuminate lenticular clouds above the Tuolumne River, Tuolumne Meadows, Lembert Dome, and Mounts Dana and Gibbs on the Sierra crest, Yosemite National Park, California.

This is the sky I wrote about in the text accompanying the previous two photographs made on this July evening in Tuolumne Meadows. I’ll just have to include the quote from Ansel Adams one more time for anyone who didn’t see it in the first post:

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.” – Ansel Adams

I don’t think it is quite that simple – to put it another way, We’re all very fortunate that it was Ansel who happened to be in those places doing the shutter clicking on those occasions! But you do indeed have to be there, and you do need to be ready to take advantage of the scene that presents itself to you. Unlike painters, we cannot just conjure up scenes like this.

I count myself as extremely lucky in that I get to spend a lot of time in the Sierra and have for many years. (I’m also very lucky to be married to an artist who understands how important it is to me to traipse off to the Sierra to make photographs – Thanks, Patty!) I’ve seen a lot of Sierra sunsets and photographed (or tried to photograph!) a good number of them. FWIW, while the good fortune of being there at the right time plays a huge part in getting any photograph, it is rarely enough.

As I wrote in yesterday’s post, I’ve learned to recognize a certain set of Sierra Nevada conditions that can (but are not guaranteed to) create a brief moment of utterly astonishing color just as the sun slips below the horizon. Once you have seen this happen and recognize the pattern, if you are like me you will drop everything to be there. Nine times out of ten the potential will be unrealized and you’ll just have “another stunning Sierra sunset” – or perhaps just a gray cloudy sunset. But on that tenth time!

So, yes, I dropped everything to be in Tuolumne Meadows two hours before sunset, and I was in position with a composition scoped out and everything set up a full hour beforehand. I was more that willing to put up with the swarms of mosquitos – and when this light show started I didn’t even notice them.

What has happened here is that the mass of stacked lenticular clouds above Mounts Dana and Gibbs on the Sierra crest and to the east are being illuminated by the very last light reflected off of high clouds to the west just as the sun drops below the horizon. Silently, and almost before you realize what is happening, the color of the landscape is completely transformed for what could be no longer than a few short minutes.

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

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