Tag Archives: tuolumne

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

Tuolumne Canyon, September

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Tuolumne Canyon, September
Wildfire smoke colors the morning light on domes above the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park.

Tuolumne Canyon, September. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Wildfire smoke colors the morning light on domes above the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park.

Back in 2014 a group of us spent a week photographing in the Yosemite backcountry. We packed in to our first locations, spent a few days there, then moved along and ended up near the location of this photograph in the canyon of the Tuolumne River. While many have an impression of the Tuolumne formed by its leisurely passage through the Tuolumne Meadows area, other sections present a very different view.

Our stop here coincided with a very destructive wildfire in Little Yosemite Valley, and on the afternoon of our arrival the smoke had block the sun as ash floated down from the sky. Later much of the smoke blew in other directions, yet there was still a general smokiness in the atmosphere. That slightly brown haze colored the light in this early morning view of the canyon of the Tuolumne River.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Across The Tuolumne

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Across The Tuolumne
Looking across the canyon of the Tuolumne River toward the Cathedral Range, evening.

Across The Tuolumne. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Looking across the canyon of the Tuolumne River toward the Cathedral Range, evening.

This is the second in a sort of sequence of three photographs made one after the other on a late summer evening as I approached, topped, and descended from a high overlook in the Yosemite backcountry. The specific terrain of this area high in the Tuolumne River drainage lends itself to such views. Because the river is large and the upper drainage expansive, from many ridges and peaks one can look over vast swaths of the park’s highlands. And there are many such high points along the edges of this drainage and even along ridges that cut across it.

I made this photograph late in the day as the shadows were lengthening and the color of the light was warming. The atmosphere is hazy, a natural condition in the late season, when wildfires begin to increase throughout the west. Those familiar with this area can probably pick out quite a few Sierra landmarks.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Outcropping, Meadow, Evening

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Outcropping, Meadow, Evening
Evening light on rocky outcropping, meadow, forest covered mountains, Yosemite National Park

Outcropping, Meadow, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on rocky outcropping, meadow, forest covered mountains, Yosemite National Park.

I am generally intrigued by rocky outcroppings that interrupt meadows, and Tuolumne Meadows is a fine place to go looking for them. There are several there that I visit repeatedly and that I’ve been coming back to for many years. In fact, there is one that is my traditional “goodbye to summer” spot, where I typically pause and take one last look at the summer (or, by then, autumn) view of the area, consider the upcoming winter, and speculate about the coming summer.

I saw the light on this little section of rocks on a prior evening, and noted how it lined up with the more distant domes, ridges, and peaks, but I was just a bit too late to photograph it. I resolved to come back the next night and try to photograph it. I almost didn’t make it. Just before it was time to leave my campsite to go to this spot, a fellow from a nearby campsite wandered over and wanted to talk. A lot. Nice guy, but I finally had to tell him that I had an appointment with some evening light!

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Valley and Ridge, Evening

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Valley and Ridge, Evening
Early evening light on forest covered valley leading to rocky ridge, Yosemite National Park

Valley and Ridge, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early evening light on forest covered valley leading to rocky ridge, Yosemite National Park.

Earlier this month I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows high country of Yosemite National Park, generally along the Tioga Pass Road and with hiking excursions outwards from there. My main goal on this trip was actually the hiking, but there was time for photography, too, of course! On this evening I went up to the meadows near the pass just inside the park boundaries and took some time to wander and make photographs.

Here I was attracted by the massive peak, with its reddish rock indicative of old materials that lay above the granite foundation of the range, along with the evening light and the overlapping shapes of lower, forest covered hills and the dark row of trees just beyond the meadow. In addition, I’ve hiked out into that area many times, and this view evokes memories of many of those adventures.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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