Tag Archives: usa

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

Black Oaks in Winter Fog and Snow

January 22, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Black oak trees with a few remaining autumn leaves in foggy and snow-covered El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite Valley.

I’m always fascinated by the trees in El Capitan Meadow – it doesn’t matter whether it is spring when the meadow is green and the trees are getting new leaves, summer when the meadow is filled with people watching climbers overhead on El Capitan, fall when the grasses turn golden and the leaves change to fall colors, or winter when the meadow may be snow-covered. Sometimes I tell myself that I’m just going to drive past on my way to another destination, but I almost always end up stopping for a least a brief look around – and I frequently end up making a few photographs.

That was the case on this mid-January day, when I drove through on my way to make photographs up on Crane Flat Road. As I passed by the meadow I noticed that low fog was floating above the snow, so I pulled over to look at the scene more closely. I was somewhat surprised to see how many leaves were still hanging on the oak trees so late in the season, and I decided to try to find a photograph that would include them, along with the snow and a bit of the fog and the dark shapes of the tree trunks.

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Text, photographs, and other post content 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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest and Pond, Winter

January 21, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Trees grow out of a small winter melt-water pool in Yosemite Valley, California.

As I drove down the Valley I spotted this very quiet seasonal pool that was reflecting the forms of the forest trees in the soft late-afternoon light. As the temperature dropped there was just the slightest hint of shallow fog starting to form above the surface of the water.

If you are the type who reads the “technical data” accompanying the photos you perhaps notice the unusual choice of lens for this photograph. You might also be surprised at just how often I use a long lens, even this 100-400 zoom, for landscape subjects. Besides getting me “closer” to subjects that would otherwise be out of reach – that was the case here where there was water between me and the trees – the longer lenses also compress the contents of the scene and can also help eliminate elements that would otherwise distract from the main scene.

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
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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.

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

Autumn Leaves in Snow

January 20, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A branch and autumn leaves lying on snow, Yosemite Valley, California.

They are “autumn leaves,” but I did photograph them in winter. I was just ending my midday break from photography and sitting in my car in the “day use parking lot” near Yosemite Village, not quite sure what I wanted to shoot next. The previous evening I had the pleasure of having dinner with Michael Frye and Evan Russel from the AAG, and Michael had mentioned that he might shoot in this general area. I had never really thought to photograph there by the parking lot (!), but if it is good enough for Michael I figured it must be good enough for me.

Not quite sure of where I was headed, but thinking initially about photographing trees across the far side of the Merced River, I wandered into the forest near the parking lot. I saw a couple of possibilities and photographed them, but they didn’t quite connect for me. As I walked along in the snow along the banks of the Merced I ended up in a small thicket that was nearly bare of leaves, and near here I spotted this interesting shape of brown leaves and a branch lying in the snow.

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

Confluence of Cascade and Tamarack Creeks

January 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Long exposure in evening light of the boulder-strewn confluence of Cascade and Tamarack Creeks, Yosemite National Park.

Right below the bridge along the Crane Flat Road (often described as highway 120) route into Yosemite Valley, two wildly cascading creeks join together before their final descent to the bottom of the canyon where they join with the Merced River. Cascade Creek is probably the better known of the two since some spectacular sections of its descent are clearly visible right above the roadway. Tamarack Creek is easier to miss since you have to look carefully into the trees if you try to spot it from your car, or else get out of the car and look more closely. In the photograph, Cascade Creek flows away from the bottom of the frame, and Tamarack joins from the right in the upper portion of the frame.

I’ve always paid more attention to the section of Cascade Creek that is above the bridge. However, after recently having several opportunities to carefully (and admiringly) view Charlie Cramer’s stunning print of his “Cascade Creek, Spring, Yosemite”, I decided that I really needed to look off the other side of this bridge! (Charlie, I found your rocks. First, I’m even more impressed now that I realize how obscure and out of the way the subject of your photograph is. Second, how the heck did you position the camera over the side of the bridge to make that photograph!?) With that in mind, I visited this spot several times on this weekend trip to Yosemite and tried photographing it in different types of light.

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
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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.