Tag Archives: usa

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

Curving Trees, Falling Snow

March 1, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Snow falls among winter dormant trees in a Yosemite meadow

I have known for a month or so that I’d be in Yosemite for the last full week of February. That lead-in month was a very strange one for California weather. We had virtually no precipitation, and warm temperatures often made if feel more like summer than winter. These are not happy conditions for wintertime photography in the park, when a lot of the plant life is dormant and when snow and storm clouds usually provide more interesting conditions.

But immediately upon my arrival — literally the first moments I spent in the Valley — the weather changed. Not only did winter weather return, but it did so with a vengeance, and temperatures dropped much lower than would be typical for the date. On most days of my stay there were at least some clouds and on several days there was snowfall. The day I made this photograph brought the most daytime snow. In the afternoon a weak front worked its way into the Valley, and there were periodic snow showers. I headed to a tree-filled meadow when this shower arrived, and there I photographed juxtapositions of the interestedly shaped trees silhouetted against the falling snow.

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

Winter Light, Granite And Snow

February 28, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Winter sunset light on a granite face and distant mountains fade into falling snow

I spent the last week in Yosemite National Park, as an artist-in-residence sponsored by Yosemite Renaissance. (Thank you!) I stayed in the Wawona area and made the drive to the Valley every day. It was wonderful to have a full week in the park and, especially, in the Valley. I spend a lot of time in Yosemite, but most of it is in the high country during summer and into the beginning of fall, so having this unbroken block of time in winter was a special treat. Making it even better, I got some weather luck. Recently California has again been in drought conditions, and last month we had record high temperatures that often felt more like spring or even summer. But I arrived to find cold (at times very cold) conditions, and a series of weak cold fronts brought snow to the Valley.

If I recall correctly, I had spent much of this afternoon photographing in the eastern part of the Valley, and as the weather closed in the light there began to die. I finished up my work in that area and prepared to depart for Wawona, but leaving enough to time to stop along the way should interesting light appear. In fact, further to the west the skies were trying to clear, and intermittent light made its way through breaks in the clouds to spotlight various areas. I stopped here and waited a few minutes, at which point almost the very last light of the day cut across the edge of the El Capitan monolith as the snow storm closed in on the upper Valley.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Museum Windows, Shadows

February 26, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Silhouetted figures, windows, and beams of light, Metropolitan Museum

This is a second “take” on a location I photographed between Christmas and New Year’s Day last year, when we spent a week in New York. It was an exceptionally cold week, and on a few days we decided that we really needed to find indoor activities. (On other days we defied the cold and wind and walked all over Manhattan anyway.) One of the reliable options is a visit to a museum, so we headed to the Metropolitan, where we wanted to see the David Hockney show. You can’t see it in this photograph, but the museum was packed with other visitors who were also looking for a warm, indoor option.

We passed through this room twice, on our way to and from a section of the museum with relatively modern art that we wanted to view. This space is really essentially a very wide walkway, though I suspect that it could also be used for exhibits at times. The row of tall windows along the southern wall opened to Central Park and, further away, the Manhattan skyline. Lots of people took advantage of the wide window sills as a place to sit. The resulting effects of light were intriguing — backlit people in a variety of poses, the faint image of the park and city outside, and the alternative effects of shadows and reflections from the bright light streaming through the windows.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Coastal Cliffs, Mist And Shadows

February 25, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light illuminates ocean mist between cliffs descending to the Pacific Ocean

While spending a February morning and early afternoon photographing along the Big Sur coastline I passed by a rather famous and often crowded spot. Having visiting and photographed there many times, I wasn’t all that interested in stopping this time. However, I did look as I passed by, and I thought I saw some interesting light and spray down at the base of these cliffs.

By the time I saw it, there was no time to stop, so I continued on a bit, found a turnout, reversed direction and came back to look more closely. At this morning hour the western-facing cliffs are usually still in shadow, but the sun begins to rise high enough to send beams of light between them, lighting the mist and spray from surf and intensifying the color or the near-shore waters.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: usa

Curving Trees, Falling Snow

Winter Light, Granite And Snow

Museum Windows, Shadows

Coastal Cliffs, Mist And Shadows

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