Tag Archives: valley

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

Dogwood Blossoms, Rushing Water

May 21, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Spring dogwood blossoms on a branch above rushing water, Yosemite Valley, California

Continuing with this spring’s “dogwood blossoms over water” theme, here is another from my one-day dogwood photography foray to Yosemite Valley in early May. This photograph was made in an area where I made several others of more or less this subject, a spot where I was able to position myself so that dogwood blossoms in soft shadow light would appear against a background of darker water that was in even deeper shade.

Besides getting a beautiful branch to hang diagonally across the frame, in this photograph I was interested in a background that included both some darker water and some of the constantly changing patterns of white water. Anyone who has tried this will recognize that the task provides a combination of wonderful, time-killing fun and some frustration as you realize that you just missed another unexpected and ephemeral pattern of water flow. Needless to say, I (and most other photographers I’ve talked to) are glad we have digital cameras now, since there are often quite a few ordinary or worse frames for each decent or good one!

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Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cottonwood, Fallen Monolith, and Cliff

May 20, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunlight reflected from nearby canyon walls illuminates an autumn cottonwood tree in front of a fallen sandstone monolith and vertical cliff face.

I may be repeating a story I’ve previously told, but here goes. Earlier during my late-October visit to Utah we had wandered into this area, only to be largely stymied by clouds, cold, absurdly strong winds, and even a bit of rain. It was a bit disappointing, in that we had really looked forward to visiting this portion of the Escalante River, and when we started out in the early morning and saw a lot of beautiful fall color we thought we were in for a good day of shooting. Although that day was not a complete loss, it wasn’t what we hoped for – and by the end of the day we were struggling against very strong winds and cold.

Fortunately, nearly a week later we found ourselves back in roughly the same area of Utah, and as we considered the next day’s possible shooting locations the idea of giving this spot a second try came up. After considering that alternatives of trying a new location or going back, we decided to go back. It was a good decision! Where the first visit had been cold, cloudy, windy and even a bit damp, the second visit brought warmer conditions, almost completely clear skies… and most important, nearly windless conditions. (At one point we were cautiously admitting to one another that we had made exposures of foliage that lasted as long as a couple of seconds!) Near one large bend in the canyon there was a spectacular abundance of “targets” – brilliant cottonwood and box elder trees, beautiful canyon walls of various colors, fallen leaves, and more. On the previous visit we had all looked at this little scene of a large fallen section of the canyon wall with golden cottonwoods growing all around, and then pretty much continued on since the trees where being whipped around by the wind. But on this second visit the wind was calm, and light was reflected into the scene from sunlit sandstone walls to our left.

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

Dogwood Branch, Whirlpool

May 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A gentle whirlpool on the surface of the Merced River behind a hanging dogwood branch with spring blossoms

I have photographed dogwood blossoms quite a few times before, but I had never quite gotten around to trying my hand at the “dogwood over water” photographs that are so popular and which can be so beautiful. However, on this early May 2013 visit to Yosemite Valley I made that one of my loose goals during a single day of shooting. Fortunately for me, this was a great year for dogwood blossoms and I managed to arrive at what must have been just about the perfect time. Too early, and the flowers can be sparse and perhaps a bit green; arrive too late and they can be quite worn our, with brown spots and holes. But during my brief visit I think I saw them growing more thickly on the Valley trees than I remember from past visits, and many of them were still in great shape.

I found a steep section of river bank not far from a bridge – and the bridge provided some shade and softer light on the water. This branch was hanging right down over the edge of the water, with a bit of bridge and tree shadow darkening the smooth water in this section of the Merced River. The main challenge with this subject is, perhaps surprisingly, the combination of the need for somewhat long exposures and the difficulty of getting perfectly breeze-free conditions right above the water. Even on a relatively still day, over the river the air is likely to be moving, and it doesn’t take much movement to blur exposures of a quarter second or longer. I wait for still moments, I try to shoot near the apex of the branch movement, and I may make quite a few exposures, knowing that many of them will not be sharp enough. Luck was with me on this one though. Not only is the branch still, but right at this moment an attractive round “mini-whirlpool” formed in the water behind the branch and interrupted the darker water with a bit of reflected blue sky.

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

Early Evening Forest Light

May 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yosemite Valley forest in early evening light.

This is an “intimate landscape” photograph of an otherwise nondescript little scene that you could probably find repeated thousands of times in Yosemite and multiples of that throughout the Sierra. I saw it while wandering along a roadside trail in search of more dogwood blossoms in a spot where few are likely thinking much about the view, as it is located near an intersection that people might pass through as they exit the Valley.

These little scenes are everywhere and I don’t think it is all that hard to find them… if one just slows down a bit and looks a bit more attentively. In this case, there was a momentary effect of light as the sun dropped low enough to cast long shadows through the dense part of the forest yet still light the upper portions of taller trees beyond.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: valley

Dogwood Blossoms, Rushing Water

Cottonwood, Fallen Monolith, and Cliff

Dogwood Branch, Whirlpool

Early Evening Forest Light

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