Tag Archives: water

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

Spring Torrent, Impossible Tree Fall

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Spring Torrent, Impossible Tree Fall - An early spring snow-melt torrent flows over Impossible Tree Fall, Yosemite National Park, California
An early spring snow-melt torrent flows over Impossible Tree Fall, Yosemite National Park, California

Spring Torrent, Impossible Tree Fall. Yosemite National Park, California. June 18, 2012. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An early spring snow-melt torrent flows over Impossible Tree Fall, Yosemite National Park, California.

This photograph takes me back to last year in mid-June, on the day that the Tioga Pass Road opened for the season. That was a very different year than this drought year! Back then the pass opened very late – though not the latest ever – and in mid-June there was still water, snow, and ice everywhere! One of the special treats of crossing the pass on the first day of the summer after a very wet winter is that the landscape comes alive with flowing water. Water is on the move almost everywhere. Rivers are full to their banks and beyond, waterfalls flow across almost every cliff, and there are creeks everywhere, including places that you might never have imagined they would flow when you visited later in the season.

This small cascade flows very close to Tioga Pass Road, tumbling down over boulders and a series of small benches and ledges. One of the most notable features is the single tree growing right in its path, seemingly “impossible” not only because its roots seem attached only to bare granite but also because it grows in the middle of a seasonal waterfall! I came upon the fall a bit later in the morning, when the rising sun was just barely topping the ridge above the waterfall, sending light down across the slopes and backlighting the tumbling fall.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Sports

Sail Boat, San Francisco Bay

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Sail Boat, San Francisco Bay - A sailboat in morning light on the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California.
A sailboat in morning light on the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California.

Sail Boat, San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sailboat in morning light on the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco, California.

From time to time I take the train to San Francisco very early in the morning and then photograph while walking around the City. I often start by walking towards the Embarcadero waterfront, especially on sunny mornings when the haze over the bay is beautifully backlit, sometime so much that the glow obscures the East Bay cities and even the hills beyond. This was one of those mornings.

I had begun by photographing a bridge and then a construction site in the Mission Bay area, but I then headed back towards AT&T park, passing in on the walkway that travels along the waterfront. As I passed this area I had an idea that the atmosphere might be just about right, but I also realized that much of the foreground included subjects that I didn’t want in the frame. I was just in the process of switching to a longer lens – so that I could limit my field of view to an areas between the obstructions – when I saw this sail boat begin to approach from the right. I quickly finished the lens switch and moved to a spot that isolated this section of the bay from any other distracting elements, and almost immediately the boat passed across it. I had only a few seconds to work handheld before the boat passed closer to stuff I didn’t’ want in the frame and before a small motorboat accompanying it caught up.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Man Crossing Bridge

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Man Crossing Bridge - A man crossing a bridge in the China Basin area of San Francisco, California.
A man crossing a bridge in the China Basin area of San Francisco, California.

Man Crossing Bridge. San Francisco, California. April 20, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A man crossing a bridge in the China Basin area of San Francisco, California.

Two bridges crossing the inlet that passes AT&T Park (including “McCovey Cove”) are visible in this photograph. I’m not enough of a historian to have really researched these bridges, though I think that both are or were draw bridges and that at least the far one dates to the early twentieth-century. They are interesting anachronisms in areas that are now quite different from when the bridges were built – much of the surrounding area is not filled with new office and apartment/condominium buildings (one of which is barely seen along the waterfront at the far left) and often crowded with people attending San Francisco Giants games.

As I often do when photographing certain subjects, I began here by trying to create a composition that just included the structure of the bridge, especially with the pattern of the metal grate the forms the roadway here. Then I noticed that a pedestrian was approaching, so I thought I’d see if he might end up in interesting places within the composition. My original idea was to make the exposure before he reached the spot where his is located in this frame, but at the exact right moment a car crossed the bridge in front of him!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Boulder, Rushing Water, Spring

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Boulder, Rushing Water, Spring - Spring snowmelt rushes over a boulder in a Sierra Nevada stream, Yosemite National Park.
Spring snowmelt rushes over a boulder in a Sierra Nevada stream, Yosemite National Park.

Boulder, Rushing Water, Spring. Yosemite National Park, California. June 18, 2011. © Copyright 2011 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring snowmelt rushes over a boulder in a Sierra Nevada stream, Yosemite National Park.

I made this photograph at the very end of spring last year in the Yosemite Sierra Nevada. Last year was a year that began much differently that this year in California. While this is a drought year, the previous season was one of record precipitation, and the high country opened very late. Even when it did open – in this case the Tioga Pass Road opened on the mid-June weekend when I made this photograph – there was still a lot of snow and ice everywhere, and much of the backcountry was still largely inaccessible. This little bit of water cascading over a boulder is a scene that could have been found in any number of places, but this one was found in a seasonal stream that tumbled down a mountainside along the roadway.

Believe it or not, this is a color photograph! The colors are, obviously, very subtle, but they are there and they are, I think, important. In fact, when I was working on the image I thought about producing it as a black and white image, tried it out, and was surprised by just how different it looked when the colors were removed. There are some subtle brown/tan tones in the upper part of the boulder, and the water contains a range of subtle but important tones of blue and green.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.