Tag Archives: water

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Subalpine Lake, Late Afternoon Light

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Subalpine Lake, Late Afternoon Light
Late afternoon light on a rocky peninsula on a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

Subalpine Lake, Late Afternoon Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon light on a rocky peninsula on a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

This is a photograph that required a bit of persistence! During our September stay in the Eastern Sierra Nevada backcountry, I first walked up to this lake several days before I made this photograph. When I arrived for the first time I made a guess as to where I might find a photograph, but the guess was wrong! As the light faded I tried a different spot, and I found a good one, but I missed the best light. I made a mental note to come back, and even noted the specific spot to be in. A day or two later I headed back in that direction late in the day, with plenty of time to get there before the good light arrived… but then I got distracted by some other attraction, spent too much time on it, and arrived at this lake — you guessed it! — about three minutes too late! However, I did have a bit more time to consider the location and timing of the shot I had it mind.

I went back one more time, and this third time was almost not a charm. I got there plenty early and found my spot well before the good light… and discovered a woman set on fishing from the lovely rocks on the peninsula in the center of the photograph! Since I was early I decided to wait quietly and not try to convince her to get out of my shot, but I did explain what I was there for. I waited. She continued to fish. I began the internal debate about just how aggressive I should be about trying to get the shot. I think she figured out that I really wanted this photograph, since about five minutes before I made it she moved on to another spot on the other side of the rock. (She continued to fish, and I had to time my exposures between her casts, when sent line right into the water beyond the rocks.) In the end my persistence paid off, and I got a photograph that I like — to me it seems to capture that lovely late-day, late-summer light in the high country, and it even includes some really lovely color in the water. I finished the photography here… and had time left over for a short hike to the top of a nearby pass before the light faded.

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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.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Rocky Shoreline, Reflections

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Rocky Shoreline, Reflections
Sky and high peaks reflected in the surface of a lake in rocky alpine country

Rocky Shoreline, Reflections. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sky and high peaks reflected in the surface of a lake in rocky alpine country

This is (yet another!) photograph from my September week in the John Muir Wilderness backcountry with a group of photographer/friends. We set up a base camp at a lake in a long valley running north/south, and photographed the immediate area and further subjects that we could reach on day hikes. The orientation of this valley gave us an unusual lighting condition — hours of blue hour light in the morning and early evening after the sun dropped below the tops of the two giant ridges to the east and west.

Our lake was mostly a fairly rocky place. The gentler portions of the shoreline featured small trees, often separated by open space and both rocky and meadowy areas. The more rugged side of the lake was the base of a gigantic talus field that extended far up the mountainside to the east. I made this photograph when light still illuminated the upper slopes of the ridge while the lake itself was in shadow. The effect was to make the landscape seem even more stark, so I photographed to emphasize the large forms of light and dark, and then chose to render it in black and white.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snow Field, Reflection

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Snow Field, Reflection
A late-season snow field at the base of rugged cliffs, reflected in the surface of a High Sierra lake

Snow Field, Reflection. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A late-season snow field at the base of rugged cliffs, reflected in the surface of a High Sierra lake

I can say a few things concerning both the objective facts about this scene and about my subjective reaction to it. The facts: We walked to this lake frequently during our September photographic sojourn in the Eastern Sierra backcountry. It wasn’t far from our base camp at another nearby lake, and if we walked directly there it might take all of 10-15 minutes — though, as photographers, our walks are hardly ever direct, more often devolving into stop-and-go affairs as we are distracted by various subjects. The snow bank and the steep wall above the lake were most often in shadow, and by evening the light could become quite dim.

There are many ways I could (and perhaps did) photograph this subject, but here I wanted to focus on the contrast between the form of the bright snow field and the much darker surroundings of cliffs, talus, and shadowed lake. Late in the day a long shadow began along the talus field and gradually advanced across the lake, darkening the water and the surrounding forest and rocks. After sunset, my impression of the place was of stillness and oncoming darkness, and I wanted this version of the photograph to suggest these things.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Sierra Stream, Autumn

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Eastern Sierra Stream, Autumn
“Eastern Sierra Stream, Autumn” — Autumn colors line the banks of a small Eastern Sierra Nevada stream

This photograph is of one of those little places — you could easily pass right by it and miss it. I have, and I’ve even stopped nearby and not seen a photograph. This time I was heading up a canyon in cloudy conditions and light rain, and perhaps the unusual conditions helped me to see differently. In any case, as I drove past the area I noticed the red plants growing close to the ground, even though there were largely obscured by intervening trees.

I quickly turned around and came back, parked, and then spent some time poking around and looking. I finally ended up down along the bank of the stream, the closest I could get to the red plants, and I found a composition looking upstream toward more colorful plants and the white trunks of an aspen grove.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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