Tag Archives: white

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

Black Oaks and Ghost Trees

May 7, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pair of skeletal dead “ghost trees” behind a row of black oak trunks

This is a subject familiar to virtually anyone who has spent much time in Yosemite Valley, and especially to photographers who have worked there. Generally, the black oaks of the Valley are one of its most characteristic features, tied to its relatively low elevation in the Sierra Nevada. Oaks are lowland trees, but they are still abundant at the elevation of the Valley. You’ll find them in warmer, open areas, often near meadows.

While they are not the most colorful trees, in the right light they can be fascinating. Early in the season the backlit leaves can be intensely colorful, and the same effect is possible in autumn light. Their curving, skeletal trunks can be quite beautiful in snow, where they contact with the near-perfect verticals of conifers. This group of trees grows unusually close together. As a result they have strongly vertical character, likely created as they compete with one another for access to sunlight. I photographed these in early spring, when brown autumn leaves remained on the branches and before the new spring growth appeared.

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

Dogwood Blossoms, Dark Forest

May 2, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Blossoming dogwoods in dark, dense forest, Yosemite Valley

On one morning during my recent sojourn to photograph spring subjects in Yosemite Valley I had extraordinary lighting and atmospheric conditions. The morning produced a number of photographs that have been and will be shared here. They make me think of “channeling Bierstadt” — with effects of clouds and haze and light combined with dramatic ridges and cliffs. This is not one of those photographs. In fact, this image is inserted here to break up the flow of those others…

The timing and nature of some spring events in Yosemite Valley is variable — the amount of snow in the high country and when it melts out, for example, determine the timing and character of river and waterfall flows. Other events hold to a pretty consistent schedule from year to year, though climate change is edging some of these in new directions. One of the fairly consistent events is the arrival of dogwood blooms in the Valley and then in higher locations nearby. When I visited two weeks ago I saw the first buds on these trees and only a few tiny, green blooms. A week later there were many more blooms, and some trees were nearly full of them. I photographed this forest scene, with a primary tree full of blooms and other more distant blooms seen less vividly in the darker forest, one evening after the direct sun had left this spot.

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

Strolling Couple

February 24, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A couple walks past a white-painted brick wall

This photograph is a bit more “in your face” than most of my street photography. I’m generally not one of those “stick the camera in someone’s face” sort of photographers, preferring to be a bit less invasive of people’s space. (However, I can’t deny that photographing people who did not go out into the urban environment intending to be my subjects is, almost by definition, always at least a little bit invasive and aggressive.)

I’m hard pressed now to recall even making the photograph, which means it was most likely made very quickly and probably while I was walking. I could not have predicted the woman’s remarkable yawn — or perhaps she is singing? ;-)

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

One Goose From The Flock

January 24, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A goose takes flight along with the rest of the flock

Some birds are most often photographed as individuals, usually because that is how they live. Examples include egrets, eagles, hawks, and many other hunting birds. To simplify a bit, a major challenge is to get close enough (physically and/or with a big lens) so that an individual is large enough in the frame to produce a photograph and so that distinguishing characteristics of the bird (along with some aspect of its environment) are visible. I rarely do that with geese snow geese, Ross’s geese, and other wild geese. These are, by their nature, birds that live in communities. I most often see and photograph them in groups which may range in size from a few individuals up to many thousands.

Some of the other members of the flock are partially visible in this photograph, so the image isn’t entirely of a lone bird. However, because the others are shown only in part and out of focus, my attention here is drawn to the largest, central bird with wings outstretched as it ascends. I made the photograph on a day when I found myself unusually close to a large flock for a good amount of time — they were spread across a dirt access road I was using. Eventually, as always happens with geese, some of the birds began to get ideas about going elsewhere, and this time I was very close to their lift-off.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: white

Black Oaks and Ghost Trees

Dogwood Blossoms, Dark Forest

Strolling Couple

One Goose From The Flock

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