Tag Archives: wilderness

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Forest And Meadow, First Light

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Forest And Meadow, First Light
The first morning light at the boundary between forest and subalpine meadow, eastern Sierra Nevada.

Forest And Meadow, First Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light on high peaks and forest trees, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Today I swing back from the East Coast to the West Coast and my familiar Sierra Nevada. Back in August a group of us spent a week in the Sierra backcountry exploring the area around our base camp and photographing the heck out of the place. In the middle of a very dry year in California, we were surprised by with some rather wet weather — in fact, a bit too wet during the first 24 hours. On the bright side, mountain streams came back to life, and we had days of interesting and picturesque skies rather than the more common string of Sierra blue sky days.

There’s a pattern to the days on these backcountry base camp trips. We’re usually up early, and folks head out individually or in small groups to investigate whatever potential subjects attract their attention. Rather than going to the highest alpine zones on this trip, I often visited a beautiful subalpine basin filled with meadows and small trees. On several mornings I headed up there, crossing small streams and following the meadows up to the alpine zone. I made this photograph right after one of the crossings, as the first direct light fell on the meadow and forest beneath a pair of brooding peaks.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Blue Stone

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Blue Stone
Detail of fractured blue stone with colors intensified by light from overcast sky.

Blue Stone. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Detail of fractured blue stone with colors intensified by light from overcast sky.

At some point on almost any backcountry trip I end up spending time looking at things that I might not notice and photograph at first. The initial focus is often the grand landscape of mountains and valleys and trees and rivers — but eventually I focus on the more “intimate” aspects of the landscape. Among these are the infinitely varied patterns and colors of rock, miniature landscapes of textures and fractures and more.

While walking back and forth between our camp and a nearby high point from which I photographed the larger landscape I had noticed several bands of interesting rock and made a mental note to return to them. A few days into our stay that moment arrived and I spent a few hours wandering slowly through this area, looking intently and finding more to photograph than I had initially seen. The intense color of these rocks is partially due to their innate blue tint and partly due to photographing them when they were in shadows.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mist in the Trees

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Mist in the Trees
Mist drifts among Eastern Sierra trees as a summer storm clears.

Mist in the Trees. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Mist drifts among Eastern Sierra trees as a summer storm clears.

One this evening the storm finally cleared. Over the course of an hour or two the higher clouds thinned, and some promising light began to glow high above. I watched from an elevated rocky position as peaks began to appear intermittently and clouds of fog flowed back and forth across the landscape.

The fog seemed to be the result of the abundant atmospheric moisture from the rains of the past two days. At times it almost obscured all of the landscape that was above my position, but soon a breeze would push it this way and that, and trees and rocks and ridges were revealed. I was especially interested in mist drifting among trees just above me, and I photographed this bit of forest as the fog begin to thin again.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Trees, Morning Shadows

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Trees, Morning Shadows
A line of trees ascends a rocky slope in monring shadows, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

Trees, Morning Shadows. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A line of trees ascends a rocky slope in monring shadows, Ansel Adams Wilderness.

While taking a morning walk along the creek below our camp I followed the water as it curved around a large flat area, tracing a route along the base of a rocky hill rising toward a much higher ridge. The ridge kept the area in shadow well into the morning, so I decided to photograph in the soft, shaded light just before the first direct sunlight arrived.

So much of what grows in these places is determined by the shape of the landscape. Here the slope was full of old moraine rocks and with boulders that appear to have fallen down from the higher ridge. But where there was a gap in the rocks the trees managed to establish themselves, creating ribbons of green ascending the hillside.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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