Tag Archives: wilderness

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Basin Mountain, Dawn

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Basin Mountain, Dawn
A cloudy autumn dawn on Basin Mountain in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Basin Mountain, Dawn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cloudy autumn dawn on Basin Mountain in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is probably (maybe, likely, could be) the final photograph in the series from this beautiful autumn morning in the Eastern Sierra Nevada some years back. Since I’ve told the story previously, I’ll keep it short this time. I was there to photograph another subject up higher in the mountains, but I thought that the cloudy skies were making the eastern escarpment of the range a more likely prospect, so I changed plans at the last minute and headed to this spot that I had previously scoped out. Beginning with the pre-dawn glow, moving on to the sunrise light on the highest peaks, and continuing as it worked its way down the front of the range I was a very busy photographer for a short period on this morning!

This is a visually striking peak along the eastern edge of the range above the town of Bishop. It has long intrigued me with its east-facing basin on the upper slopes, where I presume that a glacier must have been active in a much earlier time. A close inspection of the face reveals an old trail/road climbing up into the basin, and from some maps I’ve looked at it appears that some mining or prospecting might have taken place there.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Black Sands Beach

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Black Sands Beach
Hikers and backpackers along the edge of the water at Black Sands Beach, Shelter Cove.

Black Sands Beach. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hikers and backpackers along the edge of the water at Black Sands Beach, Shelter Cove.

The photograph comes from California’s “Lost Coast,” a rugged section in the far northern reaches of the state where the coastline is so rugged that few roads reach it and some sections are entirely roadless. Even the “Pacific Coast Highway” (Route 1) takes an extended inland jog here and travels through redwood country out of sight of the ocean. We explored two sections, one as part of a plan and the other on a literally last-minute whim.

For years we have passed the turn off to Shelter Cove and muttered something along the lines of, “Someday we really need to drive out there… but no time on this trip.” As I recall it, we were beginning to repeat that conversation as we approached the turn off on this homeward-bound drive — but this time we made a last-minute decision to turn of and take a look. This photograph looks northward up the coast from the edge of Shelter Cove, toward a 20-mile section that is accessible only on foot.

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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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

Boulder and Cascade

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Boulder and Cascade
“Boulder and Cascade” — A subalpine brook cascades over rocks and past a small boulder.

No landscape photographer I know is quite able to completely resist the lure of photographing moving water cascading over rocks. I can imagine quite a few reasons for this. The miniature landscapes in Sierra creeks like this one hold an infinity of potential compositions. Unlike so much of the landscape, the water is in constant motion, to the point that one almost needs to make many exposures to get it just right. There are interesting technical questions to resolve, including just how much blur is the right amount.

Beyond all of that photographic stuff, these streams are just fun places to spend some time. Many years ago I still took fishing gear into the backcountry. I stopped once I realized that I didn’t need the excuse of fishing in order to justify time spend wandering up and down these creeks, with their attractions of wildflowers, green plants, and the constant sound of moving water.

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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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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

In the Panamints, Morning

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In the Panamints, Morning
Patterns or early morning light and shadow on the ridges of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

In the Panamints, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns or early morning light and shadow on the ridges of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

There do not appear to be any icons whatsoever in this photograph, and you might be hard pressed to identify the scene as being in Death Valley. There are no visible sand dunes, no salt flats, no devils playing golf. But the fact is that terrain like this is characteristic of more of this immense national park, a place full of beautiful and spare desert mountain landscapes.

This scene is high in the Panamint Range, the mountains that run roughly north-south to the west of Death Valley proper and which separate it from the Panamint Valley. This is truly amazing country once you get to know it, a place characterized by plenty of evidence of its mining past, lots of country that is rarely visited today, and incredibly long views across a vast landscape stretching from Nevada to the Sierra.

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 | 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.