Tag Archives: wilderness

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon, Reflected Light

December 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light reflected from sandstone cliffs along a narrow canyon passage, Utah

On my first full day of photography in Utah — as opposed to days spent traveling — my plans were a bit vague, but I wanted to end up in an area close to some very popular southwest Utah sites. I had no plans to visit the post popular of them, since they require permits and a lot of time spent getting the permits. However, I had an idea about visiting some nearly areas whose names I recognized, so I set off down a gravel road to the general area of one of them, still no knowing exactly what I was looking for. Soon I came to a short side road and a parking area labeled with a name I had heard of before, so I parked, loaded up camera gear, water, and a bit of food and set off on foot.

Almost any place around here seems to provide a sufficient number of beauties, and it wasn’t long after I set out to walk down this broad wash that I found my first red rock formations and stopped to photograph them. A bit further along the canyon briefly narrowed and bent as it passed between some sandstone walls, though which some more distant pinnacles were visible. The juxtaposition of pinnacles and cliffs and other elements was interesting, but the it may have been the beautiful light reflected on the right canyon wall that convinced me to stop and photograph here, too, before heading further down this wash to where the walls narrowed and slot canyons began.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake and Pinnacles, Evening

December 18, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Evening light reflects surrounding pinnacles in the surface of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

This photograph takes me back to a long southern Sierra backpacking trip I took with friends back in 2010 — a trip from which I have recently shared a few other photographs. We entered the backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park from the east over one of the high Sierra crest passes, a few days later crossed another even higher pass to enter the upper Kern River drainage, spent a few days in a very remote portion of this area, and then exited back to the east over the crest by way of one of the more notorious east side passes — not the most notorious one, but definitely on the short list of awful passes… in a wonderful way. ;-)

The lake in this photograph was the site of our first night camp, after we came over that first pass and dropped to this beautiful sub-alpine valley with its lakes, meadows, rocks, and small trees. We settled in to this first camp… and into the familiar and welcome patterns of a long trip into the backcountry. These include camaraderie among friends who have shared many backpacking experiences, purposefully purposeless wandering around the wilderness neighborhood, sitting on rocks and staring, and watching the day transition to evening and then night.

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

Granite Slabs, Forest, and Lake

December 17, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Granite slabs and forest trees reflected in the still surface of a subalpine lake, Yosemite National Park

This is the sort of beautiful and peaceful scene that greeted us each morning as we worked to photograph the area surrounding this subalpine lake in the Yosemite backcountry. Every morning the routine was: up before sunrise, grab the photography equipment and walk down to the lake, wander around looking carefully and critically for photographs… and enjoy the still quiet of the Sierra morning.

In visual terms the shoreline of such a lake is a very interesting and complex subject. On one hand, there are potential subjects everywhere. On the other, the complexity of the scene can be a challenge when it comes to finding compositions. The options include “thinking small” and isolating small elements within the overall scene, looking for juxtapositions and relationships that help bring some form to the details, or simply embracing the complexity. (Adding to the challenge, the dynamic range between the deep forest shade and the sunlit granite can be huge.) I think that this photograph perhaps combines a bit of the second option and a lot of the third. Every portion of the frame is filled with details, yet I think that in the end not all of them are equally important.

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

Fractured Slab

December 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Stained and fractured rock slabs in the Yosemite National Park backcountry

This “intimate landscape” photograph of what is, objectively speaking, no more than a crack separating two pieces of granite actually tells a number of more interesting and complex stories. At least one of them is a story of the events of the day on which the photograph was made, while others are much older stories, bits of which can be seen in the rocks.

The story of this day involved wildfire. On the day we arrived at our camp in this area, the Yosemite “Meadow” fire took off in the area bounded roughly by Half Dome, Clouds Rest, and Mount Starr King. There was barely any smoke visible in the early morning, but as winds rose to surprising levels, the fire took off… and by late in the day the sky was filled with smoke that sometimes blotted out the sun and turned the sky an odd yellow-brown color. These rocks are stained a sort of reddish-brown, but the warm colors are enhanced a great deal by this smoky light. The older stories are complex and I cannot attempt to tell them completely here, but there are a few things to notice and think about in this rock scene. The area was glaciated, and the smooth rock surface at lower left and lower right is glacial polish, which provides evidence of the slow, grinding passage of an ancient glacier. The crack in the exfoliated granite provides evidence of other forces of weather that work slowly but irresistibly to weather and break up even this strong granite.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: wilderness

Canyon, Reflected Light

Lake and Pinnacles, Evening

Granite Slabs, Forest, and Lake

Fractured Slab

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