Tag Archives: yosemite

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Backlit Forest and Shaded Cliff

November 29, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Backlit forest and shaded cliff face in Yosemite Valley, California.

This is another midday photograph from Yosemite Valley, something that seems to be a bit more possible in the autumn and winter seasons when the sun never gets too high in the sky, and it is possible to find shadowed sections of the surrounding cliffs as background to the interesting lighting on the trees. Here a few trees with autumn colors are framed by backlit and almost perfectly “Christmas tree shaped” trees and backed by a dark and shaded portion of the wall along the south side of the Valley.

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.

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

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

Autumn Oak Trees, Cliff Face – Yosemite Valley

November 28, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn oak trees and meadow with background cliff face towering above – Yosemite Valley, California.

Having posted all of the better photos from last week’s shoot at Point Lobos, I’m back to the fall photographs from Yosemite Valley once again as I complete the process of going through all of the images I brought back from my October 31 and November 1 visit. This is another in the “tree with hazy cliffs in the background” series that I seem to have spent a lot of time on during this visit. These trees were photographed during the bright midday hours, at a time when I might usually knock off from photography for awhile. However, with the right backlight on the colorful black oaks and a background of hazily distance valley walls, I continued to shoot almost straight through on this day.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Glacier Point Geology Hut, Early Morning Light

November 22, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Early morning light on the Glacier Point Geology Hut, Yosemite National Park, California.

I love photographing at Glacier Point just before and right around sunrise. Despite the challenge of shooting into the bright sky and rising sun to the east, several subjects here can be compelling in the early morning: the first light striking Mt. Hoffman, light beams coming over the Sierra crest, and especially the very first direct light to strike the trees along the ridge at Glacier Point and open to the light from the east. Not only that, but if you go at the right time you have have the whole place nearly or entirely to yourself. I often go there when I visit in autumn and a quiet November morning there is very special.

I had more or less “worked the scene” of the first light hitting Hoffman, North Dome and surrounding peaks before I made this photograph. I basically turned my camera around to point the opposite direction and repositioned the tripod a bit to frame this stone building and include the light on its eastern face.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Cottonwood Grove, Shadow’s Edge

November 21, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn cottonwood trees in the last sun as late afternoon shadows fall across the floor of Yosemite Valley near Yosemite Falls.

Late in the afternoon on Halloween this year I was in Leidig Meadow in Yosemite Valley watching the light dim along the cliff faces near Yosemite Falls. As the shadow moved across the Valley toward the meadow it lit this row of cottonwood trees growing between the meadow and the banks of the Merced River.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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