Tag Archives: yosemite

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

Trees, Ridge, Sunset Clouds

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Trees, Ridge, Sunset Clouds
Weathered trees on a rocky ridge beneath sunset clouds, Yosemite National Park.

Trees, Ridge, Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Weathered trees on a rocky ridge beneath sunset clouds, Yosemite National Park.

Today I’ll take a brief intermission between the ongoing stream of the photographs from Utah that I have been finding in the raw file archive… and take a brief side trip back to the Yosemite National Park high country, a place that I’m missing right now. I could get up there — and I hope to in the next month or two — but the logistics are quite complicated at the moment.

This photograph comes from a day of weather a bit like what we’re experiencing in Northern California today — humid, thunderstorm weather. I made the photograph late in the day as the last light glowed pink on dissipating clouds above a ridge with stubborn old trees living on a very rocky ridge.

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 and Amazon.

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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

Autumn Snow, Sierra Crest

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Autumn Snow, Sierra Crest
Dawn light on the snow-dusted Sierra Nevada crest along the northeastern boundary of Yosemite National Park

Autumn Snow, Sierra Crest. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the snow-dusted Sierra Nevada crest along the northeastern boundary of Yosemite National Park.

After my first night camping on the East Side during this year’s autumn aspen color season, I got up before dawn, broke camp and loaded my vehicle, and was on the road before sunrise. My plan was to head down US 395 to a more southerly location where I was sure I would be able to access high elevation trees that often are the first to turn colors. The drive began with a short road taking me back to the main highway, and as I passed thought cattle country here I realized that it was only 19 degrees outside. That was a bit of a shock to a person who had only recently experienced 90 degree weather back home!

The actual realization of the cold arrived after I stopped to make this photograph. The light waits for no one, so when I saw that it was about to strike these high peaks along the northeast Yosemite National Park boundary I pulled over and got ready to photograph. And, boy was it cold — a good reminder to keep jacket, gloves, and other warm gear handy for the rest of this visit.

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 and Amazon.

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

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

Outcropping, Meadow, Evening

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Outcropping, Meadow, Evening
Evening light on rocky outcropping, meadow, forest covered mountains, Yosemite National Park

Outcropping, Meadow, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on rocky outcropping, meadow, forest covered mountains, Yosemite National Park.

I am generally intrigued by rocky outcroppings that interrupt meadows, and Tuolumne Meadows is a fine place to go looking for them. There are several there that I visit repeatedly and that I’ve been coming back to for many years. In fact, there is one that is my traditional “goodbye to summer” spot, where I typically pause and take one last look at the summer (or, by then, autumn) view of the area, consider the upcoming winter, and speculate about the coming summer.

I saw the light on this little section of rocks on a prior evening, and noted how it lined up with the more distant domes, ridges, and peaks, but I was just a bit too late to photograph it. I resolved to come back the next night and try to photograph it. I almost didn’t make it. Just before it was time to leave my campsite to go to this spot, a fellow from a nearby campsite wandered over and wanted to talk. A lot. Nice guy, but I finally had to tell him that I had an appointment with some evening light!

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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

Valley and Ridge, Evening

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Valley and Ridge, Evening
Early evening light on forest covered valley leading to rocky ridge, Yosemite National Park

Valley and Ridge, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early evening light on forest covered valley leading to rocky ridge, Yosemite National Park.

Earlier this month I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows high country of Yosemite National Park, generally along the Tioga Pass Road and with hiking excursions outwards from there. My main goal on this trip was actually the hiking, but there was time for photography, too, of course! On this evening I went up to the meadows near the pass just inside the park boundaries and took some time to wander and make photographs.

Here I was attracted by the massive peak, with its reddish rock indicative of old materials that lay above the granite foundation of the range, along with the evening light and the overlapping shapes of lower, forest covered hills and the dark row of trees just beyond the meadow. In addition, I’ve hiked out into that area many times, and this view evokes memories of many of those adventures.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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