Tag Archives: yosemite

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

Two Trees, Granite, and Forest

August 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two trees stand at the base of a granite dome with forest ascending further hills

When I first photographed this pair of trees some time ago, I thought I had discovered something special. From my perspective that was true — my personal discovery was special. But it wasn’t too long afterwards that I “discovered” a beautiful print of these same trees by photographer and friend Charles Cramer, at which point I recognized that perhaps my photograph was just a bit less unique than I imagined! Yet, something about these trees and their surroundings sticks in my mind, and from time to time I stop and photograph them again.

That was the case on this late-July morning, when I passed by on my way to some other place. I noticed that the morning light seemed just about perfect, and that the slight haze produced a bit of atmospheric recession to add depth to the subject. So, once again, I stopped and made a few photographs. In this one I decided to include just a bit of the foreground trees, one on either side, so that I could also include a bit more of the forest zigzagging up the side of the more distant slopes in the morning light.

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

Shoreline Forest With Snags

August 24, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Several skeletal dead trees stand among the trees of a living forest, Yosemite National Park

This is another of my early morning photographs in the greater Tioga Pass & Tuolumne Meadows area. When photographing here I may head out on foot, especially if I’m camped in the Tuolumne Meadows campground. On the other hand, many interesting subjects are too far to walk and/or sometimes the campground is full and I end up camping outside the park. the latter was the case on this trip — I was camped a couple of miles east of the park. On this morning I got up before dawn and headed over Tioga Pass and down toward Tuolumne Meadows.

I did not have a specific plan in mind, and I was operating in an essentially opportunistic mode, looking for whatever subjects might turn up. I arrived at this lake before the first light struck the trees, and the soft early light tended to illuminate the shadows, opening up details that are very hard to see in typical daytime light. I had few minutes to work before the sun arrived and lit up the trees, so I used a long lens and looked for sections of the forest that provided interesting textures and forms. Here the ranks of trees build up the slope, and a few dead snags are more visible against the relatively uniform backdrop of living trees.

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

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

August 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on Lembert Dome and the forest and grasses of Tuolumne Meadow

The prior day was one of thick wildfire smoke, coming mainly from a fire on the far side of the park near Wawona, but also with contributions from various others fires including some small, managed lightening fires. The effect was not good — the smoke here was as thick as I’ve ever seen it before, including during a late summer visit to Cathedral Lakes a few years back during the height of the drought, when at times it seemed like the entire Sierra was on fire. In any case, the evening before I made this photograph it was still very smokey, and I wondered what the next morning would bring.

As usual, I woke up before sunrise. I was tempted to stay in the warm sleeping bag a while longer, but I summoned the focus to look outside. Noting that I could see blue sky, I got up fairly quickly and left the tent, heading down to the meadow. There was still just a bit of residual smoke hanging around, and there was also a shallow layer of light ground fog. All of this produces some very interesting atmosphere and light as I wandered the meadow, walking between grassy areas and encroaching bits of forest. I paused here, positions myself so that the large trees at the right would block the direct sun, and I made a few photographs including all of the elements of this landscape except the river that passed by out of sight.

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

Forest Meets Meadow, Morning

August 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Forest trees at the edge of Tuolumne Meadow, morning

We made a very brief mid-August visit to Tuolumne Meadows recently, mainly as a sort of shake-down cruise to test equipment for another upcoming trip — but also, of course, “because Tuolumne!” The equipment testing went just fine, though other aspects of the trip were less perfect. Mostly, there was the wildfire smoke, which was about as thick as I’ve ever experienced up there on our first day. It was so thick that we actually got in the car and headed over the crest and out of the park to try to escape it, not really getting out of the pall until we went all the way to Mammoth Lakes! It was still very smokey when we returned to camp in Tuolumne and when we went to bed that night.

I woke up early the next day and peeked outside. I didn’t see more than a slight bit of leftover smoke, so I got up fairly quickly and wandered down to the meadow to see what I could see, arriving there with my equipment before the first light came over the Sierra crest. As is so often the case there, despite being one of many hundreds of people camping at Tuolumne, I was alone for a full hour just a few hundred feet from the campground as I wandered and photographed in the meadow. This photograph shows the familiar boundary between forest and meadow. In the foreground and to the left the land is lower in areas that flood during the spring runoff and are still marshy even now. To the right are trees, growing on the slightly higher rocky terrain that dries out sooner and which provides a better footing for these trees.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: yosemite

Two Trees, Granite, and Forest

Shoreline Forest With Snags

Meadow, Forest, and Dome

Forest Meets Meadow, Morning

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