G Dan Mitchell | Photography

I’ll be out and about during the first part of August and this site will not be updated again until mid-August. Watch for new photos here at that time!
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.30.2005 :: Photoblog :: Comments Off

Le Conte Canyon in Evening Light. Kings Canyon National Park. July 12, 2004. &copy Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

This is one of my favorite images but one that frustrates me a bit as well.

Last summer a group of us had just come over Bishop Pass and down from Dusy Basin, turning south on the Muir Trail near this point. It was late in the day - we would finally arrive at our campsite after sunset - and I paused briefly to grab a hand held shot here.

I love the form of the image, especially the pool of light in the foreground at the bottom of the frame. Unfortunately, the original image was underexposed and taken on a camera that does not deal well with low light levels. Consequently, I’ll never be able to get a print larger than 8 x 10 or so out of this image.

However, in about two weeks I should be within a very short distance of this very same spot. If conditions cooperate, I’ll leave camp at the turnoff to Dusy Basin and hike down here with a better camera, better lens, and tripod and see if I can get a technically better image.

Update: I was looking at maps last night and I think that this peak is called “The Citadel.”
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.29.2005 :: Photographs: Sierra Nevada :: Comments Off

Melting Ice in Alpine Tarn. Yosemite National Park. July 8, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

This little tarn (a small alpine snowmelt pond) sits on a low ridge between Mono and Parker Passes in the Tioga Pass area of Yosemite National Park, very close to the eastern park boundary.

I happened upon this ice formation while walking cross-country between the two passes, and I stopped to take some pictures. I thought of getting out the tripod but was too lazy. That decision is usually a bad one, but not in this case. It turned out that the leftmost piece of ice fell over while I was taking the picture. It isn’t apparent here, but it an enlargement you can just see the blur as it starts to topple.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.28.2005 :: Photographs: Yosemite :: Comments Off

Panamint Valley. Death Valley National Park. March, 2005. &copy Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

I took this picture last March while driving west out of Panamint Valley. The vantage point looks back down into Panamint Valley from the hills to the west.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.27.2005 :: Commentary :: Comments Off

Sunset. Conway Summit. May 27, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Conway summit is the high point on Hiway 395 just north of Mono Lake in California’s Owens Valley. My friends and I had just left a restaurant in Bridgeport and headed south toward Mammoth Lakes. As we came up to Conway Summit the sun was just dropping behind the Sierra crest. I quickly pulled off the hiway just before the summit, grabbed camera and tripod, and jumped out. I squeezed off one image without the tripod as the light quickly faded, then got the camera on the tripod and took a couple more shots as the sun dropped behind the ridge.

This image is the handheld shot that I quickly snapped before taking time to get the tripod assembled and the camera mounted.

I hope to return to this spot in the fall when those aspen groves should be turning golden.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.26.2005 :: Photographs: Sierra Nevada :: Comments Off

Just for fun, here is a fairly complete list of gear I’ll take on upcoming Sierra Nevada backpacking trips.

• Canon Digital Rebel XT
• Canon EF 17-40 f/4 L, Canon EF 24-105 f/4 L IS, Canon EF 70-200 f/4L, and/or Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 lenses
• Velbon 540 Carmagne tripod (”Carmagne” = carbon fiber and magnesium)
• Acratech Ballhead
• Polarizing filter
• Many CF cards - up to 8 GB (more than 800 images shooting 8 megapixel RAW images on the Rebel XT)
• Batteries - up to 3
• Canon wired remote
• Assorted cleaning and maintenance products
• Extra lens cap and body cap
• Small Tamrac Zoom or Lowepro Toploader bag for camera - worn under pack sternum strap

I haven’t actually weighed the equipment, but it should total to about 10 pounds or possibly a bit more.

If I could add one piece of gear it would likely be the Canon 70-300mm DO lens at about 1.5 pounds. (It is always good to have a few things on the wish list… ;-)
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.26.2005 :: Equipment :: Comments Off

Sunset. Almaden Quicksilver Park. July 21, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Earlier this week some monsoon clouds made it appear that we might get a very colorful sunset, so I quickly drove down to Almaden Quicksilver Park in south Santa Clara Valley and hiked up to spot that has a nice view.

It turned out to be an OK sunset but not quite what I had hoped for in terms of brilliant color. Nonetheless, I like this black and white image that I came up with.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.24.2005 :: Photographs: Central California :: Comments Off

Panamint Valley Hills. Death Valley National Park. March 28, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

This shot was taken out in the middle of the Panamint Valley on the road out of Stovepipe Wells and near what I think is called the Panamint Valley Resort. My youngest son and I were on a drive up the east side of the Sierra Nevada after dropping my daughter off at school in southern California. We had spent a good part of the day wandering around the floor of Death Valley in very cloudy and somewhat rainy weather, and we were about to head back toward Hiway 395 by the direct and rather lonely route.

One reason I stopped at this spot is that I had inadvertently spent an entire day here a few years ago. I was a parent chaperone on a week-long trip to Death Valley that involved an aborted pack trip, snow, a dust storm, cold, and you name it. On the last day we headed home from Stovepipe Wells… and the bus blew its transmission at about this spot. We ended up spending the day and a good part of the evening here waiting for a replacement bus. But that is a story for another time.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.23.2005 :: Commentary :: Comments Off

Log, Fog, Beach, and Alcatraz. San Francisco. July 3, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Keeping with the San Francisco theme, here is another photo taken the same day as the black and white Golden Gate Bridge photos. You can see the fog line here - it covered the bridge but cleared over the Bay.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.21.2005 :: Photographs: San Francisco :: Comments Off

Golden Gate Bridge and Powerboat. July 3, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

The fog made for a rather drab color image, but I think it works as a black and white.
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G Dan Mitchell :: Jul.21.2005 :: Photographs: San Francisco :: Comments Off