Forest in Reflected Light, Kern River
Posted on 19 August 2008
Forest in Reflected Light, Kern River. Sequoia National Park, California. August 9, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
In the middle of my August 2008 trans-Sierra backpack trip we spent a morning walking up the 7.5 miles between Kern Hot Springs and Junction Meadow in the upper Kern Canyon. Since I’m fond of higher country I wasn’t expecting too much on this day, but I was happy to encounter a wonderful lighting situation that I’ve seen before in Yosemite and similar valleys: the western canyon walls were in full sunlight and reflecting beautiful, warm, diffuse light across the river into the shaded forest on the east side where I photographed these trees and ferns.
keywords: kern, river, valley, forest, tree, fern, branch, rock, trunk, red, morning, nature, landscape, sequoia, national park, california, usa, trail, hike, backpack, camp, high, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, stock
3 comments to Forest in Reflected Light, Kern River
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G Dan Mitchell
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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, and night photography.
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I really like this one. The reflected light is superb and give s nice warmth to the scene without too much of a color cast, which sometimes overdoes it.
I’m a fan of this type of work. I wish I knew the name for it, but it’s a more intimate landscape than is typical. Scenes composed like this remind me of Eliot Porter’s style; tight intimate nature scenes with just enough extraneous subject matter to lead you to venture, in your mind, beyond the scene.
I too am fond of the higher elevations in the Sierra, but this photograph knocks me out. Love the soft warm light and the composition. Great job, Dan!
Thanks, Michael. From my point of view, this shot was a wonderful find and a bit of a surprise. As I wrote above, it was just a little scene I came across while hiking through otherwise unremarkable sections of forest in the upper Kern below Junction Meadow. (Not that this area is “unremarkable” in general – it’s just that I wasn’t expecting to find a shot in this specific spot.)
It was that amazing light from the sunlit cliffs on the opposite side of the canyon that made it work.
Dan