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

Granite Slab After Rain

November 20, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Details of a section of glaciated granite slab following an afternoon rain storm, Yosemite National Park.

Yet another photograph of rock today as I continue to mine the vein (yeah, awful pun) of these photographs from a glaciated granite area along the Tuolumne River made during my mid-September week-long photography-focused backpack trip.

Since it may not be apparent in the jpg, let me try to explain a little bit about this photograph. It had been raining lightly in the afternoon, and as evening (the “good light hours!”) approached the rain began to let up but things were still very wet and the clouds had not completely dissipated. We walked to a nearby granite bowl full of interesting photographic subjects, among them the beautifully red stained rock that is somewhat unusual in this granitic area of the Yosemite high country. The colors were brought out more clearly by the moisture left on the rocks by the rain. In this photograph I looked for an interesting bit of the rock and simply pointed the camera straight down to capture a “scene” that includes exfoliated layers of rock near a joint in the slab and bits and pieces of “small stuff” that typically ends up in these places: some moss growing in the wet cracks, a few rocks in other colors, twigs, dry pine needles, and the endless variations in the texture and coloration of the stained rock.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Stones, Stained Granite

November 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Granite stones rest on glaciated slab of stained granite near the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park.

Scared you, didn’t I? Thought I was going to miss posting a daily photograph, right? Yeah, both of you… ;-)

In any case, I may have mentioned previously that I’m a sucker for Sierra granite, especially the glaciated kind that is found almost everywhere you go in Yosemite National Park, from the Valley to areas surrounding the very highest peaks. (Some of the highest peaks escaped the glaciation themselves, but that’s a longer story for another time.) For me, some combination of glaciated granite slabs, a few “erratic” boulders (“erratics” being boulders moved from their source and left behind by retreating glaciers), some trees, and a bit of meadow grass, perhaps with a stream or lake nearby shouts “Sierra Nevada.”

This photograph does not include all of these Sierra ingredients but it does include the granite. I photographed this small bit of granite slab along a section of the Tuolumne River than runs through the back-country during a week-long backpack trip this past September. Something about the arrangement and color of the four larger stones against the water-stained underlying rock with its complex textures interested me. A lot of what is in the frame may not be visible in the small jpg version posted here, but there is a lot of detail in the frame: the texture or rock, crystal structures on some of the stones, several smaller pebbles, even a bit of dried pine needle.

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

Plants and Fractured Granite

November 18, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Various rain-moistened plants growing in a fracture in lichen-encrusted glacial granite slabs, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph was made in almost exactly the same spot as the photograph I posted yesterday, in an area of water-stained granite along the Tuolumne River in Yosemite National Park. Not only was I fortunate to have soft light, but it was cloudy and it had been raining lightly just before we went out to shoot. You can’t ask for much better conditions for such a subject: soft light from the clouds, colors saturated by the moisture, and a few small drops of rain still on the leaves of the plants. (The latter may not quite be visible in this little jpg image.)

I’m always on the lookout for this little intimate landscapes, especially if they include Sierra granite. I had been wandering around this area trying to find ways to make compositions out of the reddish and rain-moistened rock, shooting trees and small plants and even a few isolated rocks. This plant was growing out of a narrow crack and hanging downward, its green contrasting with the reddish-brown color of the rocks . The arrangement of the nearly vertical crack, the diagonal boundaries between the red rock and the gray rock, and the mottled texture of the lichen also caught my eye.

When I share a photograph like this one, I’m reminded of my friend Mike, a retired Yosemite ranger, who pointedly reminded me once that sometimes there really is no good reason to name the precise location of such a scene. The location is irrelevant to the photograph, similar little scenes are repeated thousands of times over throughout the Sierra, and it isn’t really about the specific place at all.

Deals and Sales, Equipment

Canon Fall Promotion Ends Soon – Cameras, Lenses, Flash, Kits

November 17, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

11/11/11 – Canon currently has an “instant savings” promotion on a number of lenses and speedlites through November 23, 2011. Here is a list of most of the qualifying products, with links to site sponsor B&H Photo. In many cases the “instant savings” price is considerably lower than the B&H “import” version of the product. When you purchase from B&H via these links you help support this blog. Thanks!

Lenses

Camera/Lens Kits

Speedlites

When you purchase from B&H via these links you help support this blog. Thanks!

(Double check the links to check for availability and read instant savings promotion details.)

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Monthly Archives: November 2011

Granite Slab After Rain

Stones, Stained Granite

Plants and Fractured Granite

Canon Fall Promotion Ends Soon – Cameras, Lenses, Flash, Kits

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