Sierra Forest, Morning Light. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
First morning light arrives in dense Sierra Nevada forest
Spend enough time somewhere and you begin to develop surprising relationships with surprising little places that perhaps no one else would even notice. Since I’ve been going to the Sierra for decades, I’ve had plenty of time to find my own “little places” and to begin to understand and value this. Some decades ago, when my backpacking experience became extensive enough that I often found myself back at places that I had previously visited, I was surprised to discover that particular rocks (like one at a high country lake where I often set up my camp kitchen, or another where I once sat and watched a storm blow in), creeks (such as one near 11,000′ in the southern Sierra where I have camped alone and with friends), trees (such as the one we discovered decades ago on a trip with kids, shortly after it had been blasted apart by lightning), and others acquire a quality of old, familiar friends.
This little bit of forest has become one of those places. It is not quite in the “back-country.” In fact, it is a scene that I drive past on my way to other places. But a few years ago it caught my attention and I began to inspect it every time I passed by, sometimes stopping to look more closely. I cannot quite articulate why or how it is that this bit of forest became “mine,” but it did. I was camped nearby on this morning and had gone out to look for light when I remembered the spot and arrived just as the first direct morning sunlight was beginning to enter the grove.
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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.