Photographs: Yosemite | G Dan Mitchell Photography

Archive for the 'Photographs: Yosemite' Category

Lodgepole Forest, First Light

First morning light touches the tops of lodgepole pines in a lakeside forest, Yosemite National Park, California.

This bit of dense lodgepole pine forest is on the far shore of an easily-visited lake along Tioga Pass Road, and I like to photograph it when the morning light is just starting to make its way over the tops of the surrounding mountains and it begins to touch the first trees along the lake shore.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: lodgepole, pine, tamarack, forest, dense, first, light, morning, early, trunk, yellow, green, tenaya, lake, tioga, pass, road, highway, 120, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, nature, landscape, travel, scenic, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, trees, foliage, flora, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.17.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: No Comments »

Trees and Granite Slabs

Trees growing in granite slabs in the Yosemite high country stand in morning light.

Scenes like this are, for me, among those that most strongly characterize the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, and specifically the portion of the range found in Yosemite National Park. There are many mountain ranges that have their own attractions, but the combination of large swaths of glacially formed and polished granite with open forests filled with light immediately shouts “Sierra Nevada” to me. I used to be attracted most to the highest alpine peaks, but more and more I like the more intimate landscapes of the parts of the Sierra in which small ponds and tarns are placed among little meadows separated by trees and bits of granite.

Scenes like this one are not, frankly, all that hard to find in Yosemite and elsewhere in the Sierra. I photographed these trees and boulders in this expanse of glaciated granite near Olmsted Point in the early morning when the light was still warm and the shadows long.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: trees, lodgepole, pine, granite, dome, slab, rock, slope, shadow, three, landscape, nature, foliage, tioga, pass, road, highway, 120, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, morning, light, travel, scenic, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.15.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: No Comments »

Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows

Young lodgpole pines grow in front of a Dana Meadows pond as Mammoth Peak looms in the distance.

Late in July of this somewhat wet year, the portion of Dana Meadows that extends almost up to the top of Tioga Pass was still very green and a bit wet, with small streams flowing through it and seasonal tarns still full. Being careful to avoid the boggy spots, I wandered down in to this section of the meadow near where the old roadbed is still visible and found small ponds and young trees trying to infiltrate the meadow. Here the pond reflects clouds floating towards Mammoth Peak, the high point at the end of Kuna Crest, on the other side of which is found the Lyell fork of the Tuolumne River.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, nature, california, usa, north america, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, summer, july, dana, meadows, summer, grass, lake, pond, tarn, reflection, cloud, blue, young, small, baby, lodgepole, pine, trees, tamarack, tioga, pass, forest, grove, snow, mammoth, peak, kuna, crest, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.14.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: 2 Comments »

Detail, White Bark Pine

Detail of dense growth of a white bark pine tree in the high country near Tioga Pass, Yosemite National Park.

I photographed this dense growth of white bark pine in a high meadow not far from Tioga Pass, after venturing out into (and around, given the wet conditions!) this area very early in the morning. Although it isn’t apparent in this very close-up photograph, this was a rather unique tree. It had grown up around a large boulder and taken on the boulder’s shape since the branches followed the outline of the boulder almost exactly – it almost looked like the boulder was covered with a “tree blanket.”

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: white, bark, pine, Pinus albicaulis, needle, branch, foliage, plant, tree, bush, nature, tioga, dana, pass, meadow, twig, new, growth, dense, detail, close up, five, stock, nature, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, tuolumne, meadows, green

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.12.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: 3 Comments »

Storm Cell Over Mount Dana, Sunset

An evening storm cell winds down over Mount Dana beyond Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park, California.

This is a wider view of a scene I photographed in late July on an evening when thunderstorm cells were floating around the Sierra Nevada crest east of Tuolumne Meadows. This cell had conveniently centered itself directly above and behind Mount Dana, the highest peak on this section of the crest right above Tioga Pass, and was dropping virga (rain that doesn’t make it to the ground) over the peak in the sunset light.

It seemed odd that I was the only photographer out in the meadow on this evening!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: tuolumne, meadows, river, pool, reflection, grass, rock, yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, forest, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, mount, dana, lembert, dome, storm, cloud, evening, cell, clouds, sunset, light, sky, virga, trees, travel, scenic, landscape, nature, tioga, pass, road, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.11.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: No Comments »

Tuolumne Meadows, Stormy Evening

Evening storm clouds over the Sierra crest beyond Tuolumne Meadows and Lembert Dome, Yosemite National Park, California.

Once I saw these clouds begin to gather above Mount Dana on the Sierra crest, I made it my goal to be in this particular spot along the banks of the Tuolumne River at sunset. Actually, I arrived and set up quite a bit before actual sunset, and I began shooting even a bit earlier than the time when this photograph was made. A large storm cell had parked itself over and just beyond 13,000′+ Mount Dana on the Sierra crest at Tioga Pass, and as the evening went on rain eventually began to fall from this cell.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, california, usa, north america, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, crest, tuolumne, meadows, river, lembert, dome, mount, gibbs, dana, dog, brush, tree, forest, reflection, storm, clouds, sunset, evening, three, trees, bank, shoreline, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, sunset, stock, mount, dana

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.10.2010 :: Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite :: 3 Comments »

Abandoned Buildings, Eastern Sierra

Blood-red dawn light illuminates eastern Sierra Nevada peaks of Yosemite National Park and morning clouds above abandoned high desert cabins in the sage brush along highway 395.

Many who travel the eastern Sierra on highway 395 have no doubt seen these two abandoned buildings along the highway not far from Lee Vining, set against the background of the Sierra’s eastern escarpment along the border of Yosemite National Park. I’ve noticed them for years and have tried to photograph them a few times in the past.

On this late-July morning I had gotten up very early at my Tuolumne Meadows camp site and decided that there might be enough interesting clouds to warrant a trip down to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake for a sunrise shoot. However, I apparently didn’t get up quite early enough (actually, I miscalculated the time of dawn) since the sun began to rise above the horizon just before I turned east from 395 onto 120 to get to the lake. For a moment I vacillated – hurry on to get to Mono as soon after sunrise as possible (since the light gets there a few minutes later) or shoot whatever I could see right then an there? The intense red light made the decision for me and I quickly pulled over near these buildings and made a few exposures as the saturated and very red morning light hit the mountains.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: blood, red, dawn, morning, sunrise, clouds, sky, virga, eastern, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, yosemite, high, coiuntry, parker, pass, snow, eastern, escarpment, forest, sagebrush, high, desert, red, pink, abandoned, dilapidated, cabin, ranch, sagebrush, highway, 395, lee, vining, mono, lake, county, roadside, fence, barbed, wire, landscape, travel, scenic, stock

G Dan Mitchell :: Aug.08.2010 :: Commentary, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Structures, Photographs: Yosemite :: 8 Comments »

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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Archive for the 'Photographs: Yosemite' Category

Lodgepole Forest, First Light

Trees and Granite Slabs

Young Trees and Pond, Dana Meadows

Detail, White Bark Pine

Storm Cell Over Mount Dana, Sunset

Tuolumne Meadows, Stormy Evening

Abandoned Buildings, Eastern Sierra

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