Category Archives: Photographs: Yosemite

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

Flooded Tuolumne Meadow, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Evening

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Flooded Tuolumne Meadow, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Evening
Flooded Tuolumne Meadow, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Evening

Flooded Tuolumne Meadow, Mounts Dana and Gibbs, Evening. Yosemite National Park, California. June 5, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on snow-covered Mounts Dana and Gibbs reflected on the surface of the flooding Tuolumne River, Tuolumne Meadows.

Tioga Pass opened this year on June 5, a bit later than usual. The late opening was due to a slightly greater than average amount of precipitation this past winter and a cold and wet May. As a consequence, there was a lot of snow on opening day, and lots and lots of run-off water.

I made this photograph in the evening in Tuolumne Meadows as the late light was just leaving the tops of the trees below Lembert Dome and beginning to color the summits of Mounts Dana and Gibbs with warm “golden hour” light. The Tuolumne River was so full that it had flooded large sections of the meadow – parts looked more like “Tuolumne Lake” than Tuolumne Meadow. Because the meadow was still covered with snow, the surface of the flooded areas was full of ice and slush. The overall appearance was closer to that of a winter scene, even though the calendar said early June.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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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.

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

Crouching Marmot

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Crouching Marmot
Crouching Marmot

Crouching Marmot. Yosemite National Park, California. June 5, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A marmot crouches on rocks at Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park, California.

Oh, no, not another marmot! Yes, another marmot. And I think I have at least one more to post before I’m done. Once again, this critter was hanging out in the rocks at Olmsted Point when I visited on my way across Tioga Pass on June 5, 2010.

I’d love to be able to say that I had to carefully stalk this marmot across the alpine tundra of the high Sierra, but that wouldn’t be true. First, it is really hard to closely approach marmots that are not accustomed to the presence of humans, and the back-country marmots tend to be fairly skittish. Second, I would not be carrying the lens that I used for this shot on back-country pack trips. The truth is that this critter is one of the many that hang out at Olmsted Point along Tioga Pass Road. These marmots won’t – fortunately! – eat out of your hand or anything like that, and they do retain some caution… but you can get relatively close to them. I was there on this day because it was the day that the pass was first opened for the season. The marmots almost seemed a bit bemused by all of the humans who showed up that day, and they also seemed to be enjoying a bit of late spring sun.

My approach to photographing them was pretty simple. I put a long lens on my camera – a 400mm telephoto – and found a comfortable spot below the rocks where they hang out. I waited quietly, and when they began to “come out to play,” I was able to photograph them from a decent distance and avoid spooking them.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.

(Basic EXIF data may be available by “mousing over” large images in posts. Leave a comment if you want to know more.)


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

Marmot and Rocks

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Marmot and Rocks
Marmot and Rocks

Marmot and Rocks. Yosemite National Park, California. June 5, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A marmot with a quizzical expression emerges from rocks at Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park, California.

Since it is a busy week and I have this photo sitting here on the computer, I have declared it another “furry mammal photograph day.” This is the third, and perhaps the last for now, of the marmot photographs I made at Olmsted Point on my early June trip over Tioga Pass Road. The marmots at Olmsted are quite used to human presence – and they better be since they live in rocks right below a very popular overlook and parking area. Although it wasn’t that busy on this day when the road first opened for the season, a month or two from now this will be a very popular place with Yosemite tourists.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 200, f/8, 1/125 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, sierra, nevada, mountain, spring, nature, marmot, mammal, fur, alpine, animal, wildlife, nature, creature, face, quizzical, expression, eye, olmsted, point, tioga, pass, road, highway, 120, tuolumne, meadows, california, usa, north america, stock

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

Cascade Creek, Spring

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Cascade Creek, Spring
Cascade Creek, Spring

Cascade Creek, Spring. Yosemite National Park, California. June 5, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The spring torrent of Cascade Creek descends past Big Oak Flat Road on its way to the Merced River, Yosemite National Park, California.

Every year, but especially in years of above average precipitation, this cascade flows strongly in the early season as low elevation snow melts above Crane Flat Road. The creek, swollen with runoff, drops down a narrow slot above the road, passes under the bridge, and continues its descent to join the Merced. This year the cascade was very full during my first-week-of-June visit, and even though I’ve photographed it before I had to stop again.

Lighting can be tricky here. The water is deep in the cleft in the rocks, so it is much darker and the light is fairly blue. The direct sun was lighting the foreground trees, which are much brighter and warmer in color than the background. I was lucky in that the waterfall and some morning breezes were raising a good deal of mist, which alternately obstructed the view of the fall and cleared away to show some of the trees. At the moment I made this exposure the shadows of trees outside the frame were creating shadows in the cloud of mist.

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 84mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/4 second

keywords: yosemite, national, park, sierra, nevada, mountain, spring, nature, tree, oak, pine, trunk, branch, rock, boulder, granite, cascade, creek, fall, waterfall, torrent, spring, runoff, melt, water, foam, spray, big, flat, road, merced, river, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, mist, light, morning, beam, stock