Tag Archives: forest

Photographs: Cascades, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Mount Shuksan

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Mount Shuksan
Mount Shuksan towers over forested valleys near Artist Point, Washington

Mount Shuksan. North Cascades, Washington. September 10, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mount Shuksan towers over forested valleys near Artist Point, Washington

I was recently in the Seattle, Washington area for a few days. My main reason for going was not photographic, but I managed to get in a couple of days of photography during the visit — a day of street photography in Seattle’s downtown area and a longer day up in the North Cascades near the Artist Point area around Mount Bake and Mount Shuksan. I picked this day largely because of the weather. The Pacific Northwest is not as reliably sunny as my California, so when I heard that the second-to-last day of my visit was likely to produce some sunshine I decided to take advantage of this potential.

In the end the weather was a bit trickier than I expected. There was sun, but it was often muted by clouds. This can be a good thing for many subjects, and light softened and filtered by high clouds can be lovely. But these mountains might have benefited from a bit more light — though the muted light produces a different quality that has its appeal, too. Most of my time here was spent slowly walking along the paths of the Artist Point area, which is found at the high point and end of the road at a location between Mounts Baker and Shuksan. I believe Baker is the higher peak, but Shuksan is the wilder looking mountain, with ramparts of dark rock broken up by snow fields and glaciers. When I made this photograph the soft light was illuminating the forest and valley in the foreground, and even more muted light fell across the peak. The photograph also illustrates a feature of the Cascades that gets the attention of this Sierra Nevada homey, namely the abrupt transition from forest to the alpine zone of rocks and snow and glaciers.

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.
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Photographs: Cascades, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Trees, Volcanic Terrain

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Trees, Volcanic Terrain
Tree line groves in the volcanic alpine landscape of the North Cascades

Trees, Volcanic Terrain. September 10, 2017. Artist Point, Washington. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tree line groves in the volcanic alpine landscape of the North Cascades

I’ll continue to alternate between photographs from several recent photographic projects — the late-August Sierra backcountry photography, a recent trip to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and perhaps a few other things. Today’s photograph comes from the Seattle visit, from which I returned just a few days ago. I spent most of the visit in the Seattle, specifically Ballard, where I did some street photography. However, I did get one day to drive out a bit and do some landscape photography. After considering the “big three” options (Rainier, Olympics, and Cascades) I decided to head north, almost to the Canadian border, and the Mount Baker area.

I went to the understandably popular Artist Point area, just beyond the Mount Baker ski area, where there are a number of trails heading out in various directions to visit this spectacular country sitting between the summits of Mount Shuksan and Mount Baker. While my experience with this county is limited — it is a long ways from home! — I love the character of these mountains. They feature dark and rugged volcanic peaks, large glaciers, forests fed by the significant precipitation in this part of the world, and a rather abrupt transition between the world of the forests and that of the glaciers. Artist Point sits very close to this boundary — there are beautiful trees, but much of the country is open and rocky, and not far above are those glaciers.

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.
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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Subalpine Meadow, Forest, and Peaks

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Subalpine Meadow, Forest, and Peaks
At the edge of a subalpine meadow, surrounded by forest and high peaks

Subalpine Meadow, Forest, and Peaks. John Muir Wilderness, California. September 1, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

At the edge of a subalpine meadow, surrounded by forest and high peaks

I’ll have to go back and look through a week’s worth of photographs to see if I’m just imagining it, but it seemed to me that we could almost watch the high meadows start to change from green to golden during this late-season trip into the John Muir Wilderness. It was surprisingly green when we arrived about a week from the end of August — the surroundings looked more like perhaps lake July of a normal year, with lush green vegetation in the meadows and extraordinary numbers of blooming wildflowers. One doesn’t typically go to the Sierra near the beginning of September to photograph wildflowers, but that was quite possible this year. But by the first days of September, a week later, it seemed like the usual transition from green to golden was finally happening.

We were also fortunate to experience “interesting” weather, which is not always a sure bet in the Sierra. Talk to a few long-time High Sierra photographers and you’ll hear griping about the terrible, awful “week of boring blue skies!” That may seem like an odd complaint to those who frequently must photograph through challenging weather, but we can be frustrated by too much blue sky! We did have these conditions on this trip, but we also had clouds and rain, including one surprise after-dark shower. The clouds in this photograph are small, but it was still morning — such clouds are often the harbingers of afternoon thunder showers.

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.
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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains

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Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains
A stream winds through a tree and flower-filled meadow holding a subalpine lake, with distant peaks, John Muir Wilderness

Meadow, Flowers, Trees, and Mountains. John Muir Wilderness, California. August 29, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stream winds through a tree and flower-filled meadow holding a subalpine lake, with distant peaks, John Muir Wilderness

And, yes, yet another photograph from our end-of-August-start-of-September trip into the John Muir Wilderness backcountry, during which we spent more than a week photographing some very spectacular scenery and hanging out with a fine group of fellow photographers. Our camp was located on a moraine near the site of this photograph — a high spot with some visibility to a larger panorama, but also somewhat hidden from others who might pass by.

Below our camp was this meadow and the lake beyond. The conditions were very special — for the end of August and beginning of September the meadow was still very lush and green and the wildflowers were still thriving. There were all kinds of flowers in the meadow, but this photograph mostly features paintbrush flowers and plants.

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+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.