Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest, Dome, and Ridge

Image Leave a comment
Forest, Dome, and Ridge
Stormy evening view from Tuolumne Meadows, across forest and granite dome, to the Sierra crest

Forest, Dome, and Ridge. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Stormy evening view from Tuolumne Meadows, across forest and granite dome, to the Sierra crest

This had been a challenging day for photography for the most part. While there was some good light in the early part of the day, later on the sky was covered by monsoonal clouds and building thunderstorms. It never really rained much where I was, but the potential was there and it did rain not far away. Thunderstorm photography can be exciting, especially if you are in a position where you can see the tops of the clouds… but down below, if the sky is completely overcast, the light can become blah and gray.

But there is always a hope that evening will bring a break-up of the clouds and even allow in some sunset light. By the time I made this photograph that process was already starting. The uniform cloud ceiling had begun to break up, with openings to blue sky here and there, and an occasional beam of light moved over the landscape. Here the light from the west, shining in beneath the clouds, illuminated the foreground meadow and the gigantic forests winding up the slopes toward granite peaks further away.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Wildflowers, Lake, Peak

Image Leave a comment
Wildflowers, Lake, Peak
Paintbrush flowers in the lakeshore meadow of a subalpine lake below the Sierra Nevada crest

Wildflowers, Lake, Peak. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Paintbrush flowers in the lakeshore meadow of a subalpine lake below the Sierra Nevada crest

This is pretty much a classic Sierra Nevada high country scene, from the zone this is my favorite — the region just below the tree line, where there the landscape is usually open and filled with rocky meadows and lakes and towering peaks. The intimate shorelines of the small high-country lakes and tarns are special, and more than once I’ve managed to spend a significant amount of time simply lounging by them in the middle of the day.

I reached this spot by way of a longer hike around a large lake, starting my walk close to sunrise. One side of the upper end of this lake features open forests, while the other side is an area of meadows and boulders, though which flows the outlet of the smaller lake in this photograph. I arrived by myself and went to work making photographs, mostly of the lake itself and the surrounding alpine scenery. After a while I finishing that work and commenced the serious business of sitting on a large rock and staring for a while. Finally, it was time to start thinking about my return hike, but before I departed I wandered over to this shoreline where these brilliant red flowers had caught my attention.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains

Image Leave a comment
Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains
A solitary tree, subalpine meadows, lake, and reflection of Sierra Nevada peaks

Tree, Lake, Reflected Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary tree, subalpine meadows, lake, and reflection of Sierra Nevada peaks

For this photograph I again travel back almost a full year, to a late summer photographic adventure into the High Sierra with a group of friends. We had much of our bulky and heavy equipment packed into this remote spot, though we carried our photographic equipment in on our backs. We remained here for about a week, with lots of time to explore and photograph the surrounding landscape.

The closest feature of interest was the meadow holding this subalpine lake. (We camped behind my camera position and on a rise that kept us out of the meadow. ) Early and late in the day the light around this lake could be beautiful, and I made this photograph in the morning while the water was still and the light slanted in from the east and left dramatic shadows on the landscape.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Sunset Storm Light

Image Leave a comment
Sunset Storm Light
Clearing storm clouds at a final wash of sunset color above the Sierra crest near Tuolumne Meadows

Sunset Storm Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clearing storm clouds at a final wash of sunset color above the Sierra crest near Tuolumne Meadows

This is another photograph from my mid-July evening of miracle light — or, more accurately, my five minutes of miracle light! As I wrote earlier, I had ascended this high point in the Tuolumne Meadows area on an evening when the light was about as “blah” as it gets. There were weak thunderstorms floating around over the crest, but they were more gray and flat that electrical and exciting. And the cloud shield extended a good distance to the west, which meant that no western light was making its way in to live up the scene. But there I was, on top of a high and spectacular place with a remarkable panoramic view, so I was starting to settle in to simply enjoy the experience and perhaps not make photographs.

But… sometimes boring conditions can actual be precursors to sudden changes and even very special conditions. On overcast mountain evenings (and mornings) there may be a distant break in the clouds near the horizon, and if the setting (rising) sun passes through that space at the right moment a sudden beam of colorful light may illuminate the landscape with golden hour or pinkish light. I felt that the odds weren’t with me on this evening, but I hadn’t written off the possibility entirely either, and I kept my gear at hand just in case. Perhaps five minutes before sunset the first pink light appeared to the north on distant clouds and then began to faintly glow on the closer domes. Within in seconds the scene went from gray and flat light to this marvel of warm reddish tones. I photographed rapidly for perhaps five minutes or less… and then it was gone.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | LinkedIn | Email

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