Tag Archives: yellow

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

Cottonwood Trees, Reflection

November 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with fall foliage reflected in the Merced River

Believe it or not, this is the mighty Merced River, draining a vast section of the Yosemite High Sierra that extends all the way to the highest peaks of this section of the Sierra crest. On this late October afternoon, on a dry day during a dry month at the end of the second of two drought years in the Sierra, the river felt in many ways more like a creek. The water moved slowly, gently rippling over rocks in the shallow sections and pooling in the deeper areas where the movement of the water was almost invisible. The contrast between this scene and what the river can do is apparent when your realize that these trees could be standing in very deep water during the peak runoff floods of a wet year.

I had wandered out to this relatively accessible location in the afternoon, drawn by the golden cottonwood trees that were approaching their peak autumn color, the brilliant fall backlight from the low afternoon sun down the Valley to the west, the shadowed granite face beyond, and the possibility of using the river as an element in photographs. I was apparently not the only person with this idea, and when I arrived I found perhaps a half-dozen painters occupying strategic spots on gravel bars, the beach, and along the banks. I made some photographs that included these artists, but I also contrived to exclude them from some of the compositions, including this one that brought together all of those elements that I came here to find.

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.

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

Hiker, Black Oaks, and Meadow

November 23, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A hiker crosses a Yosemite Valley meadow beyond black oak trees with autumn foliage

Yes, yet another photograph of autumn oak trees and Yosemite Valley meadows! It is (or was) the season in late October and I’m still sorting through the photographs. When I first arrived here my plan was to photograph the black oaks as a “natural” landscape without people. So I found a composition that I thought would work and settled in to wait for the folks who were (as is inevitable in the Valley) wandering around in the meadow to finish and move out of the frame. It seemed that every time the view was about to be clear yet another person would arrive and walk into the frame. I finally decided that I might have to make two or more photographs and blend the “person-less” sections to create one image without hikers, so I made a few exposures as two or three people walked across. (I also timed some of the shots so that the people would be hidden behind the oak trees.)

As luck would have it, after I decided on this approach there was a point at which no human figures appeared in the scene, so I do have my natural landscape version of this scene. However, after thinking about it a bit more, I actually like the version with a person in it better! While most of my landscapes are “people-free,” every so often I do one that includes the figures in the frame. I’ve learned a few things about this. First, having a person in the frame isn’t always a bad thing. (Yes, file that in the “duh!” file.) The presence of a human figure can both crystallize the composition and it causes us to relate to the scene very differently – perhaps imaging ourselves being there or perhaps considering what the person in the photograph might be thinking and experiencing. Second, the figure can often be quite small and still change the effect of the image in ways that are much bigger than the small figure might suggest. As an exercise, try to just barely cover the person with your finger. Notice how the greatly the effect of this scene changes?

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

Merced River Boulder, Autumn

November 21, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A large boulder is exposed by low autumn water levels in the Merced River

On the final two days of October this year, I did what I often do at this time of year – make a visit to Yosemite Valley to photograph fall colors. As is the case with fall colors in many places in the west, the transition seemed to come a little earlier than usual, and this might have been just a bit too late for some colors (big leaf maples) and perhaps a bit early for others (cottonwoods) but overall a fine time to be in the Valley. (This season was a bit strange in many places in the west, including many where I often photograph. For example, the arrival of the fall aspen color was early, though it did hang on for a good long time.)

This scene along the Merced River says “autumn” in ways that are both obvious to anyone and perhaps less so unless you know the Valley a bit. In the obvious category are the colors of trees along the banks of the river, mostly big leaf maple and oak in this photograph. Other aspects include the very low water level and the quiet flow of the river. In the spring this section of the Merced can be a wild flood of snow melt runoff that rises toward the top of the large boulder – but so late in the season, especially in a very dry year like this one – the river has a much gentler and quieter personality. The light is also different – with the low sun angle there is no direct light at the bottom of the canyon here and none on the section of valley wall visible in the distance. The atmosphere has some of the same feeling that the river has – a bit hazy, little air movement, and at times a softer quality of light.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Pacific Northwest, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Blue Shirt Pedestrians, Linear Landscape

November 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Two pedestrians in blue shirts walk past architecture emphasizing vertical and horizontal lines

A photograph like this is a bit hard to explain, but I’ll try. At least a little bit. As is often the case, for some reason this structure – a parking lot – caught my attention. I like the texture of concrete when doing city photography, and this landscape of lines seemed a bit striking, and in fact it got me thinking again about the very linear nature of much of the urban environment. Aside from a few things – the green tree, the red card, and the people – essentially everything in this scene can be regarded as being a sum of horizontals and verticals, from the obvious vertical covering of the garage to the wires, to the street lanes and lane lines, to the sidewalk, and the rows of squares on the background building.

It occurs to me from time to time that there is something very unnatural about this, and it might even be a cause of the disconnect from the environment that can occur in such places. But as (pretty much) always, the constructed world is not perfectly linear. But still, to me, the two people walking along the sidewalk, whose blue attire also caught my attention, look very small and very passive relative to the constructed world they inhabit.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: yellow

Cottonwood Trees, Reflection

Like this:

Hiker, Black Oaks, and Meadow

Like this:

Merced River Boulder, Autumn

Like this:

Blue Shirt Pedestrians, Linear Landscape

Like this:

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Share this page:

Like this:

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.