patricia emerson mitchell photography
the way I see the world
It is far too hot here, so I thought I’d share something from another time, location, and temperature. But would you believe this is from the desert? We went up into the high country and were quite surprised by the abundance of wildflowers and the arrival of snow. It was a fabulous day!
Just a bunch ‘o rocks in the high country — John Muir Wilderness.
Yes, another card collection, good for the holidays!
I am STILL in the month of April, 2017. I can’t believe how many photos I made that year. Some are pretty darn awful. Some are quite good. And some, like these, I’ll continue to wonder about. I like them. Then I don’t. Then I do ….
A quandary.
Here is a card I’m currently working on for a boxed set of Christmas (or holiday, really) cards. Stay tuned for the boxed set!
Someone I know and love gets to go to Yosemite this weekend. Someone else does not, so she is making herself feel worse by looking over photos from trips in the past. But so it goes. The life of a musician includes a lot of weekends where other people go off on trips and the musician stays home to work. It’s just the way the job works!
Tunnel View Ice (II), 12.31.15
Winter Trees (II), Yosemite, 12.31.15
… because I should be walking off all the food I’ve eaten and will eat but I’m being lazy in front of the computer instead, I will share another snowy shot.
Winter Trees, Yosemite, 12.31.15
Snow is white, yes?
Well, not really.
The blue photo of this branch up in Yosemite National Park is what the camera saw. I knew it was bluish, but I didn’t think it was that blue. Our eyes — or really our brain I suppose — cause us to see things differently than truth. (One can apply that to more than sight, as many of us have learned.)
Here, have some blue, as the camera saw the snow and branch:
Snow and a Branch, 12.31.16
Dan has explained all of this to me — about the snow reflecting this color (if I’m remembering correctly). And a site that is clearly set up for teachers has this and more:
There’s a scientific reason that snow is white. Light is scattered and bounces off the ice crystals in the snow. The reflected light includes all the colors, which, together, look white. While your red sweater absorbs all colors except red and reflects red back out for people to see and a yellow tennis ball absorbs all colors except yellow and reflects yellow back out for people to see, snow reflects all colors. And all the colors of light add up to white.
But snow can also look blue or purple or even pink depending on how the sunlight hits it and whether it is in shadow. Some artists try to avoid using pure white paint in their paintings entirely and instead think about what colors they actually see instead of what colors they expect to see. Mixing a little white with other colors might look more like the snow that they see.
What I thought I was seeing was a bit more like this … and still it isn’t truly white:
Snow and a Branch (white adjustment), 12.31.16
Sometimes, though, I give up. Did I really see it the way I’m remembering? After all, this was nearly a year ago! I can always just give up and make it black and white.
Snow and a Branch (B&W), 12.31.16
I’m looking forward to another snowy day in Yosemite. As you can see from the date (I date these mostly so I can locate them easily!) this we the last day of December, 2015.
Yosemite Trees with Snow, 12.31.15