Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove, Bishop Creek

October 8, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall colors in an aspen grove near the south fork of Bishop Creek.

This photograph was made in a bit of an odd place. While driving up the road to South Lake along the south fork of Bishop Creek, I spotted an unmarked gravel side road and decided to check it out. The short road traveled parallel to the main roadway, but it went through a thick grove of small aspen trees – so I stopped and spent a half hour in the early evening photographing these trees close up.

keywords: fall, autumn, aspen, tree, forest, grove, color, gold, yellow, orange, white, trunk, branch, grass, landscape, nature, bishop, creek, california, usa, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, stock, foliage

Commentary, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Snow Squall, North Lake and Piute Crags

October 7, 2008 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Autumn snow falls on Piute Crags above the fall foliage at North Lake. Sierra Nevada, California.

This photo marks – knock on wood! – the return to more a regular schedule of posting new photographs.

As always, there is a bit of a story behind the photograph. Last weekend (the first October weekend of 2008) I managed to do one of my annual aspen chasing expeditions, timed to catch the trees as they change from green to golden, yellow, red, orange, and a thousand intermediate hues. I left the Bay Area on Friday afternoon and drove over Tioga Pass, stopping there for a moment to feel the force of the first incoming Pacific storm of the season. After dropping down from the pass and stopping for dinner at Whoa Nellie Deli I continued on to Bishop, where I checked into a motel at 9:30.

I wasn’t certain what the next morning would bring since the weather report called for the passage of the weather front and then some showery weather and dropping snow levels. When I left Bishop well before dawn the stars were out, so I was optimistic. As I drove west and up into the Bishop Creek drainage, however, the clouds increased, and by the time I arrived at North Lake before 7:00 a.m. it had clouded up completely. No problem, I thought, the air is still and I like shooting in overcast conditions, especially with the saturated colors of the aspens. I got out of the car, put my camera on the tripod, grabbed the rest of my gear, and started towards a spot with a good shot. Within moments the wind whipped up and it began to rain, very quickly turning to wet snow. I was quickly back in the car, hoping to wait it out and see what developed.

Before long there were breaks in the clouds, and although the cold wind was blowing like crazy and there was still some intermittent precipitation, I decided that the conditions were special enough that I’d better get out there and start shooting. (While I can imagine more comfortable conditions for photography, sometimes the most interesting conditions are not comfortable.)

Eventually I made a fairly extensive set of photographs from various areas along the shoreline of North Lake. This one was made near the outlet of the lake, looking back across the nearby grassy shoreline, and past wildly colored aspen trees to the more distant Piute Crags, where a snow squall was partly obscuring the summit.

keywords: fall, autumn, storm, squall, snow, piute, crags, north, lake, bishop, creek, aspen, grass, meadow, water, tree, forest, branches, cloud, scree, talus, landscape, scenic, stock, nature, wilderness, shore, shoreline

Locations

A Quick Aspen Report

October 5, 2008 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

I’m in Bishop, California as I write this – taking advantage of a wireless connection point in a coffee shop and offloading RAW files to my laptop. While I’m waiting, how about a quick aspen report?

I drove up on Friday, arriving in Bishop rather late – fortunately I had made a reservation at a cheap hotel rather than doing my usual camping thing. An early-season front came in over night. I felt the first of it as I stopped at Tioga Pass on the way over, and the wind was howling as it only does when a front is coming in.

I was up way before dawn on Saturday and on the road to North Lake. The stars were out in Bishop, but clouds were extending out from the Sierra crest, and by the time I got to North Lake it was cloudy and gray. However, the air was still and since I like shooting in the very earliest light I got my gear out and started to work. I could see that the well-know aspen grove extending up the opposite hill from teh lake was in good shape. Within minutes the wind whipped up and it began to rain – and the rain quickly turned to snow. Not great shooting conditions, so I got back in my car and holed up waiting for a break.

Within an hour the weather broke a bit, turning into intermittent light snow, partial clearing, occasional sun, and wind, wind, wind. That big aspen grove on the other side of the lake appeared to lose half of its leaves in the first hour or two of this wind! That said, there are some great colors along the road at North Lake right now – but I think these leaves won’t last a long time.

Later in the day I went up toward South Lake, and the colors along this road were quite good just about everywhere, although the lowest trees in the valley had not turned yet. I’d say that this area is in its prime right now with only a few good days left in the upper section.

This morning I went back to North Lake and later visited Sabrina Lake. There were still wonderful colors throughout this area, with conditions ranging from some trees that have lost most leaves (something I like to photographs) to some that are still almost all green.

It was interesting to note how quickly the leaves change. The area around Aspendell, which is lower in the canyon, has seemed completely green yesterday. Today the section right above Aspendell was showing a lot of color, and some was starting to appear in the large grove at Aspendell itself.

Later today I’ll head back north, perhaps stopping at McGee Creek and/or the Rock Creek area, both of which I’ve been told have some very good colors. Then I’ll pass through the Conway Summit/Virginia Lake area before continuing north, with a current plan of shooting at Monitor Pass in the early evening.

News

Jim M Goldstein’s ‘Buying Photographs’ Project

October 3, 2008 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Some of you may be visiting today after reading Jim M. Goldstein’s post at his site about purchasing photographs. First, welcome to my blog!

I’m going to participate in this project as well, though I’ve been thrown off track a bit this week by my server/hosting issues. I won’t bore you with the details of that story now – but read below if you are interested. One unfortunate effect of this has been that my extensive photograph gallery was “taken out” and the hundreds of photographs posted there are temporarily unavailable.

With that in mind, if you want are interested in looking at some of my work right now a good option might be to wander on over to my Flickr Gallery and take a look around. The My Flickriver page is an interesting alternative view of my work, sorted by its popularity on Flickr.

Thanks, Jim, for the mention… and even more for your support of this and other photographic projects!

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Monthly Archives: October 2008

Aspen Grove, Bishop Creek

A Quick Aspen Report

Jim M Goldstein’s ‘Buying Photographs’ Project

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