Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Autumn Leaves, Redwood Creek

September 27, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn leaves float in Redwood Creek at Muir Woods National Monument.

I suppose that this is really my first “official” autumn photograph of the season. (I did post recent Sierra photographs that show “autumn” conditions, but they were made just prior to the equinox.) One of the reasons I went to Muir Woods today is that I know that the understory trees are some of the first in the area to show fall color, and I thought that the transition just might be underway. Indeed, the color change does appear to be starting, with these large yellow leaves starting to appear along with the brown needles that have fallen from the redwoods, the turning bay tree leaves, and some ferns that have many brown leaves.

I photographed these leaves floating on and near a log in Redwood Creek. The creek runs through the main valley of the Monument, and I made this photograph from one of the many bridges that cross it. One challenge here is trying to find a time when other visitors are not tromping across the bridge and vibrating the camera – especially important in the very low light which necessitates long exposures! (This was a five-second exposure.)

I had not been to Muir Woods for a few months, so it was interesting to see how the conditions have changed in the late summer and early autumn. Many of the plants that I photographed as they emerged in spring have now stopped growing, and in some cases are starting to die back. The lush and moist green quality has slipped a bit towards drier and slightly dusty conditions in places. One thing that hasn’t changed is that this redwood forest is a very cool place – although temperatures in the Bay Area today were into the 90 degree range, I had to wear a jacket when I arrived at the redwoods.

This photograph is 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

Autumn Light, Yosemite High Country

September 26, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late season evening light on a trees and a small meadow near Upper Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

After hiking up from Lower Young Lake and arriving at the upper lake well before the good light I wandered off along the southwest shoreline of Upper Young Lake to scope out photographic subjects for the “good light” period that was going to start very soon. First I walked along the shoreline where I found several prospective shots of a rock outcropping with trees at the end of a peninsula that curves into the lake. I kept walking along the shoreline and found a few more interesting formations with the backdrop of the more distant hillside leading to the ridge that runs along the edge of the basin. Eventually I worked my way a bit beyond the lake to a point where small, grassy gullies began to drop toward the steeper terrain leading to the next lake down the valley, and here I found some interesting backlit trees and boulders, again with the hazy image of the more distance hillside beyond.

This photograph was made pointing almost directly toward the lowering sun – it is actually just a bit to the right and behind some rocks and trees that are out of the frame. Because it was so close to the end of the day – and because of the late time of the season – the light soon became very saturated and warm colored. To me this scene says “end of summer” in the high country – while it is still comfortable and the winters snowfall is still weeks in the future, there is a time in September when the days shorter, the grasses turn golden brown, the aspen color is only weeks away, and most of the tourists have left when the changing of the seasons can no longer be denied.

This photograph is 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

Morning, Shoreline of Lower Young Lake

September 25, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Morning sunlight shines through the edge of the forest along the rocky shoreline of Lower Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

When I got up on this late-summer morning at Lower Young Lake, my first goal was to walk around the end of the lake and into the forested area shown along the shoreline in this photograph – but as I reached the lake near my camp I decided to first photograph the shoreline forest and trees from a bit further back. There are, as is probably apparent, several layers to this scene: the reflecting surface of the water with logs and other things below the surface and seen through the reflections, the rocks along the shoreline, behind that the edge of the forest interspersed with a few more boulders and bits of sunlit meadow, and far beyond the rocky face of the ridge that rises behind the lake.

This photograph is 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

Tree and Rocks, Lower Young Lake

September 24, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small tree growing on rocks near the shoreline of Lower Young Lake, Yosemite National Park, California.

I first saw this small tree growing in the cracks of rocks near the shore of the lake the morning before I made this photograph. At that time the tree looked interesting but the light was not so great. So visiting this tree again was on my agenda for the following morning and I got there a bit earlier. I made a number of exposures of this scene, and I’m still not certain which one(s) I think work the best – so there is a chance that one or more additional photographs of this subject may appear before too long.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Monthly Archives: September 2010

Autumn Leaves, Redwood Creek

Autumn Light, Yosemite High Country

Morning, Shoreline of Lower Young Lake

Tree and Rocks, Lower Young Lake

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