Aspen Color, North Lake. Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Colorful autumn aspen colors surround the shores of North Lake with the Sierra Crest beyond.
I should probably hand out sunglasses and an Official Icon Alert warning with this one. Yes, it is that North Lake.
Later on this morning, after shooting elsewhere around the lake in the early hours, and after the workshop shooters had mostly moved on (after all, the good light was gone… ;-), I decided to cross the outlet stream and see about climbing up a hill above that lake that I had been thinking about. I found an easy trail along the side of the lake, but then had to more or less bushwhack my way up the slope to get above the tops of the very red lakeside aspens, which is no easy task when carrying a large photo pack and a good size tripod. (Once up there, I discovered a very easy trail going straight to my position. Sigh.)
Although it was no longer the “golden hour” and the morning was well along, there were scattered clouds. These shadows from these clouds moved rapidly across the landscape, sometimes producing almost uniform shade and sometimes lighting up some features while leaving others less visible. When I see conditions like this I often imagine the perfect positioning of the clouds and the light effects they produce – some primary feature caught in the spot light of a beam of sun, others in sunlight muted by thin clouds, and any spots that happen to be a bit too bright and distracting miraculously muted by a perfectly placed shadow. Yeah, right. But if I watch and wait long enough, something interesting almost always happens, and sometimes the moving clouds do momentarily solve composition and exposure problems. Here, the light on the bright red trees in the foreground is momentarily diminished by a passing cloud shadow and the shoreline trees are in sunlight… and the big cloud at upper left is reflecting on the surface of the water just beyond the foreground trees.
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Great photo Dan! The colors are wonderful and that is such a lovely spot for a great composition. I have a very funny story about scrambling up the side of that hill with another photographer who happens to be a little famous so I won’t mention his name…and his tumble back down the hill. If I ever bump into you I’ll have to share the story.
Can’t wait to hear your story, Beth! It is a funny hill – it doesn’ look like it should pose a challenge, but it turns out to be trickier to ascend than you might think. Now that I know where to look, if I go back I’ll use the trail!
Dan
Your comment about it being easy to “believe that it’s always either dawn or dusk” resonates with all of us, I think. While the light can be exceptionally beautiful – and more friendly to photographers for some technical reasons, too – I’ve felt that if something is beautiful or compelling in midday light that there should be some way to make a photograph of that. It isn’t easy, but I think it can be done.
(I wish it were easy – I could sleep in later! ;-)
The “cloud problem” is, as you probably know, an interesting one. On one hand, it requires the patience to spend some time watching and waiting – sometimes a lot of watching and waiting time! On the other hand, sometimes things happen so fast that they are almost over before they begin – and rather than waiting patiently you find yourself working like a maniac trying to catch something before it is gone!
Dan
I think this photograph resonates especially with me because its not a golden hour photograph. Usually the way I see the Eastern Sierra is hiking in high sun of the mid-morning or afternoon and it’s nice to see those conditions represented as well. Given the body of work that has come out of the mountains from many photographers one might be lead to believe it’s always either dawn or dusk.
I also recognize the serious patience necessary to wait for clouds to solve those exposure problems however as this proves ultimately that patience usually pays big dividends. I confess I usually don’t have such patience.
Dan – Great photo of a beautiful location…talk about color! it must have been something to expereince that in person!
What a great photo! This is my favorite of all your photos. The extra effort you made certainly paid off. I think it proves that there are still good opportunities out there even when the prime lighting conditions have passed. Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks, Dave. I had been thinking about shooting from this spot for some time, and was very fortunate that the conditions of color and light cooperated with me!
Dan