Almost Leafless. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. September 25, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A few yellow leaves remain in a dense grove of small eastern Sierra Nevada aspen trees
Strange things have happened with the aspen color change this year. While some things seem to be on a fairly normal schedule — for example, there are still a lot of eastern Sierra aspen trees that are completely green — I have seen two common difference. First, the color started to change a bit earlier, and I found good color perhaps a week earlier than I might in a more typical, non-drought year. Second, it is clear that some groves of trees seem to have simply dropped their leaves, with little or no color appearing first. (Don’t worry too much. While there are certainly examples of this occurrence, the majority of the trees do not seem to be affected by this.)
Far up an eastern Sierra canyon where I photograph aspens every year I know of places where a variety of aspen types can usually be found. I visited one where it is not uncommon for a dense carpet of brilliant color from a grove of densely packed trees covers a particular mountainside. However, this year the groves was almost completely bare of leaves when I visited in late September. At first I was disappointed, but I soon recalled how much I like groves that are mostly white trunks and branches, with only a few colorful leaves remaining — and I made a few photographs. The idea here was not so much to construct a clear and obvious composition, but instead to capture a sort of wall of aspen trunks and branches, with that wonderful bit of color still holding on.
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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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