Last Year’s Leaf. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A solitary autumn cottonwood leaf hangs on a branch against a spring-green background.
The beginning and ending of photography days are often the busiest times. It isn’t that you cannot make photographs all day long, but the light is often most interesting at these moments and things tend to change more quickly. After an early morning start and hours of intense photography, it is almost inevitable that there will come a moment when everything slows down. On this morning I decided to stop what I had been doing (photographing birds) and wander down a short trail past some ponds.
I am often surprised by what I see when I step back from what I am photographing and slow my pace. I really didn’t think I would see anything photographically interesting on this little walk, but almost immediately I came upon bare cottonwood branches holding last year’s dry leaves, their withered and nearly monochromatic forms backed by newly sprouting green grasses and blue sky.
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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