Is it ever too early to start thinking about autumn? I don’t think so! Every fall I revisit familiar places to photograph the signs of the changing seasons. One of these is Yosemite Valley, where the most interesting colors often peak right around Halloween. At a minimum I make a long day trip up and back from the San Francisco Bay Area. But my preference is to visit for at least a coupe of days.
While we tend to think of the Sierra Nevada as a place for conifers, these oak trees are are quite common in the Valley. While the oak leaves do not produce the brilliant yellows and oranges and reds of the Eastern Sierra aspens, in the right light the brown and golden tones of the oak leaves glow warmly in the sunlight.
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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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