One of the advantages of returning to the same subjects over the years is that this gives your vision for them time to evolve. Here I speak not just of aspens in general, but of this particular grove of trees. Some years ago, while photographing a different nearby subject, a large grove further up the hillside caught my attention. It posed two challenges. First, getting close to the grove would be extremely difficult. Second, it always seemed to have lost its leaves when the other trees I came to see were at their color peak.
But I could not get this grove out of my mind and I kept returning to it every year. I figured out that it would require the use of a long lens and just the right soft light conditions. I also came to embrace its nearly leafless state. This year I made several photographs of the subject that I think I like, including this one. Im fascinated by the complex forms of the small trees and their overlapping branches. While there is a bit of leaf color, it mostly serves to set off the bleached quality of the closely-spaced white trunks.
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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.
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