I came to this ridge overlooking Mono Basin and the Eastern Sierra well before sunrise. My intention was to photograph some extensive aspen groves along with other landscape subjects as the morning light arrived. It turned out that I was too late in the season for these aspens — I should have remembered that their drop leaves early — so I worked those other subjects as sunrise began to light up the terrain.
Below me, though, and extending across nearby hillsides was an extensive grove of smaller aspens. I knew the sun would eventually rise above a ridge to my east and start to light those trees, so I was ready when the first rays touched the upper branches of the trees.
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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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