All posts by G Dan Mitchell

G Dan Mitchell, photographer and visual opportunist focusing on the Pacific coast, the Sierra Nevada, redwood forests, California oak/grasslands, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography and more. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Round Valley, Autumn Snow

October 11, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sun shines on autumn-dry pastures and cottonwood trees in Round Valley as early autumn snow falls on Mount Tom

After a few early October days and nights photographing fall subjects in Bishop Canyon, on my final morning in camp I woke up to temperatures in the middle thirties and snow pellets, with the surround peaking shrouded in clouds that occasionally parted to reveal new snowfall. I got up, headed out to make a few photographs, and worked for a couple of hours before the storm arrived in earnest, with rain and snow up higher. At this point, photography was becoming a less attractive and even possible project, so it was time to bail out and start my long drive home. I stopped in the town of Bishop long enough to get coffee and breakfast, and then I was off on what would be a rather long drive home — multiple trans-Sierra passes having been closed by the storm.

My plan was to move along efficiently and not stop too much, but nature had other ideas. I had hardly gone ten miles before I looked to my left and saw these beautiful cottonwood trees in the middle of golden-brown pastures, with a huge storm brewing over the flanks of Mount Tom and the rest of the Sierra. I pulled over and found a high spot and waited for the right conditions of light and clouds — enough clearing to make out the shape of the mountain with its crown of newly fallen snow plus some light on the pasture and the trees.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Young Lake, Mount Conness

October 10, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud shadows race across the landscape on a summer day near the Sierra crest below Mount Conness

This is an older photograph, made eight years ago back in 2007 on a late-season solo backpack trip into the Yosemite back-country. A week or so after the Labor Day holiday, the crowds almost disappear from the park’s high country, and everything seems to sort of slow down as the summer comes to and end and the inevitable signs of impending autumn remind us that summer is over and winter is not that far away. I think that this can be the most beautiful time of year in the Sierra, especially on a day with beautiful, warm autumn-like light, golden brown meadows, blue sky, comfortable temperatures, solitude, and perhaps a few passing clouds.

There is a story about how I found myself in this high spot overlooking this lake and the mountains beyond. That morning I had been poking around near by bivy sack camp when I saw someone napping in the lakeside meadow. It turned out to be a backcountry ranger. I made some wise-guy remark (intended entirely in jest, and he took it that way) about the challenges of the ranger’s life, and we got to talking. For him, this late season period was a time to slow down a bit and enjoy his own solitude. As we talked he pointed up towards a rocky saddle above the lake and pointed out what, in retrospect, should have been obvious to me — there was a well-used cross-country route through the saddle. So I decide to depart the lake via this alternative route, and when I reached the top of the climb and looked back I saw this spectacular Sierra panorama.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Forest and Hills

October 9, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Ranks of autumn aspen trees ascend the slopes of the Eastern Sierra toward the crest in afternoon light

This is a photograph of brilliantly colorful eastern Sierra fall foliage… in black and white. Because I can! The location is along US 395 as it passes along the eastern escarpment of the range, and in this spot the hills are terraced upward toward the Sierra crest, high above and out of sight in this photograph. Aspens grow in abundance on these lower slopes, interspersed with grasslands, and leading to more aspens up higher and eventually to conifer forests.

I like to photograph in this area in the late afternoon, when low angle sun light comes streaming over the top of the mountains and backlights the trees and accentuates the effect of haze. While the close trees probably first got my attention, it was the little row of trees in the far distance, seen near the upper margin of the photograph, that eventually intrigued me the most. Why black and white? To be honest, one reason that I thought of this at the time I made the exposure was that, frankly, the colors were not yet at their peak. As I though about that it became clear to me that this photograph was not so much about fall color as it was about fall atmosphere — that softening and warming of the light, the gentle haze that mutes the details of more distant subjects. And I thought of this as just a little bit of a personal challenge. Frankly, it is probably easier to make a photograph in color that says “autumn.” But I know that black and white photographers have been able to accomplish the same thing, and I thought it would be interesting to give it a try myself.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Eastern Sierra Gully

October 8, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A “river” of aspen trees in autumn colors snakes its way up an eastern Sierra Nevada gully

I believe that I shared this photograph earlier in a different context — rather than a photo-of-the-day post, it was used to illustrate one of my reports on my Sierra Nevada Fall Color page. I made this photograph at an iconic eastern Sierra location in late September, which is a week or so earlier than I would typically expect to see such color in this place. This has been a strange year, the fourth in a series of drought years, and possibly the worst. The effect of Sierra Nevada vegetation is more apparent as we go into the fall, and there have been apparent effects on aspens. First, some of them changed color noticeably early this year, as much as a week or two earlier than what has been typical. Second, some trees seem to have been stressed to the point that they are almost foregoing the brilliant color stage and instead going almost directly from green to losing their leaves — and some groves were already completed bare before September ended. On the other hand, where the trees were perhaps a bit less stressed the color change seems to have come on a more typical schedule, with quite a few low elevation trees still green as of a few days ago. You can see almost all of this conditions in this photograph — trees changing colors early, trees that lost their leaves completely, and some that are still green.

This particular spot is intriguing, and quite a few people show up to photograph here — not just for the “river of aspens” in the photograph but also for some of the surrounding alpine scenery and for other accessible examples of aspen color. I’ve photographed here for quite a few years, so I often forego the chance to re-photograph some of the familiar subjects, but this time I found a slightly different location from which to make this photograph and I wanted to capture the unusual conditions. There were several things that appealed to me about this scene on this day. Obviously, the colorful trees are an attraction at any time, but the bare trees in the middle, between the upper orange trees and the lower yellow/green trees, were an unusual sight. The curve of the grove, as it passes around the hill on the right with its coniferous trees, seemed to enhance the character of the aspen’s s-curve as it descends the gully and transitions from orange to white to yellow and green.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

All posts by G Dan Mitchell

Round Valley, Autumn Snow

Young Lake, Mount Conness

Aspen Forest and Hills

Autumn Aspens, Eastern Sierra Gully

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.