Category Archives: Commentary

Commentary, Locations, News

California Fall Color Season About to Start

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The autumn color season in the Sierra Nevada should start very soon. Actually, if you count – as I do – the dry grasses and the high elevation ground plants going dormant, it has already begun. But the real show is the turning of the aspens, mostly in the eastern Sierra, starting around the very end of September and likely peaking during the first week of the month. If conditions are right, it can last as long as the middle of October, but earlier is always better.

Several web sites have posted fall color guides in the past, and since timing is so critical it is a good idea to follow the as the time approaches. One site that is new to me is a US government site that reports on fall colors nationwide. Another that I’ve often followed in the past is the California Fall Color site, though it doesn’t (yet) appear to be active. In addition, I’ll summarize what I know and what I hear about Sierra fall color once the curtain begins to rise on this year’s show.

Commentary, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Ocean and Rock – Big Sur

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Pacific Ocean and Rock

Pacific Ocean and Rock. Big Sur, California. July 21, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of the Pacific Ocean with an offshore rock along the Big Sur coast of California.

These minimalist seascapes have been something of an on-going project for me during the past year or so. I’m intrigued by the sense of deep and quiet space in these views – best appreciated from outside of your car and away from the road. I have no idea how well they work as images for others, but they are a bit more complex to capture than you might think from a quick glance.

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Commentary, Locations

Sierra Time Starts Now

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In many ways the best time to visit the Sierra Nevada starts right about now.Half Dome, Dusk - Olmsted Point

The period after the Labor Day Holiday brings wonderful changes to the Sierra. The number of visitors decreases tremendously, and this trend continues through mid-October. The mosquitos – including those who drove me mad at Young Lakes in July! – have virtually disappeared. Almost all of the lush green growth and wildflowers of a month or two ago have gone now – except in a few in wet area – they has been replaced by the beautiful tan, brown, yellow, red, and golden colors of the late season, and these will very soon be augmented by the astonishing colors of the aspens and other fall foliage. The hottest days are behind us, and most days are sunny and comfortable with softer light. The occasional dusting of snow on the peaks reminds us of how close the Sierra winter is.

It is hard to put my finger on precisely the cause, but I always have a feeling that everything relaxes and slows during this period between the end of the summer growth season and the coming of winter. It seems quieter and more peaceful, as if the mountains are settling in to wait for the snow to arrive.

I’ll be there several times during the next two months. I have one very short pack trip scheduled for late September, and I hope to chase the aspens at the end of October and during the first weeks of October. Later in October I plan to go to Yosemite Valley for its beautiful fall color season. And very soon I hope to join a group of photographers who even now are camped on the trail a day out from Tuolumne.

(Photo: Half Dome, Dusk – Olmsted Point. Yosemite National Park, California. October 7, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.)

Commentary, Photographers

The ‘Crack of Dawn’?

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Being a San Francisco Bay Area resident, I’m aware of the work of Chronicle/SFGate photographer Frederic Larson, especially his “Mystical Photography” photoblog that features daily photographs from around the Bay. (He does get around the Bay Area, and often before the rest of us are even up in the morning!)

But I just have to wonder about today’s image and its title. That’s all I’ll say. Well, except for, “groan….”