Category Archives: Photographs: Fall Color

The Lake, Autumn

The Lake, Autumn
Manhattan skyline reflected in the Lake on a hazy November day, Central Park.

The Lake, Autumn. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Manhattan skyline reflected in the Lake on a hazy November day, Central Park.

We went for a walk in Central Park on the first morning of our November visit to Manhattan. We planned to meet up with family later in the day, but we had free time and the park was only a couple of blocks away. Our New-York-resident (grown) “kids” have occasionally wondered why in the world we always visit the city in the dead of (freezing) winter or the (wilting heat and humidity of) summer — they have suggested a spring or fall visit. And they were right. The weather was pleasant and the fall colors were spectacular.

The body of water is “The Lake” — perhaps not the most creative name, but a lovely place just the same. It is surrounded by paths beneath hardwood trees, and those trees were in full autumn color. I made the photograph from a small bridge, placing a few of the towers of Manhattan between the trees so that they would reflect in the surface of the water.


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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | PostEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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

Autumn Leaves, Brick Wall #2

Autumn Leaves, Brick Wall #2
A nearly bare tree with autumn leaves and a brick wall, High Line Park, Manhattan.

Autumn Leaves, Brick Wall #2. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A nearly bare tree with autumn leaves and a brick wall, High Line Park, Manhattan.

This photograph is another on the theme of end-of-autumn trees and brick walls — of course, in Manhattan. The previous photograph in this series featured a much starker contrast between the dark wall and three white tree trunks. This one is more subtle, with darker and thinner branches that don’t stand out as clearly. This tree has only a few remaining colorful leaves, and I suspect that they, too, were gone soon after I made the photograph.

We tend to think of Manhattan as a purely urban place — and that impression isn’t far off the mark in many ways. But there are bits of the natural world here and there, and sometimes I think that their scarcity and the contrast with the surrounding engineered world makes them more poignant. This photograph comes from our November walk along the High Line Park.


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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | PostEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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

Three Autumn Trees, Brick Wall

Three Autumn Trees, Brick Wall
Three white-trunk autumn trees in front of a brick wall at High Line Park, Manhattan.

Three Autumn Trees, Brick Wall. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three white-trunk autumn trees in front of a brick wall at High Line Park, Manhattan.

On one of the days of our recent New York City trip we took a very long walk. We started at our hotel west of Central Park, roughly around the Natural History Museum, and headed south. Our first goal was the Hudson Yards complex, which we had not visited since it was under construction. Full of energy after a lunch stop there, we decided to keep going. We picked up the High Line Park walkway here and eventually ended up all the way down at the Whitney Museum.

The High Line Park is always fascinating. It is built on the right-of-way of the elevated railway that once ran along this side of Manhattan. I’m not aware of any park quite like it. In places it might be as narrow as a dozen feet wide, but its length makes up for what it lacks in width. Its elevated path takes you between buildings, across busy streets, underneath one hotel, and more. Along the walk there is plentiful vegetation – grasses, flowers, trees. The contrast between the regular form of the dark brick wall and the bright, fluid forms of these autumn tree trunks caught my eye.


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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | PostEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II
Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Seeing a photograph here with the Roman numeral “II” attached you may wonder if there is a version “I.” There is, of course, and the first of the pair was posted a few days ago. In this case, the only significant difference is that this is a “landscape” orientation view of the scene and the other version used the “portrait” orientation. When the subject allows it I often photograph in both orientations — partly for practical reasons and partly because they both seem to work!

The scene is a type that I like a lot, at the elevation where the forests we expect in the high country meet high desert sagebrush country. The aspen trees seem to like both, and they are frequently a bridge between the two types of terrain. Here it is late in the afternoon (or perhaps early in the evening?) and long shadows are starting to stretch across the landscape.


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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


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