Category Archives: Photographs: Fall

Photographs of fall color

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Lake, Clouds, Floating Leaves

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Lake, Clouds, Floating Leaves, New England
“Lake, Clouds, Floating Leaves” — Fallen autumn leaves float on still water reflecting a cloud-filled sky

This photograph could probably generate a chapter of commentary, but I’ll keep to the traditional two paragraphs. Recently I was asked about making black and white photographs of autumn “color,” and I said that I do so on occasion, at least in part just to push myself to consider how it can be done — what, besides the color, can suggest the feelings of autumn? In addition, this photograph is also the result of the “wandering around” that I mentioned in the previous post — getting away from the obvious places, even when visiting unfamiliar locations. There’s also something technically different about this photograph, though I think I’ll leave that as a mystery. I’ll bet no one figures out what I’m referring to…

A few days into our October New England visit we left the iconic Kancamagus Parkway area behind and headed north and east on, more or less, a “random ride.” This took us away from the tall ridges of the White Mountains, and into different landscapes featuring lower hills, valleys, and more rivers, creeks, and lakes. Near the northern-most point of our route the roadway crossed a quiet lake. We stopped to make photographs of the leaves littering its surface and the reflections of beautiful clouds.

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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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Stream

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Autumn Stream
“Autumn Stream” — A stream flows past fall colors in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

This month’s visit to New Hampshire and Vermont to photograph autumn color reminded me of some things about photography in unfamiliar places. I usually photograph where I have long-developed place knowledge or at least experience with very similar subjects. That wasn’t the case in New England. We started out by visiting “icons” — which isn’t a bad strategy at the very beginning. They are “icons for a reason,” and they let me start to figure out the personality of a new place. But on several occasions I was also reminded of the value to pushing beyond those boundaries — just poking around, keeping my eyes open to possibilities, looking in the opposite direction from the obvious thing, and sometimes just wandering a little bit.

The “wandering” took various forms on this trip. Sometimes it involved driving long distances or turning off the highway to head up a side road. In the case of this photograph, we had pulled out at a “picnic area” for a moment, and I wondered what was beyond the trees surrounding the parking lot. I could tell there was color in that direction and it seemed like there might be a creek. So off we went to find this lovely little stream flowing through the forest, and we ended up photographing there for a half hour or more.

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Trees, New Hampshire

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Autumn Trees, New Hampshire
“Autumn Trees, New Hampshire” — A dense wall of trees with autumn leaves, New Hampshire.

This vignette of one small bit of White Mountains autumn color is somewhat indicative of the intensity and variety of the color there. My baseline for considering autumn color is California, which means the aspens (and a few other things) of the Eastern Sierra, the maples and oaks and dogwoods of the west slope of the range, and the mixture of native and non-native trees another areas of the state. It is rare to fine large, continuous hardwood forests with a mix of trees in California — almost unheard of, in fact. Yet that seems to be the norm in New Hampshire and other parts of New England we visited. It seems like the period of time with best color may be shorter here, but during the window the variety and intensity is remarkable.

The circumstances of the photography often seemed different in New England, too. (In fairness, this was my first visit, and I can see how my process might adapt to this different landscape over time.) Once I found color in New Hampshire — and, believe me, it was not hard! — in some cases photographing it was almost too easy. Here, for example, I had stopped at a popular roadside pull-out to photograph an open landscape view to the north. When that view turned out to be problematic I turned around and basically looked for colors and patterns to photograph in a large “tree wall” across the roadway!

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog

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Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog
Colorful autumn trees and morning fog in distant valleys, New Hampshire.

Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful autumn trees and morning fog in distant valleys, New Hampshire.

This route across the White Mountains is — as I was warned and then witnessed — a very popular location for viewing New England fall color. While I like to investigate less well-known subjects as I get to know a place, since this was our first-ever visit to this region in the fall we started out by joining the hordes on this road. It is iconic and, as I often say, “there’s a reason it is an icon.” The autumn forests here are, indeed, spectacular and our visit coincided with peak color. (In case you wonder, it only took me a day or two to start exploring a few odd little gravel roads, too.)

While this viewpoint is popular and likely heavily photographed, on a morning like this it presents some aesthetic and technical challenges. The beautifully receding hills beyond the fog-lined valley are almost directly in line with the rising sun. This leads to flare challenges and to high contrasts between shadows and backlit foliage. Nearby trees, as lovely as they are, also impede on some of the longer views. But with the camera in just the right place, using my hand to shade the lens, and an exposure that captured scene data to be optimized in post… I think it works.

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.

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