Category Archives: Photographs: Fall

Photographs of fall color

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

Small Aspen Trees, Autumn

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Small Aspen Trees, Autumn
A tightly spaced grove of small Eastern Sierra aspen trees with fall color

Small Aspen Trees, Autumn. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tightly spaced grove of small Eastern Sierra aspen trees with fall color

I like to say that it is never too soon to start thinking about fall color… though I forgive you if you aren’t sure that May is quite yet the right time. To be honest, I came across this photograph of a familiar subject earlier today while I was backtracking through my archive of older raw files. I have a bunch of urban/street photographs queued up for posting here soon, but I feel like sharing a few more natural photographs first.

The location is in a popular area for Eastern Sierra Nevada fall color, but there is nothing exactly iconic about this particular grove – though it is a place that I’ve returned to every fall for years. I suspect that something about it caught my attention on my first visit, and that whatever that “something” is, it is not a feature that every viewer will spot. I recall stopping here the first time I visited. It was late in the day and the sun was about to drop behind the surrounding high ridges. I was surprised to see this densely spaced grove of slender trees, with trunks exposed below their fall color crowns. I stopped and made a few photographs, and the spot has become one of my touchstones in the Sierra Nevada.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Pond, Trees, Sky

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Pond, Trees, Sky
Colorful trees arranged around San Joaquin Valley wetlands under autumn sky with clearing fog

Pond, Trees, Sky. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful trees arranged around San Joaquin Valley wetlands under autumn sky with clearing fog

When I have written about some of the previous photographs of these San Joaquin Valley areas, where I go to photograph birds in the late fall and winter, I have described the cycle of my earlier mornings in such places: awake hours before sunrise, a two-hour drive in the dark, frequent arrival in thick tule fog, the first sound of birds after I stop my car and get out, the sensations related to photographing in the cold and foggy morning, the first light, sunrise. This photograph comes from a bit later in the morning, closer to the time when the rapidly changing early morning conditions stabilize and things begin to seem more static.

On this morning there had been some of the usual tule fog at daybreak. I photographed in those conditions for the first hour or two, but by 8:00 the fog was mostly gone and all that remained of it was the common Central Valley winter haze. Above that was the huge expanse of sky that I’m often aware of here — sky stretching unbroken from the low hills in the west to the distance Sierra Nevada crest far to the east. By this time the birds were generally much less active and the quick pace of the sunrise hours gave way to the slow, still quality of the midday hours.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Marshland Trees, Autumn Haze

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Marshland Trees, Autumn Haze
Marshland trees with fall foliage on a hazy San Joaquin day.

Marshland Trees, Autumn Haze. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Marshland trees with fall foliage on a hazy San Joaquin day.

This was quite a day — San Francisco Bay Area to the San Joaquin Valley to the Sierra foothills and back, sunrise alone in tule fog among the birds to the crowded (and fun!) reception for the “AVIAN — Birds in a Changing World” exhibit in Oakhurst, and lots of driving!

The day began with my pre-dawn arrival in the San Joaquin Valley wetlands, where tule fog was forming as the first light appeared. Although it was a weekend morning, there was almost no one else out there besides me and a few thousand birds. I saw a giant flight of what I believe were trim-color blackbirds in the distance — I’ve never seen so many at one before — and then an impressive dawn fly-out of sandhill cranes. A bit later in the morning, once the early morning bird action had subsided, I spent a bit of time photographing the landscape. This beautiful tree, with late-season autumn color, is striking in its quiet presence in this mostly flat landscape of ponds and grasslands and, of course, birds.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Marsh, Geese, Autum Tree

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Marsh, Geese, Autum Tree
Geese take to the air beyond an autumn tree in San Joaquin Valley marshlands on a foggy morning

Marsh, Geese, Autum Tree. San Joaquin Valley, California. December 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Geese take to the air beyond an autumn tree in San Joaquin Valley marshlands on a foggy morning

These Central Valley wetlands are not just where the birds are. The total experience they provide includes the migratory and other birds, but it also includes light, atmosphere, sound, and much more. And virtually none of the elements is static — each undergoes transitions on a daily or seasonable schedule. I thought about all of this once again as I started visiting this autumn, beginning a bit before the “winter” birds arrived and while the lingering effects of summer were still felt back in October. My latest visit was a month and a half later, in early December, a time when winter and fall elements seem to overlap for a while.

I usually arrive before dawn, in near darkness and often in foggy conditions. The first impression of these landscapes, aside from those associated with the fog, are usually aural. I finally finish my two-hour drive, turn off the car, get out, and hear the wild, exuberant sound of thousands of birds — geese and (especially!) cranes and more. At this point the transition from night to day is already underway, and I quickly begin to work the light of this time of fast-changing light and conditions. On this morning it had been clear, but low fog began to form just at dawn. Perhaps an hour later one of my favorite morning conditions began — that period when the low sun just begins to overpower the low fog, shedding soft but strong light on close subjects but still allowing things in the distance to retain a muted and soft appearance. Beyond this autumn tree in that first light, geese that had settled onto this pond overnight began to rise up and fly away.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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