Category Archives: Photographs: Fall

Photographs of fall color

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

Aspens, Before Sunrise

November 24, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A large grove of eastern Sierra fall aspen trees in pre-sunrise light

After spending so many years exploring the Sierra, and for the past 15 or so expanding my explorations to include some of the high east side locations mostly accessible by vehicle, there are little spots all over the range that have become personal favorites — places I return to regularly whenever I get a chance. You might think that they would get “old” after a while, being so familiar. Instead, I find that there is always something new to discover about them, and I enjoy the sense of spending time with old landscape friends!

This is one of those places. In this case, I have to drive to get to it, but it is still typically a nicely lonely place, and I often have it entirely to myself at dawn. A person or two might pass by, but that’s about it. (Though, funny story, this time as I took in the view a small vehicle carrying four deer hunters passed by. We waved and they kept going. Later, as I descended from this spot, heading in the direction from which they had come, I passed through a herd of a dozen deer right on the road.) I usually go before dawn and watch the first light strike the highest peaks and work its way down into the valleys. I made this photograph before the direct sunlight had arrived.

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: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens and Meadows

November 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Autumn aspen groves broken up by meadows along the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada

Yes, still more fall color photographs! I’m getting close to the end of this year’s batch, and you are likely to see other subjects a bit more in the near future. Some of you will be happy about that and others will be disappointed. :-) Overall, this turned out to be a pretty good season for Sierra Nevada color, at least in my view. I heard a few people say that it wasn’t that great, but I think that the elements of luck and timing and location make a big difference — and all of those played out well for me this year.

This photograph comes from a place where there are lots of large groves spread across eastern Sierra hillsides. There are many places like this, so the precise location probably isn’t all that important. I happened to be there at just about the peak of the color, and I found an elevated position from which to photograph down into the backlit trees.

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: Sierra Nevada

Cliff Face and Bare Aspen Trees

November 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Bare aspen tree trunks and branches against a backdrop of a Sierra Nevada rock face

There are all kinds of ways to photograph aspens, and they can be photographed during virtually any season: winter trees with snow, spring trees with new leaves, summer trees surrounded by wildflowers and grasses, autumn colors, and this wonderful time when the bare trees stand out against the rest of the surrounding terrain. At this latter stage they can be photogenic on their own or they can be set off against backdrops of other trees, rocks, or the fallen leaves littering the ground.

These specific trees have gotten my attention in the past. They grow against a fractured granite backdrop, and they are in a location where I might go to photograph other fall subjects. So when I go to photograph those subjects, I often end up walking past this spot and pausing. While nearby trees still had a lot of colorful leaves, these smaller trees had already dropped almost all of theirs.

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

Meadow, Evening Light And Shadows

November 20, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light and shadows on meadows and trees along the base of the eastern Sierra Nevada

I visited this eastern Sierra location several times this October, and over those several visits I had the opportunity to watch the evolution of the fall color there. The first time I visited, very close to the start of the month, there was only a bit of color, and many of the aspen trees were still green. I returned less than a week later, and by that time most of the trees had changed color and a few had already lost their leaves.

Having watched this location for many years, several things have happened relative to how I photograph it. First, I rarely photograph it now the way I did at first. The overall landscape here is impressive, with meadows and groves of aspens leading upwards toward high peaks along the Sierra crest. But having photographed that expanse quite a few times, I now tend to look for smaller portions of this scene that I might not have previously noticed. Second, each year I get a better sense of how the color transition progresses as I return to this place and become more familiar with the patterns… and with the things that can vary from year to year. However, while some things have changed, others haven’t. For example, I still almost always photograph here late in the day, when the low angle sunlight barely clears the Sierra crest and passes over the landscape to backlight the trees and create long shadows.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Fall

Aspens, Before Sunrise

Autumn Aspens and Meadows

Cliff Face and Bare Aspen Trees

Meadow, Evening Light And Shadows

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