“Desert Branches” — Branches with sparse foliage, Red Rock Canyon State Park.
This was most definitely not the subject I was looking for at this place. We were on the long drive back to California after a few weeks of photography in Utah when we decided to make a quick stop at the Red Rock Canyon State Park in Southern California. The main visual target there was to be the fantastically eroded formations — that last we would see that felt like the Southwest as we headed home.
We arrived late in the day, just before sunset. Because the hills near the entrance face east, the area was already in the early evening shadows. We photographed the red rock formations in the soft, blue-tinted light, and at some point I happened to spot these sparse plants silhouetted against bright ground in the distance and illuminated by the evening’s bluish light.
“High Desert Aspen Trees” — Aspen trees with autumn foliage ascend a high desert gully in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.
These sage-covered foothills are at an elevation of 8000′ and higher, but they are brown and dry, especially this late in the season. Technically this spot is part of the Sierra Nevada — it certainly seems so when you look at these peaks. However, it feels more like high desert than part of the mountain range.
The little grove of aspens grows in the bottom of the canyon that drains the nearby highlands. These trees were approaching their peak color, but with changing light I had to work quickly. Cloud shadows were moving across the landscape, and the shadow of the low hill at bottom right was starting to intrude on the colorful trees.
“Aspen Path” — A path winds through a grove of autumn aspen color, Eastern Sierra Nevada.
I had been thinking about photographing in this grove for two days prior to making this photograph. I had looked it over while driving past, and had even gotten out and wandered through it without taking pictures. What finally brought me back was wind — a tremendous wind storm that was making it difficult to photograph out in the open.
My first idea about this location and the wind was that I would photograph the fallen leaves. But as I entered the grove I did not see the shot I was looking for, so I kept walking. I finally came to what looked like the end of the path at the base of a tree-covered hill. Still not seeing a photograph, I turned around and started back. It was only then that I saw the glow of the backlit canopy of leaves and found this composition.
“Dunderberg Meadows” — Autumn aspen stretch across the landscape beneath Eastern Sierra Nevada peaks.
Transition zones in the mountains fascinate me — places where one sort of landscape runs into another. In this photograph from the Eastern Sierra Nevada, aspens extend across high desert sagebrush terrain and right into the lowest conifer forests. The demarcation between sagebrush and forest is fairly sudden, but the aspens live in both.
Decades ago my entire notion of the Sierra Nevada revolved around the forest and alpine zones. For that reason, and because I usually approached the range via its gentle west slope, I did not know about this high desert terrain. It is possible that the first time I encountered this zone was when exiting on the east side after a long walk in the high country — and it was a shock to me.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
