Category Archives: Photographs: Sierra Nevada

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

Early Autumn Aspen Grove

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Early Autumn Aspen Grove
A small grove of Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen trees begins to take on autumn color.

Early Autumn Aspen Grove. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small grove of Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen trees begins to take on autumn color.

Over the past decade or so the fall color change in the Eastern Sierra Nevada has come to attract a lot of attention. It is not unwarranted, as the aspen color throughout the range can be quite spectacular. It is also pretty accessible, and as the state’s population has continued to increase and as social media has spread the word faster and more widely… some areas have become quite crowded and even overrun for a few weeks each year. A few well-known locations have become some famous that they literally attract mobs of photographers and others. I won’t name them here — they get enough attention already. (I sometimes wonder how much blame I share as the author of a book on this event — though my publisher went along with my vow to drastically limit naming places that can’t handle the traffic.)

Despite the crowds, I hinted at the good new in the first paragraph of this post when I wrote, “throughout the range.” Often folks head straight toward the Big Name locations (as is natural) and drive right past a whole bunch of other wonderful instances of fall color. Over the years, some of my favorite aspen trees have been in places that are distinctly non-iconic. There are many things to like about this development. It means that I have subjects everywhere! I frequently find myself alone while photographing these locations. And over time I’ve developed my own little collection of place with personal meaning. This photograph comes from such a place, a grove that I had literally driven past for years before I finally stopped one day to make photographs.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Junipers, Sierra Crest Before Sunrise

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Junipers, Sierra Crest Before Sunrise
Soft pre-sunrise light on a pair of junipers and the peaks of the Sierra crest, topped by Mount Humphreys.

Junipers, Sierra Crest Before Sunrise. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft pre-sunrise light on a pair of junipers and the peaks of the Sierra crest, topped by Mount Humphreys.

The Sierra Nevada has many faces, and the east and west sides almost look like two different ranges. The west side is approached via the flat, agricultural Great Central Valley, and it begins with almost imperceptible hills that gradually rise to foothills, then to forested mountains, and many miles later finally culminate in high, rocky peaks and ridges. The personality of the east side is entirely different. You regard it from what is essentially high desert, hot and dry country, and in many place the entire upward thrust of the eastern escarpment is visible at once, rising as much as 10,000 feet from valley to peaks.

I made this photography early on an autumn morning, from a place high on the gigantic hills rising toward the eastern face of the range. In the foreground are a couple of juniper trees, one of the common trees of the dry Southwest terrain. Further above, open and sparse forest dot the rising slopes. Above it all are the high, alpine peaks of the Sierra crest, here topped by the recognizable profile of Mount Humphreys.

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

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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

Desert Meets Forest, Autumn

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Desert Meets Forest, Autumn
An autumn conjunction of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, conifers, and aspens in the Eastern Sierra.

Desert Meets Forest, Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn conjunction of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, conifers, and aspens in the Eastern Sierra.

This is another autumn photograph from that wonderful Eastern Sierra transition zone, where the high desert country of sagebrush meets the mountain country of conifers and aspens. Many years ago I regarded the two environments as being completely exclusive, but eventually it sank into my thick skull that this perception did not align with reality. In particular I recall one autumn visit to a very dry region east of the Sierra where I saw some of the most colorful aspens growing in a small desert valley.

A photograph like this one presents some technical challenges to the photographer. I think it looks pretty simple, but it wasn’t. The first issue was the the scene was lit by fairly intense backlight. I love backlight, but it creates some extremely bright highlights — and underexposing the shot is necessary to protect them from blowing out. In addition, because the sun was low and almost directly in front of the camera there was a great potential for flare. To make this photograph I actually stood in front of the camera and carefully used my hand to cast a shadow on the lens. Finally, with all of these elements of very bright light and the need to underexpose a bit, some of the shaded areas ended up darker than they seemed “in the flesh,” necessitating some post-production work with curves to bring back some of those shadow details.

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

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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

Brown Aspen Leaves

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Brown Aspen Leaves
Autumn aspen leaves have turned brown, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Brown Aspen Leaves. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen leaves have turned brown, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

During the past decade or so it has been, or so it often seems, a tough time for Sierra Nevada aspen trees. First we had a five-year drought that likely killed off quite a few of them. During some of those seasons the color transition was far from normal. While some trees managed to carry on more or less normally, others change colors weeks early, some turned brown or black, other simply dropped their green leaves. Wildfires, which have increased at an alarming rate in California, also burned through quite a few aspen groves. (That being said, aspens do show a remarkable ability to re-sprout from the roots of burned trees.)

For the most part this year’s color change was pretty decent, even though we are once again in serious drought conditions in California. But I did find a number of places where leaves had turned brown and then black instead of going through the more appealing yellow/orange/red transition. As I passed through one grove of smaller trees that I visit every year I saw quite a few brown and black leaves, but I decided that there was no good reason to overlook their potential as photographic subjects.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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