September Morning, Los Cerritos Pond. Calero Hills, California. September 2, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
This spot is one that I hike past frequently on my visits to the Calero Park in south Santa Clara County. The tree sits next to an overlook above a small pond nestled in the grassy hills of this park. This photograph captures the golden browns of late summer, the form of the oak tree, and the shadow of the rustic fence.
As I did another one-day photographic trip yesterday – this one to Yosemite Valley to see autumn colors. Up at 3:15 a.m. and on the road before 4:00 a.m. I arrived at the park entrance at 7:00 a.m., still before sunrise. Since there wasn’t yet enought light to photograph dogwood leaves and other autumn foliage along highway 120, I went ahead to the first view of Half Dome and El Capitan and shot a few images there before heading back up 120 to spend some time on the foliage. Then I headed down into The Valley where I found the foliage in abundance – it was just about as colorful as I’ve ever seen in the Valley.
I started at El Capitan Meadow (after a short snooze to make up for my early rise time) where there are a bunch of really beautiful black oaks in the middle of golden grasses. I spent over two hours working this spot before heading on to the Curry Village area. I left the car here and did the “tourist hike” to Vernal Fall, hoping to photograph a tree at the base of the cliff at the fall. When I got back to car it was later than I expected and darkness was arriving a bit early, so I started back down the valley to try to grab a few late shots, but without a whole lot of success – the high overcast was now thicker and there wasn’t much of a sunset.
The light was challenging all with light overcast and occasionally thicker clouds. This is a mixed blessing – large scale scenic vistas were somewhat obscured by haze and flat light; on the other hand the softer light can work well with foliage and similar subjects.
(I have posted a few examples in my Gallery – This link should get you to several of them.)
A couple notes about Yosemite conditions: The foliage on highway 120 and in the Valley was stunning yesterday. I have a feeling that this is the peak fall color weekend this season. I have a return trip scheduled for next week, but I’ll need to watch the conditions to see if it will be worth it. Also, not sure if it was due to normal atmospheric conditions or the aftermath of the southern California fires, but it was quite hazy in the Sierra.
Morning Snow and Blowing Fog, Silver Lake. Near Carson Pass, Sierra Nevada, California. September 29, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
The first snow of the season (for me, at least) on the shore of this Sierra Lake in the early morning light.
Morning, Boats – San Francisco Bay. San Francisco, California. September 18, 2007. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell
I took this photograph on the way to Point Reyes. As I waited at this viewpoint overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge the light to emerge through the fog and these two ships passed just inside the entrance to the bay.