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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Trees, New Hampshire

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Autumn Trees, New Hampshire
“Autumn Trees, New Hampshire” — A dense wall of trees with autumn leaves, New Hampshire.

This vignette of one small bit of White Mountains autumn color is somewhat indicative of the intensity and variety of the color there. My baseline for considering autumn color is California, which means the aspens (and a few other things) of the Eastern Sierra, the maples and oaks and dogwoods of the west slope of the range, and the mixture of native and non-native trees another areas of the state. It is rare to fine large, continuous hardwood forests with a mix of trees in California — almost unheard of, in fact. Yet that seems to be the norm in New Hampshire and other parts of New England we visited. It seems like the period of time with best color may be shorter here, but during the window the variety and intensity is remarkable.

The circumstances of the photography often seemed different in New England, too. (In fairness, this was my first visit, and I can see how my process might adapt to this different landscape over time.) Once I found color in New Hampshire — and, believe me, it was not hard! — in some cases photographing it was almost too easy. Here, for example, I had stopped at a popular roadside pull-out to photograph an open landscape view to the north. When that view turned out to be problematic I turned around and basically looked for colors and patterns to photograph in a large “tree wall” across the roadway!

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog

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Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog
Colorful autumn trees and morning fog in distant valleys, New Hampshire.

Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful autumn trees and morning fog in distant valleys, New Hampshire.

This route across the White Mountains is — as I was warned and then witnessed — a very popular location for viewing New England fall color. While I like to investigate less well-known subjects as I get to know a place, since this was our first-ever visit to this region in the fall we started out by joining the hordes on this road. It is iconic and, as I often say, “there’s a reason it is an icon.” The autumn forests here are, indeed, spectacular and our visit coincided with peak color. (In case you wonder, it only took me a day or two to start exploring a few odd little gravel roads, too.)

While this viewpoint is popular and likely heavily photographed, on a morning like this it presents some aesthetic and technical challenges. The beautifully receding hills beyond the fog-lined valley are almost directly in line with the rising sun. This leads to flare challenges and to high contrasts between shadows and backlit foliage. Nearby trees, as lovely as they are, also impede on some of the longer views. But with the camera in just the right place, using my hand to shade the lens, and an exposure that captured scene data to be optimized in post… I think it works.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New England Woods #7

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New England Woods #7
The autumn color explosion begins in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

New England Woods #7. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The autumn color explosion begins in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Every year at about this time I head to the east side of the Sierra Nevada to photograph fall color, which mostly means aspens. This year’s trip to the “east side,” however, was to the east side of the United States. That’ right, Patty and I finally made it to New England for its famous fall color season. (Don’t worry, I’m still hoping to squeeze in a quick visit to Sierra fall color before long.) Friends have told me for years that I had to see east coast fall color, and an August visit to Vermont’s beautiful forests intrigued me even more. Then I did a B&H podcast (“Fall Foliage East and West with Jerry Monkman and G Dan Mitchell“) and listened to my fellow interviewee, Jerry Monkman, talk about photographing there. After all of that, I guess it was pretty much fated that we would go this year!

I’ll have a lot more to say about New England fall color, the specifics of our visit, and how the East and West Coast experiences compare later on — there’s too much to write in a single post! I made this photograph near the start of the visit, perhaps a day or two before this year’s peak color in this area of the White Mountains. The color variations are, as I already understood, much greater in New England than in the Sierra, and the hardwood forests seem to all change nearly simultaneously. This photograph, like many of my favorites from this trip, was made in soft light and cloudy conditions, which provide some of the most beautiful light for this subject.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Outlet, Morning

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Outlet, Morning
Morning light shines on the formations of a canyon containing the outlet stream of an alpine lake.

Outlet, Morning. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light shines on the formations of a canyon containing the outlet stream of an alpine lake.

Don’t hold me to this… but this may be the final photograph in the series from the August Eastern Sierra backcountry trip. A group of us entered the wilderness, set up a base camp, and photographed the area for a week. The group included Michael Frye, Claudia Welsh, Franka Gabler, David Hoffman, Jerry Bosworth, Patty Mitchell, and me — a fine group of colleagues and friends with whom to spend the week! We survived a torrential rain storm on our first day or two, then explored the area around our camp and on up into the high, alpine country nearby.

If you have been following my posts from the trip, this subject perhaps seems familiar by now. The outlet stream from the lake where we camped empties suddenly into a fairly narrow and rugged canyon that descends to a larger valley beyond. The morning light here was often quite beautiful, coming from beyond and somewhat to the right. On this morning a bit of haze, likely from wildfires, glowed in the backlight and slightly muted the details of more distant features.

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 | Twitter | 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.