Tag Archives: aspen

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

Aspen Branches

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Aspen Branches
Winding branches of an aspen tree, Sierra Nevada.

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

Winding branches of an aspen tree, Sierra Nevada.

For some reason this tree sticks in my memory. I had been scouting and photographing in the Lake Tahoe area as part of the work on my fall color book. On my way back to the San Francisco Bay Area I decided to leave the Tahoe area and head south so that I could drive through Hope Valley and over Carson Pass. By the time I got here it was late and the light was fading. There was a solid wall of aspen leaves behind this exposed tree, but they were very early in the autumn transition and still mostly green. I did not seem like the typical “fall color” photograph, but I stopped and made a few exposures anyway.

Some time later I “found” this file in my archives and, unlike when I made the photograph, it somehow seemed obvious that it could be a black and white image. Sometimes I know (more or less) when I make the exposure that a photograph is going to end up in a monochromatic rendition. But I confess that I sometimes reserved judgment until I see the raw file later on… and that on some occasions a photograph that I initially conceived of as a color image only reveals its potential in black and white during the post processing phase.

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: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove in Transition

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Aspen Grove in Transition
An Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove just past peak autumn color.

Aspen Grove in Transition. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove just past peak autumn color.

The first instinct, I think, when viewing and photographing autumn aspen trees is to just go for the brilliant colors. I’m no less guilty of giving into that understandable instinct than the next person. At its least sophisticated, this can amount to “point at the colors and snap!” But it turns out — no surprise! — that there’s a lot more to see in aspen trees that only reveals itself after having that initial experience. In short, there’s more than one way to photograph this subject!

While I subconsciously assume that the ideal tree is one that is completely covered with brilliantly colorful leaves, I keep learning and relearning that often the more interesting trees are those in the “imperfect” stages before and after the peak color transition. For example, one colorful tree can seem even more colorful against a backdrop of trees that are still at least partially green. The beauty of the colorful trees may seem just a bit more poignant when the scene reveals how transitory the phenomenon is.

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 Color, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens and Conifers, Autumn

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Aspens and Conifers, Autumn
Aspen and conifer trees grow up the slopes of an Eastern Sierra Nevada valley.

Aspens and Conifers, Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen and conifer trees grow up the slopes of an Eastern Sierra Nevada valley.

If you look closely you may find aspens in just about every state of autumn color transition — nearly bare trees, brightly colored yellow and orange trees, and a few that are early in their transition or even still entirely green. This is a reminder that when you visit the Eastern Sierra aspens in the fall, if the color isn’t what you were looking for in one spot there is a good chance that you can find color by moving north or south or heading to a different elevation. While you take that close look, also notice some taller trees (a bit tricky to find) that are entirely bare but surrounded by smaller, very healthy aspens. When aspens are disrupted by fire or other problems, new growth frequently springs up from their extensive root systems, sometimes in weeks, and before too many years those trees engulf the old snags.

The view here encompasses terrain that rises from sagebrush highlands in the Eastern Sierra toward conifer forests at higher elevations. Aspens often grow in this sage country, in places as essentially the only large trees. Here we’re right at the lower boundary of the conifers, beginning with the single large specimen in the center of the frame, with a larger grove halfway up the slope, and hints of much larger forested areas near the top margin.

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

Autumn Aspens, Sage Brush Country

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Autumn Aspens, Sage Brush Country
A sage brush country grove of colorful autumn aspen trees in back-light, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Autumn Aspens, Sage Brush Country. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sage brush country grove of colorful autumn aspen trees in back-light, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Wildfire smoke has posed challenges to Californians and those in other western states in recent years, and the current historic drought in the state has produced even more widespread and often large fires. We have come to live with smoke levels that are occasionally very unhealthy and almost always aesthetically displeasing. Almost every late-summer or autumn visit to the Sierra during the past two seasons has been affected, and on several occasions I have had to cut trips short as a result.

On this month’s brief visit to the eastern Sierra things were a bit better in the Sonora Pass area and a bit south, but the conditions deteriorated quickly starting just north of Mono Lake. Photographically speaking, this creates some rather serious challenges, especially when smoke covers (and discolors the atmosphere of) the larger landscape. There are some options — black and white can often work in such conditions or one can focus on closer subjects, composting to eliminate the longer views. The latter is what I did in this photograph of grove of small aspens growing in a shallow valley in sagebrush-covered hills, where back-light intensified the colors of the fall foliage.

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.