Tag Archives: aspen

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

January 11, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light autumn snow falls on peaks above aspen groves along the South Fork of Bishop Creek

This is a photograph from a wonderful, short trip into the eastern Sierra about five years ago. I believe that I made two trips to the “east side” that fall to photograph aspens, and on this one (the first of the two) I had a couple of days of winter-like weather with clouds and snow. This could put a damper on photography… unless you share my fascination with “interesting” weather, in which case it seems like that best thing that could happen.

I came back from this trip with some very special photographs, mostly because I ran into conditions that were not quite so typical for Sierra autumn. The most typical Sierra day at this time of year starts cold but then becomes warm and sunny with the beautiful autumn light. I love those days, but I’ve seen enough of them to like some variety, too. And that’s what I got on this trip. On one morning it was so cloudy up high that I decided to drive down out of the range and shoot back up towards in the broken light of a stormy dawn. On this day I headed back up toward the high country and photographed aspen color against a backdrop of mountain peaks disappearing into snow showers.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Last Leaves

December 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The last autumn aspen leaves hang from the branches of nearly bare trees against a granite cliff

So many aspen photographs focus on the wild autumn colors — for good reason! But this is not the only interesting phase of the autumn transition, and I also like the reappearance of the bare, white trunks of the trees as the leaves drop away.

I made this photograph late in the day and in a canyon area where little light penetrates after mid-afternoon, and where trees grow right up against a jumbled granite cliff that is fractured and full of blocks and angles. Late in the day, when the only light comes from the blue sky overhead, the quality of the light becomes quite cold. (At this time of year the air also becomes cold quickly late in the day!) I stuck around after most others had left and photographed these nearly bare trunks into the blue hour period.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

High Desert Aspens, Autumn

December 12, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yellow and orange autumn aspen trees in the high desert terrain of the eastern Sierra Nevada

My “discovery” of Sierra Nevada aspen trees has gone through a number of phases. I was first aware of these trees many years ago, early in my backpacking career, when I frequently encountered the trees and their fluttering leaves along backcountry trails. (To this day, when I think of the green trees, one of the first places that comes to mind is a humble little thicket along the trail to Cathedral Lakes.) It was not until much later, believe it or not, that I made the connection between these trees and the color show that they put on for us in the fall. Perhaps this was because my orientation to the Sierra was from the west side (rather than the east, where the most spectacular aspen displays are arguably located) and because I rarely visited the range during aspen color season, instead going almost exclusively in summer (for camping, hiking, backpacking, and occasional climbing) or winter (for cross-country skiing.)

Perhaps fifteen or twenty years ago I had my first introduction to the “east side.” I know that sounds crazy, especially for someone who has loved the Sierra for a lot longer than that, but somehow it worked out that way. On the bright side, I had the opportunity to discover a whole new aspect of the Sierra at a relatively later point in my life. After “discovering” the precipitous east side of the range, it wasn’t a big step to expand my season a bit to include late September and October, which eventually became my favorite times to be in the range — for aspens of course, but also for beautiful fall weather and the occasional early season storm. More recently, after perhaps a decade of heavy focus on the eastern Sierra aspens each fall, I have begun to turn my eyes further east, to the color along the base of the range and in the mountains to the east of the Sierra, where the trees often grow in spare, dry surroundings.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Within the Grove

November 27, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Filtered light inside an eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove with fall colors

This photograph reminds me that I like to encourage people to find their own special places when they go out looking for photographs or just to look. It is easy — and we all do it — to focus too much on the famous “places you must see,” even though there are places that may be just as beautiful and with which you can create personal relationship that is yours alone. After years of traveling in the Sierra, I have collected many such places — a rock I like to sit on here, a particular little peninsula next to a lake there, a nondescript aspen grove somewhere, a particular view.

This spot could be one of the newest on my list. It is just an aspen grove which, like quite a few in the eastern foothills of the Sierra, grows along the length of a stream dropping down from the mountains and into the eastern foothills. Several times I had looked up that way and noticed several thin lines of color in the fall and wondered what I might find, and this time I spent a little time exploring and found this grove. I’m quite serious when I say that it isn’t any more special in a general way than any other similar grove, but it is now one of “my” groves! Along the spectrum of Sierra Nevada aspens, these trees lean toward being a lot taller and straighter than the average, and the foliage beneath the canopy of aspen leaves is thick and overgrown. At first I thought that I would walk right into the grove, but when I tried I found it heavy going and I settled for a photograph made just inside its perimeter.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: aspen

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

The Last Leaves

High Desert Aspens, Autumn

Within the Grove

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.