Tag Archives: aspen

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Black Aspen Leaves, Frost

October 15, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This is a photograph from last year’s (2011) aspen color season in the eastern Sierra Nevada range of California. It was a bit on an unusual season, though in the end it turned out to be one that provided quite a lot of aspen beauty of various sorts. Because that autumn followed the second of two winters with greater-than-normal precipitation in the Sierra, there was a lot of lush and healthy plant growth of all sorts, and even as the end of the summer season arrived there was a lot of greenery about. Then, just as the color season started near the beginning of October, a series of three winter-like storms traversed the range and dropped a foot or more of early season snow. While some snow isn’t unusual at this time of year, a sequence of three storms and that amount of snowfall are unusual. All of the trans-Sierra passes closed for several days.

I came across Tioga Pass on the day that it reopened, and then headed south to the prime aspen-hunting grounds above Bishop, California. The next morning I decided to head up to the North Lake area, and I found the gravel road still snow-covered. I drove on up carefully, and it appeared that I might have been among the very first to try the road after the snow. Needless to say, the storms had a big effect on the aspen leaves! Many of the “ripest” and most colorful leaves had fallen, leaving the trees a bit more bare than usual at this time. And, perhaps due to the cold, rather than turning red and orange and golden-yellow, quite a few leaves went straight to black. Now I’m as attracted to the wildly colorful aspen leaves as anyone, but I’m also intrigued by somewhat unusual conditions, so I found some of the blackened leaves to be interesting, too. In the early hours I found this cluster, no doubt blown down and piled together during the storm, sitting on top of the snow bank and covered with crystalline frost from the previous night.

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

Aspens and Sage

October 12, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Aspens grow against sage covered hills near Conway Summit in the eastern Sierra Nevada, California.

If you want colorful aspen photographs, there are several things that may help. First, you need to be where the aspens are when they turn colors! (Obvious, huh?) In the eastern Sierra Nevada, this means roughly the first two weeks of October in a typical year, though you can often find some color a week or so either side of that period – but be aware that every aspen season is different, so there are no guarantees. And where are they? They can be found all up and down the east side of the Sierra. At their peak, you can find them by simply driving along highway 395 along the eastern slope of the range and looking west. For somewhat more specific information, take a look at this post of mine. Second, you’ll need to look around a bit for great trees. Photographs of aspen color can often make it seem like there is astonishing color everywhere – but the reality is often a bit more complicated. Trees will often be in various stages of transition, and the timing varies according to such things as elevation and local soil moisture. On top of that, not just any aspen trees will do – so you can count on doing a bit of searching to find that perfect tree or grove or colorful slope. Third, it helps a lot to consider the light. Often grove of trees that may look fairly drab when front lit can turn into an amazingly colorful wonder when the light comes toward you from behind the trees.

That is precisely what is happening in this photograph, taken at one of the well-known aspen color spots near Conway Summit just north of Lee Vining. On the right few days each fall, there are huge swaths of wonderful aspen color on the eastern slopes of the Sierra here. I often shoot here in the late afternoon, just before the sun drops behind the crest. This may mean that I’m shooting almost directly into the sun, but it also means that the leaves are brilliantly lit by light that comes from behind and passes through the leaves. This photograph captures a type of grove that always intrigues me, namely one that sits apart from the iconic alpine scenery and instead is in rangeland and sage brush country.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Tree, Morning Light

October 7, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An aspen tree with morning backlight, photographed high above Bishop Creek Canyon

I’m continuing to indulge in my fascination with back-lit subjects today. This solitary aspen tree was located in an odd, out-of-the-way spot in the North Lake area, high in the Bishop Creek drainage. I had finished shooting at the lake and in the nearby aspen groves when I got the idea of walking the approach road a bit and finding a spot with a view to the canyon far below and to its shadowed walls on the far side of the canyon. For the sort of shot I had in mind, almost any small aspen tree would do as long as it was in the right place with the right background, and you would not think of this one as being anything special if you saw it – it is small, located on a dry and rocky section of hillside, and among a few other scattered small trees. However, it turned out to have what I wanted – a clear shot of the shadowed far hillside for background, separation from other trees, a few remaining leaves, and that backlight.

Photographing a location like North Lake can be an interesting experience. It holds at least a couple of the iconic Sierra autumn scenes with which many are familiar. (You can often find workshop participants lined up along a particular beautiful spot along the shoreline.) As with so many such subjects, most start with those impressive and familiar views – and they are worthy of photographs. But it is equally true that return visits to such a place, especially when they lead to more thorough observation, turn up a lot of interesting subjects that are not those familiar ones that first attracted our attention and lead to a much more complete knowledge of the place.

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

Parker Lake and Parker Canyon, Fall

October 4, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Aspens in fall color in the lower reaches of Parker Canyon above Parker Lake, Sierra Nevada

As the fall aspen color season comes along, I’ll share photographs of this annual phenomenon, both from the current year and from past seasons. This photograph comes from last year, the autumn of 2011. That was a fall color season to remember in the eastern Sierra Nevada range, and for several reasons. First it was unusual in that several strong winter-type storm fronts swept over the Sierra during the first week or so of October. While an occasional front that drops a light coating of high elevation snow is not unusual this time of year, a series of storms that dropped up to a foot of snow in many places was a surprise. (Many of us were perhaps tricked into thinking that this was an indication of a third consecutive heavy precipitation year – but we were certainly wrong about that!) So a scene that might typically hold little or no snow at this mid-October date does have snow, and a fairly low elevations as well. Second, the development of aspen color took a few interesting twists and turns that year. There was some good color early on up high, but then the snow came and both made it less accessible and took down some of the early leaves. So this early color was interrupted, only to return in grand form a week or so later – and there was a lot of wonderful color by the middle of the month when I made this photograph.

Parker Canyon is an area that I identify with a bit. I often hike out to Parker Pass on the Sierra crest from inside Yosemite – it is a nice day hike that gets into some lovely alpine country and even is conducive to one of my favorite pastimes in the high country, cross-country hiking. So I’ve been at the pass a number of times… but have never gone much beyond it. I understand that the trail over Parker Pass heads into some very high country once it leaves the park boundaries. In addition, I’ve often looked to this area for some later color when I head to the eastern Sierra to photograph the aspens, where the area known as “Parker Bench” can have some great aspen stands. On this day I hiked from the end of the road up to Parker Lake, joining lots and lots of other folks out to see the fall color show. I did the hike more or less in the middle of the day, following early morning shooting and passing the time before the later light, and I did not necessarily expect to find a lot of interesting light to photograph. However, there were clouds! And these clouds muted the harsh midday light and added some interesting shadows to the landscape. In addition, the dark rock of Parker Canyon created an appealing contrast with the bright and colorful aspens near the upper shore of Parker Lake.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: aspen

Black Aspen Leaves, Frost

Aspens and Sage

Aspen Tree, Morning Light

Parker Lake and Parker Canyon, Fall

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