Tag Archives: autumn

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Leaves, Sandstone

Leave a comment
Autumn Leaves, Sandstone
Autumn leaves lie on the sandstone in a high country creek bed, Zion National Park

Autumn Leaves, Sandstone. Zion National Park, Utah. October 22, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn leaves lie on the sandstone in a high country creek bed, Zion National Park

Every so often I decide to dig back through my older file archives from previous years, and I almost always discover photographs that I had forgotten, that perhaps didn’t resonate at the time, or were part of batches of images that I someone never quite finished reviewing. This is one of those. It comes from a lengthy autumn trip to various places in Zion with a group of friends back in 2012.

I made this photograph in Zion National Park, but it could have been made in uncounted numbers of places in Utah — it has the basic ingredients: patterned and worn sandstone plus leaves. This scene is as I found it, a small vignette of leaves, some in colors matching those of the sandstone and couple yellow enough to stand out from the background.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Mixed Forest, Brian Head

Leave a comment
Mixed Forest, Brian Head
Mixed aspen and conifer forest, autumn

Mixed Forest, Brian Head. Brian Head, Utah. October 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mixed aspen and conifer forest, autumn

Back in 2012 we made our first serious autumn photography foray into Utah, spending several October weeks traveling around the southern part of the state. Among other things, this was the first time I started to understand the differences between the patterns of California fall color that I know so well and the patterns in Utah and similar places. For me the biggest annual fall color event is the turning of the eastern Sierra aspens, which typically reaches is peak by or perhaps a bit before the middle of October. We began this trip with a much earlier than usual visit to those California mountains and, sure enough, we arrived for the very beginning of the serious color in the locations I would typically visit a week or more later. After spending just a couple of days there — I did not want to completely miss the California aspen season! — we headed east across Nevada to Utah.

Our first stop in Utah was in the Brian Head vicinity. (One draw was that the off-season lodging prices were extremely good.) I had not been here before and did not really know what to expect, though I knew that Cedar Breaks National Monument was nearby. We soon discovered that here, unlike in the Sierra Nevada, the big, high elevations aspen trees had already reached and passed their color peak, perhaps even by the end of September. Lesson learned! (We subsequently did learn that there are plenty of other fall color opportunities in the state at lower elevations, and that they can extend all the way into November.) This ridge of mixed conifers and aspens is just outside of the Brian Head area.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Equipment, Reader Questions, Technique

Reader Questions — March 10, 2017

2 Comments

Photographers write to me with questions, and I always try to reply. In many cases I prefer to reply here on the website so that others who may have the same questions can see the answers, too. Today I’m going through a backlog of questions on a variety of topics: neutral density filters, photographing in Utah, the Canon 5DsR, use of photographs by non-profits.

Pete writes: Dan enjoy your website! Question:Have the Mark III – May get the 5DSR – Has anyone used the 5DSR with Neutral Density Filters 6,10,15 etc.. and what have been the times -lengths – and outcomes? Any noise issues? Other problems noted?

Thanks for writing, Pete. I use a 10-stop neutral density (ND) filter sometimes and I use the 5DsR… but so far I haven’t used the two together! That said, I can’t think of any problems that would be specific to the use of these filters on the 5DsR. I do have experience using the 5DsR with much longer exposure times for night photography, and it works quite well for that.

For those who don’t know, the very dark 5-10 stop and more ND filters can be used to extend the exposure time in daylight conditions. Depending on the filter and your aperture choice you could get 30 second or long exposures. Their use presents a few challenges: Continue reading Reader Questions — March 10, 2017 →

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Aspen Forest

Leave a comment
Autumn Aspen Forest
Autumn Aspen forests stretch across the landscape of Dixie National Forest, Utah

Autumn Aspen Forest. Dixie National Forest, Utah. October 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn Aspen forests stretch across the landscape of Dixie National Forest, Utah

Is it ever to soon to start thinking about fall color? I think not. I made this photograph nearly five years ago on a big autumn trip around Utah. We started with a few days in California’s Eastern Sierra, then crossed Nevada by less-used routes to get to the area near Cedar Breaks. From there we headed east, eventually going as far as Moab before cutting across northern Arizona on our return trip.

This photograph was made not far from Cedar Breaks, along a gravel road that we happened to end up on for no other reason than we had some time and it looked interesting. The aspen forests here are more extensive that what I’m used to in California — they stretch over larger distances, and often the trees are straighter and taller. As you enjoy this beautiful scene, keep in mind that much of Utah’s wild lands — our wild lands — are under threat from political forces in the state that would place the short-term gain of a few special interest industries above the interests of the land’s current owners, you and me!

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.