Tag Archives: autumn

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

Fallen Aspen Branch, Snow

October 11, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 7 Comments

Time to share aspen photos again! Each fall when the aspens change colors I head to the eastern Sierra to go aspen hunting! I made my first foray of the season this past weekend. I visited a number of the usual places – Bishop Creek, McGee Creek, Rock Creek, and Lee Vining Canyon. I’ve come to think that every aspen color season has a personality, defined by how and when and with what intensity the color appears, along with the related issues of the changing weather.

This year I think (from what I’ve heard) that the higher elevation trees were just changing colors about a week ago… before a strong early season storm came across the Sierra, dropping temperatures and quite a bit of snow. Over the weekend I saw up to about one foot of snow in places, which is an unusual amount for so early in the season. The aspen color was not exactly astonishing, and I think that the weather may be at least partially to blame. It seems that many of the mature colorful leaves were knocked down by the storm, and others that might now be colorful instead turned black and brown. While there was some interesting color, in many places I saw trees with leaves missing or trees that were almost fully still green.

The good news to take away from this is that since the lower elevation trees are still very green, there should be some fine aspen color very soon.

But I’ve often thought that a single leaf can be enough to make a photograph, and sometimes the single leaf can make a more effective image than a huge, colorful grove spanning many acres. So when I find that the color isn’t what I expected, one response is simply to look harder. As I walked along the road that passes North Lake, many of the subjects that I might have expected to photograph were nowhere to be seen. There were not large, spectacularly colorful trees. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground. So I looked harder… and one of the subjects I noticed was this single, small branch full of intensely colorful leaves lying on the snow.

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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, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Color, Yosemite Valley

September 19, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Autumn colors on trees and meadows, Yosemite Valley.

These colors are a feature of late October and perhaps the very beginning of November in Yosemite Valley. In the right conditions, the browns and golds and oranges of these drying meadows and the leaves of these trees can be almost as spectacular as any other fall foliage.

A few years ago I discovered that here in California I can sustain the fall color season for months if I just look in the right places. What it might lack compared to the intensity of east coast hardwood forests, it makes up for in variety and length. I can often find early signs of the approaching fall by the beginning of September or even the end of August in the higher portions of the Sierra, as certain plants complete their growth cycle and start to die back. (Even in the coast ranges, there are a few trees that can get “fall” color during the heat of August.) By late September the pattern is clear at all high elevation locations in the Sierra, and then the tremendous aspen color show begins close to the start of October, extending a good way through the month. After that the lower elevations hills and mountains start to change – and that is what we see in this photograph from Yosemite Valley at 4000′ of elevation. But closer to sea level in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere the show is still to come, and colors can continue all the way through November if you know where to look.

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

Evening Fog, Autumn

September 18, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Evening fog forms on an autumn evening above a ridge near Olmsted Point, Yosemite National Park.

I made this photograph on a memorable evening back in 2008 while returning to the SF Bay Area from several days of autumn aspen photography on the east side of the Sierra. After shooting aspen subjects like crazy for several days, I more or less thought that my photography for this trip was finished as I ascending Tioga Pass to enter the park on my way home. In fact, I didn’t really do much photography around the pass or at Tuolumne. But as I drove I noticed that low clouds were forming over peaks and ridges, created by condensation in very moist post-rain air as the temperature dropped quickly as sunset approached. Now this was starting to seem a bit interesting!

As I came to Olmsted Point the clouds were so thick that I couldn’t really see a thing. You never know for sure how these atmospheric conditions are going to develop, and while part of me was disappointed that perhaps there would not be a photography opportunity, another part of me (the tired part!) was almost a bit relieved that I could perhaps get on with task of driving home. But as I rounded the very next bend, where the road rises to a high point just west of Olmsted, things opened up just a bit and light from a clear area a bit further to the west was making the fog glow a bit. So, with a combination of reluctance and excitement, I pulled over, hoisted my gear, and walked off into the forest and granite landscape to make this photograph.

(After making this one, I was certain that my work was done, as the light was fading fast. As fate would have it, a mile or two further on there was a tremendous view of the fog filled valley below, in soft dusk light and with Clouds Rest looming above. Yup, had to stop one more time for that one, too…)

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Events, Locations, Sierra Nevada Fall Color

Searching for Aspen Color in the Eastern Sierra Nevada – The Show Starts Soon!

September 13, 2011 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

At about this time each year my thoughts turn to the phenomenal aspen color in the eastern Sierra. I seek out and photograph these trees every fall. I shared some hints in a couple of blog articles from recent seasons – links below:

Each season is unique – starting at different times and developing in various ways that seem to depend upon how the previous winter-summer weather evolved, elevation, north/south position with the range, and other imponderables that seem beyond prediction.

While many signs of the seasonal change are already visible, the real show typically begins at the very end of September in a few places and really gets going around the beginning of October. I tend to regard the first half of the month as being “prime time” for eastern Sierra aspen color, though the season can end earlier if the weather blows down a lot of leaves or a cold snap turns them brown, or it can last longer for those who follow the color transition all the way down into Owens Valley and other low areas. (Note: While there are some colorful trees west of the Sierra crest, they are not nearly as numerous or accessible as those on the east side.)

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