Tag Archives: autumn

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

Fall Leaves, Lundy Canyon

December 5, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Leaves transition from summer to fall colors in a deeply shaded area of forest in Lundy Canyon.

Since it was the second week of October, and the time at which I’ve seen Lundy Canyon aspens change color in the past, I headed up into the canyon on the last day of this visit to the eastern Sierra to look for aspen color. As I drove up the canyon from highway 395 I could see some brilliant color far above on the ridges above the canyon, but I wasn’t seeing much down in the bottom of the canyou. I continued up the canyon past Lundy Lake and the resort – closed up for the season – and then continued on the one-lane dirt road that goes on up to the trailhead, passing some flooded flats along the way. There is often color in these areas and then again in the grove of aspens near the trailhead… but not this time.

(Looking back on this “aspen season” from an early-December perspective, it was a bit of a strange one. It seemed to begin early at the higher elevations and there were stunningly colorful trees up high during the first week of October. However, storms soon came in and took down many leaves – and then there was a “dead zone” period of nearly two weeks before the color resumed at lower elevations. This visit to Lundy Canyon took place near the start of this slow period.)

After figuring out that the color I had coming looking for was not to be found, I started back down the canyon. I stopped briefly by the ponds but the light was not quite what I was looking for – it was still a bit too early in the afternoon and the light was harsh and coming from the “wrong” direction for my purposes. However, elsewhere in the canyon I decided that I had to photograph something before leaving the canyon for a planned evening shoot nearby, so I simply pulled out on a short dirt side road where I had earlier seen some tree trunks leaning against rocks. It turned out that I couldn’t find a composition there either – sometimes this is just the way it goes! However, I found these leaves nearby next to the path I had taken down to the river. I thought that the contrast between the green and yellow and the very dark forest floor might be interesting, so I put on a long lens (to minimize depth of field and to give myself some working distance) and I made a few exposures.

This photograph is 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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Upper Yosemite Fall and Lost Arrow, Autumn Storm Clouds

December 3, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Autumn storm clouds swirl around the Upper Yosemite Fall, Lost Arrow, and the cliffs of Yosemite Valley.

Shooting with a long lens, I watched as the clouds floated in and out of this scene, at times almost completely obscuring Upper Yosemite Fall and then clearing. At this instant the clouds cooperated for a few seconds, lining up so that the fall was completely visibly, parting enough to let the pinnacle of the Lost Arrow appear at upper left, and revealing just a bit of the tree covered ridge in the background. A few seconds later the clouds again thickened and this view was gone.

I posted a black and white version of the same photograph perhaps two weeks ago. I have since printed the monochrome version and I like it a great deal. Today I returned to these files and since I feel that it also works in color I decided to post it again.

This photograph is 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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Meadow Grasses, Autumn Rain

December 2, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

Meadow grasses made shiny by autumn rain, Yosemite Valley, California.

This fall I have been “playing around” with photographs of very dense and detailed vegetation. (Two other recent related photographs include one of aspen leaves and one of creek dogwood.) This is a difficult thing, especially with a subject whose colors seem somewhat muted, but if it works the largish prints can work both by revealing some form that might be difficult to see in all the detail and by presenting the detail itself. (As much as many of us rightfully point out that sharpness is not everything, sometimes it is pretty important!)

I noticed the subject of this photograph while shooting something quite different. I was standing in a meadow near Curry Village in light rain and using a very long lens to photograph mist and clouds drifting among trees and spires high on the Yosemite Valley rim when I happened to look down at my feet. (Always a good idea to look at the other stuff when shooting a specific subject that you came for.) I noticed the shapes of the grasses and the mixture of greens and browns with the “cool” light from the cloudy conditions. Since I couldn’t shoot this subject with the lens I was using at the moment, I went back to the other subject and made a mental note to switch lens and pay some attention to the grasses when I finished.

This photograph is 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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Fog and Trees, Yosemite Valley

November 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 5 Comments

Forest trees are almost completely obscured by evening fog in Yosemite Valley.

If you have been watching some of my recently posted photographs, you have perhaps figured out that I’m working on a series of photographs in which mist and fog and clouds obscure to a greater or lesser extent some underlying elements of the landscape. (If you haven’t been watching my recent posts… you can still be my friend! ;-) In a few of them I am seeing how far I can take this and still have an interesting photograph. This one marks a further step along that path in that at least half of the scene has little or no detail, being almost completely obscured by drifting fog, and even in the areas where trees are still visible the details are very muted.

I’m thinking about just how little detail I can retain in the scene and still retain a sense of form. And this isn’t the most extreme in the series at all. I’m working on another one which retains less “solid” detail than this one. (It may be that it works as a print but perhaps not as a web jpg, in which case I may not post it here – we’ll see.)

The photograph was made at – icon alert! – Wawona Tunnel View above Yosemite Valley on an evening when I had little interest in shooting the classic view of the Valley itself, but had instead gone there because I was almost certain that fog would form among the trees on the Valley floor as the temperature dropped following a rainy day. If anyone had noticed me shooting on that evening among the line-up of dozens of photographers, they might have been perplexed as to why I was aiming a very large lens down when the famous view was obviously straight ahead! ;-)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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