Tag Archives: autumn

Commentary, Locations

Chasing the Aspens… And a Storm?

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I have plans to photograph the eastern Sierra aspen color this weekend, but it looks like there will be a “bit of weather,” as the first real Pacific weather front of the season will pass through. My first instinct was to perhaps not make the trip since this sort of weather makes things a lot less predictable. But my second instinct – hopefully the better of the two! – was to note that the front will pass and that the conditions may turn out to be a lot more photographically compelling than the usual pre-front weather.

In any case, I’ll have more to report soon – either from on the road or when I return.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Poison Oak Leaves, Last Day of Summer

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Poison Oak Leaves, Last Day of Summer

Poison Oak Leaves, Last Day of Summer. Calero Hills, California. September 21, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Poison oak leaves on the last day of summer against a backgrouind of branches and early autumn colors – Calero Hills, California.

My last-day-of-summer morning hike at Calero Park began early and in cloudy weather – but the overcast saturated the colors on some of the early fall colors, including the leaves on this poison oak bush on a grassy hillside.

Yes, I was careful not to get too close! I shot this with a telephoto lens…

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Pine Needles, Fletcher Lake

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Pine Needles, Fletcher Lake

Pine Needles, Fletcher Lake. Yosemite National Park, California. September 8, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

During the first weekend of September 2008 I made my first late-season visit to the Sierra, heading to Fletcher Lake in the Yosemite backcountry, a place I often try to visit each year at about this time. I like to get up there as the fall season approaches, and an added bonus this time was the possibility of meeting some fellow photographers who were in the area. (More about that later.)

In the morning of my last day at Fletcher I was up early to photograph the morning light on the rocks and trees around the lake, especially those reflected in the still water at that hour. I was just about finished with that project when I spotted these needles on the shady side of a shoreline grove of trees.

keywords: pine, branch, needle, tree, fletcher, vogelsang, lake, yosemite, national park, california, usa, sierra, nevada, nature, green, fall, autumn, pattern, stock

Commentary, Locations, News

California Fall Color Season About to Start

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The autumn color season in the Sierra Nevada should start very soon. Actually, if you count – as I do – the dry grasses and the high elevation ground plants going dormant, it has already begun. But the real show is the turning of the aspens, mostly in the eastern Sierra, starting around the very end of September and likely peaking during the first week of the month. If conditions are right, it can last as long as the middle of October, but earlier is always better.

Several web sites have posted fall color guides in the past, and since timing is so critical it is a good idea to follow the as the time approaches. One site that is new to me is a US government site that reports on fall colors nationwide. Another that I’ve often followed in the past is the California Fall Color site, though it doesn’t (yet) appear to be active. In addition, I’ll summarize what I know and what I hear about Sierra fall color once the curtain begins to rise on this year’s show.