Tag Archives: autumn

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Oak Branches and Rain, Yosemite Valley

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Oak Branches and Rain, Yosemite Valley

Oak Branches and Rain, Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. November 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful fall foliage on branches of a Yosemite Valley oak tree with walls of the valley seen faintly though rain.

This tree is an often photographed landmark in the meadow just to the north of Curry Village and along the roadway to the campgrounds in upper Yosemite Valley. I stopped here initially to photograph the tree with Yosemite Falls very faintly visible through the rain and mist beyond. Finishing that, I decided to try a few detail photograph of the tree itself. Here the upper edge of the Valley walls are just barely visible through the light rain.

I think this will be the last – at least for awhile – in the long series of photographs from my early November rainy weekend in Yosemite Valley earlier this year.

keywords: oak, tree, meadow, leaf, leaves, branch, cliff, wall, mountain, face, fog, cloud, rain, mist, yellow, gold, fall, autumn, season, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, foliage, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Oak Grove, El Capitan Meadow

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Autumn Oak Grove, El Capitan Meadow

Autumn Oak Grove, El Capitan Meadow. Yosemite Valley, California. November 2. 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn colors come to the oak groves in El Capitan Meadow with Cathedral Rocks in the distance – Yosemite Valley, California.

I think I hit this meadow at pretty much the peak of the fall color this year when I visited during the first week of November. The light rain that was falling also helped saturate the colors. El Capitan Meadow is near the base of El Capitan and is full of beautiful, large oak trees and meadow grasses and plants. Beyond the edge of the meadow the lower face of Cathedral Rocks (on the south side of the Valley, opposite El Capitan) is visible.

keywords: autumn, fall, season, el capitan, meadow, grass, leaves, oak, tree, grove, forest, yellow, brown, gold, cloud, rain, cathedral, rocks, cliff, face, mountain, mist, fog, trunk, branch, silhouette, yosemite, valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel, nature, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Burnt Forest – Yosemite Valley

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Burnt Forest - Yosemite Valley

Burnt Forest – Yosemite Valley. Yosemite National Park, California. November 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Burnt trees in a managed fire area of Yosemite Valley.

Now that I understand that fire is a natural and important part of the life cycle of forests, I no longer find burned areas to be ugly – in fact I think that they can be quite compelling scenes. The start quality of charred trees and soil is interesting, and soon the new growth in the burned areas comes in and wildflowers can be abundant. The NPS now has a policy in Yosemite of allowing naturally occurring fires to burn (as long as they don’t threaten structures) and of purposefully starting “managed fires” in places like the Valley.

During my raining early -November weekend in The Valley I stopped in this recently burned forest, initially to photograph new growth of ferns on the forest floor against the dark colors of the trees. After I worked that idea I saw these lower branches on forest trees that had been burned and decided to photograph them as well.

keywords: fire, burn, forest, managed, controlled, trunk, tree, branches, char, brown, blackened, yosemite, valley, national park, nature, california, usa, fall, autumn, season, sierra, nevada, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Foxtails, Autumn

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Foxtails, Autumn

Foxtails, Autumn. Calero Hills, California. November 22, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn foxtails photographed near a small pond in the Calero Hills in the southern San Francisco Bay Area, California.

This morning I got up very early and headed off to one of my favorite local photography haunts, the Calero County Park south of San Jose, where I like to photograph in the oak grasslands at almost all times of the year. I arrived just as the first sunlight was arriving. There is a small pond perhaps five minutes up the trail from the parking lot, and a white egret often can be found hanging out there in the morning, so I put my 100-400mm lens on the camera and headed up the trail. I approached the lake from below, trying to move slowly and be quiet in case the egret was around. The plan was to use the long lens to shoot this bird before it spooked an took off.

As I arrived at the shoreline of the pond there was no egret. In fact there wasn’t much wildlife at all this morning. However, there was a nice row of foxtails along the fence by the shore of the pond. So, violating just about every “rule” for photographing such a subject I made a few shots. I worked handheld. With a 100-400mm zoom at 400mm. Yes, this bokeh came from a big zoom lens. :-) The background is very blurred pond-side plants and some reflections on the surface of the water.

keywords: foxtail, stem, seed, bokeh, blur, nature, plant, fall, autumn, calero, hills, santa clara county, park, san jose, california, usa, foliage, stock