Tag Archives: autumn

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Sidewalk and Fence, Autumn Light

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Sidewalk and Fence, Autumn Light
Autumn light shine through a fence to illuminate a sidewalk and fallen leaves.

Sidewalk and Fence, Autumn Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn light shines through a fence to illuminate a sidewalk and fallen leaves.

Some years ago I went on a local walk that changed the way I think about these things. Like most of us, when I think of what I want to photography, my thoughts ofter turn to placed that are distant, exotic, and different from what I experience in my daily life. For me this means lots of fascinating landscapes — deserts, mountains, ocean, and more — or it may mean travel to distant urban areas. But on the day when I went on that walk, I carried my camera. When I walk for exercise I usually don’t pay close attention to my surroundings. Instead I tend to let my thoughts drift (a good thing sometimes!) and the focus is internal. But with camera in hand (and I mean literally in my hand, not just in the bag), I start to see things that I have overlooked. On that particular walk, on a winter day, I suddenly realized, for example, that there were shadows everywhere and that they were worth photographing.

Speaking of shadows, this is the season when they become more prevalent and more interesting. Because the Northern Hemisphere sun never gets very high in the sky, shadows are cast by almost everything and on almost everything. As I came around a corner on another walk-with-the-camera this week I was stopped in my tracks by the shape of the shadow from this metal fence, falling across a sidewalk and a few autumn leaves.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Red Rock Outcropping

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Red Rock Outcropping
A variety of plantlife growing on a red rock outcropping, Zion National Park.

Red Rock Outcropping. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A variety of plantlife growing on a red rock outcropping, Zion National Park.

Utah red rock country is full of little vignettes like this one, no matter where you are. the photograph comes from Zion National Park, but it could have been made in any number of other locations where the sandstone formations appear. This California photographer, used to the relatively gray tones of Sierra granite, cannot get enough of the wild colors of this state.

I made this photograph on a morning when we drove across Zion National Park highlands on the Mt. Carmel Highway. Changes along this route, which can only assume the park service regards as improvements, have made photography considerably more difficult here. Many places where I used to be able to pull over and photograph are now off limits. That problem aside, we still did find places to stop and photograph in the brilliant morning sun, a very different experience than photographing in Zion Canyon or other deep and shaded places.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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: Sierra Nevada

Aspens and Dome, Eastern Sierra

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Aspens and Dome, Eastern Sierra
A line of autumn aspen trees in front of a rocky dome, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens and Dome, Eastern Sierra. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A line of autumn aspen trees in front of a rocky dome, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph comes from a morning of Eastern Sierra exploration into an area that I would not typically go to for fall color photography — not because there is no fall color there to photograph, but because it isn’t exactly the most accessible place to find it. For sure, there are easier places to find the color nearby. We put the 4Runner in 4WD and slowly tracked up toward the base of the range, eventually gaining enough elevation that there were aspens, the sort that live in harmony with surrounding high desert foliage of rabbitbrush and sage.

It was a beautiful morning of the sort that you’ll only find here in autumn. A weak storm has been through a few days earlier, and there was a dusting of snow on the highest Sierra crest peaks and behind us, across Owens Valley, on the White Mountains. Despite the recent storm the morning warmed nicely, and the sunlight was warm as we photographed. Here a small row of aspens, midway through the color change process, stood against a small, rocky dome, and beyond that in the haze-obscured distance were higher hills rising toward the summit of the range.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Streamside Cottonwood Trees

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Streamsiode Cottonwood Trees
Streamside cottonwood trees along the Virgin River begin to change to autumn colors.

Streamside Cottonwood Trees. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Streamside cottonwood trees along the Virgin River begin to change to autumn colors.

This photograph comes from a very busy place in Zion National Park, along the trail to one of the more popular destinations in Zion Canyon. Fortunately, as is almost always the case in well-known national parks, you can usually step even a little ways off the main trails and put some distance between yourself and the hordes. That’s more or less what I did here — I just walked a little ways away from the main hiking thoroughfare to where the trees were overhanging the river a bit. (However, a warning: When there are so many people around, sometimes a critical mass of them may see you making photographs and decide to follow. Unfortunately, that happened here to some extent. On some occasions I’ve been known to go to some lengths to obscure my visits to such places!)

Once again, I was really mostly attracted by the reflected canyon light — that special light that reflects from sunlit red rock walls and then gently fills in shadows with softly-directional, warm light. (One challenge: if there is a breeze it can be hard to deal with the motion of the leaves in this low light.) I chose the portrait orientation for this photograph so that I could include a bit of the stream and the boulder along with a bit of the canyon wall above and beyond the trees.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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