Tag Archives: bare

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fall Color, Bare Aspens

Image Leave a comment
Fall Color, Bare Aspens
Nearly bare aspen trees in the center of a scene of Eastern Sierra autumn color.

Fall Color, Bare Aspens. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Nearly bare aspen trees in the center of a scene of Eastern Sierra autumn color.

This photograph, made when this grove had passed its prime, gets us closer to the end of this year’s autumn transition in the Sierra, when some trees here are almost bare. While writing about this photograph I pondered my favorite time of aspen season. Is it the first explosion of color early each fall? Is it the peak time when the greatest number of leaves are fully transitioned? Or is it this time, when some colorful leaves remain but it is more and more obvious that winter is almost here? Honestly, it is hard to pick one over the other, but I do love how the trunks and branches are gradually revealed as the leaves fall..

While this photograph focuses on trees near the end of the color transition, nearby and just out of the frame were many trees still in peak, golden color. This year it seemed that brilliant colors hung on just a bit longer, and I have some theories about why this happened. The ongoing warm-up of the California (and global) climate is one factor. Another specific to this year (thought not unique to it) is that the absence of significant early season storms or wind allowed leaves that might otherwise have been blown down to remain on the trees a bit longer.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees and Grass

Image Leave a comment
Winter Trees and Grass
Winter grass beneath a thicket of dormant trees on a foggy morning in the Central Valley.

Winter Trees and Grass. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter grass beneath a thicket of dormant trees on a foggy morning in the Central Valley.

This photograph comes from a particular moment of transition on a winter tule fog day in California’s Central Valley, the point when the nearly impenetrable gray blanket of the fog begins to thin, the view opens a bit, and the light becomes warmer and slightly directional. A half hour earlier this scene would have been almost devoid of color, and many of the trees would have been nearly obscured by fog. (An hour later the scene might be overly bright and harshly lit.)

This spot holds several things that characterize the the Valley at this time of year: the fog-to-sunlight transition, of course, but also the dormant trees along the edge of farmland and the very green newly sprouted winter grass. That grass is a distinctly California thing that often surprises visitors from colder climates, where the seasonal cycle is almost reversed. A spot like this will be dry and brown in summer and fall, but winter rains trigger our”impossible green” season as the plants respond to the moisture.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan

Image Leave a comment
Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan
Winter trese in twilight at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, Lower Manhattan

Trees at Twilight, Lower Manhattan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter trese in twilight at the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall subway station, Lower Manhattan.

At about this time two years ago, near the end of the Before Times, we were in New York City for the holidays. It was a trip much like previous visits there — we mingled in gigantic crowds, walked almost everywhere, occasionally froze in very un-California weather, ate in packed restaurants, and did pretty much all of the things one does in a busy, crowded, and intense place like New York. Although we had no idea at the time — the first news of the oncoming pandemic had still not arrived — this would be the last big trip like this for years.

I mentioned above that we walk a lot in Manhattan. Those who don’t know the place are, it seems, often surprised to find that almost everyone there walks, residents and visitors alike. Certainly part of the reason is that it is not a friendly place to drivers. But it also really is a friendly place to walkers, despite what you might think. We always wander around on foot a lot when we visit, and even in winter we’ll sometimes walk long distances. This was one of those days. We started in more or less Midtown and then headed south all the way to Lower Manhattan below the City Hall area, where we met family members. Close to our destination we passed this scene at a subway entrance near City Hall as the day was ending and evening lights were appearing.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

The Last Leaves

Image 2 Comments
The Last Leaves
An aspen tree with a few remaining autum leaves, against a cliff face wtih snow.

The Last Leaves. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Aspen trees with a few remaining autumn leaves, against a cliff face with snow.

The Sierra Nevada experience of the past year-and-a-half or so has been… strange. Everything has changed since our world was turned upside down in March of 2020, and my ability to visit and photograph my favorite mountain range has not been an exception. During the first summer we saw many locations simply shut down, and I didn’t really get into the Sierra until the very end of that summer — but only for very brief visits and one aborted pack trip that I had to cancel as a result of the intense wildfire smoke. By last winter I was again able to more comfortably get to non-Sierra locations including Death Valley, where it was possible to work in relative isolation, but the Sierra remained difficult to access. I got up there a few times later in the season, but it wasn’t until this fall that I felt that I was beginning to reconnect with this landscape.

In mid-October we put together an actual road trip. It began with a couple of nights in the Eastern Sierra before continuing on to Southwest Utah, another location that I hadn’t been to in far too long. This brief autumn Sierra visit (which followed another visit a week earlier) was a bit later than usual, and we ended up visiting a few places that I usually overlook… and heading to a few “old friends” even though they were past their prime. I made this photograph in one of those places, a location where the colors are usually spectacular a bit earlier in the season. I knew that wouldn’t be the case this time, so we went there a bit later in the day after photographing more promising morning subjects. We arrived, made a quick stop, and I spotted this small group of trees in the shadow of a cliff. They were nearly at the end of their color transition and most of the leaves were gone, but those that remained glowed in the bit of light arriving over the top of the cliff.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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