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

Shoreline Aspens, Autumn

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Shoreline Aspens, Autumn
Colorful autumn aspen trees line the shore of an Eastern Sierra lake reflecting high peaks in morning light.

Shoreline Aspens, Autumn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful autumn aspen trees line the shore of an Eastern Sierra lake reflecting high peaks in morning light.

As I worked my way through what is actually a rather small collection of aspen color photographs I made this season I kept thinking that I had found all of the photographs worth taking through the full post-processing workflow. I was really only on the East Side for about 48 hours on this visit, and I made most of the photographs in two specific spots. But so far, each time I have “finished” and taken my final look at the raw files… I have come up with yet one more that I did not want to leave behind.

This is one of several I made from this location along the shoreline of this lake. Once I realized that I was going to be here I pre-selected a couple of spots to set up, and this one was on the agenda for my last morning before heading home. I knew that I wanted the foreground red trees in the the photograph, so I had to find a spot with a bit of elevation above the lake. I located it and the rest of the series of photographs was made from camera positions within about a five foot radius, adjusting my locations slightly to deal with some overlaps. Because it was somewhat smoky from wildfires, I decided on this composition as a way to exclude the more distant elements that tend to show the smoke up more clearly.

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 and Amazon.

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

Aspen Leaves, Near and Far

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Aspen Leaves, Near and Far
A group of autumn aspen leaves against a background of aspen forest, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspen Leaves, Near and Far. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of autumn aspen leaves against a background of aspen forest, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

At some point during almost every aspen season I end up looking away from the big views and getting up close to the colorful leaves. I can think of several reasons that I do this. One, of course, is simply that the leaves are a fascinating subject, with almost infinite variations of color and pattern that are expanded by the many qualities of light that can be found in aspen groves. Another is that at some point, to be honest, the big views can become a bit to… familiar. I’m not referring here just to the lovely iconic views that are familiar — and which I photograph, too. At some point, the giant groves of beautiful trees with bright colors and white trunks may just start to look a bit too much… the same.

I was in a very familiar location when I made this series of close-up aspen leaf photographs, a place that I’ve been photographing for well over a decade — long enough to watch it change from a usually-quiet place to one that can be just a bit overrun. This grove, with which I’m also quite familiar, was in excellent form when I was there. The leaves included almost every possible color in the spectrum from green through yellow and orange to red, with a wide variety of leaf patterns. There was soft, luminous light intensifying the colors, and by moving the camera position just a bit I could find all kinds of variations in the out-of-focus background areas.

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 and Amazon.

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

Tall Aspens, Autumn

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Tall Aspens, Autumn
A grove of tall aspen trees with autumn foliage in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Tall Aspens, Autumn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of tall aspen trees with autumn foliage in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Before I posted this photograph I shared another one that focused on a grove of small, slender aspen trees. In the accompanying text I pointed out that such groves tend to be typical of the Sierra, but that groves of tall, thick trees like those seen in other western locations do occur occasionally. This is one of those groves. The trees here grow in the middle of a rather large grove of aspens, in a valley that I suspect must be both sheltered and well-watered. Although many nearby trees are, indeed, of the more modest and sometimes twisted type, in the middle of this grove there are many like these, tall, straight, and with thick trunks.

I photographed these a bit before their peak color. Typically those smaller trees tend to change first, and the larger trees that grow in more sheltered locations may achieve best color a week or more later. This group grows on a gentle slope, and face a lookout where I was able to set up my camera with a long lens, and then spend some time simply looking for compositions within the span of the larger grove.

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 and Amazon.

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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

Golden Aspen Forest, Autumn

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Golden Aspen Forest, Autumn
A dense forest of golden Sierra Nevada autumn aspen trees.

Golden Aspen Forest, Autumn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dense forest of golden Sierra Nevada autumn aspen trees.

After sharing a bunch of very colorful red and orange aspen leaf photographs recently, someone asked me about those colors, wondering if they were a stage in the color development that led to the yellow/gold leaves with which this person was familiar. In response I pointed out a couple of things. First, those other colors — the reds and oranges — are actually the terminal colors of those leaves before they fall, and they do not go through a yellow stage. Secondly, those colors are, at least in the Sierra, the exception to the more familiar rule, which is the yellow colored leaves — those are by far the most common type.

The grove in this photograph is perhaps of the more typical sort. For the most part, the tall, thick-trunk trees of Colorado and similar places are quite rare in the Sierra. They do exist here and there, especially in some sheltered and well-watered locations. But more often we see smaller trees and trees that do not grow straight and tall. Many lovely Sierra aspen groves include trees that are only one or two times the height of a person. This is one of those groves. Note the typical yellow color, the small and slender trunks, and the surrounding vegetation representing fairly dry conditions.

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 and Amazon.

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.