Tag Archives: califoria

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove, North Lake Road

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Aspen Grove, North Lake Road
Aspen Grove, North Lake Road

Aspen Grove, North Lake Road. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fallen leaves in an aspen grove along the road to North Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

This photograph of a grove of large and small aspens with much undergrowth and fallen leaves was made on a morning of beautiful soft and diffused light as a weather front was moving in and light rain was starting. In this light the harsh highlights of the bright leaves are softened and the shadows open up (since the sky becomes one giant light box) so that details become more apparent and the colorful trees and leaves can almost glow.

This grove is beside a road used by many photographers to get to one of the most popular and iconic fall color locations in the eastern Sierra. As I worked alone, or nearly so, in this small grove on a gentle hillside, five minutes up the road perhaps 50 or 60 photographers were lined up side by side at the end of a lake to make the same photograph. In fairness, the subject of their photographs is a very beautiful and compelling one… but I urge photographers to look beyond the “same old, same old,” and to slow down and search out subjects and compositions that only become apparent with time and some contemplation.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Fall Color, Eastern Sierra Aspens

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Fall Color, Eastern Sierra Aspens
Fall Color, Eastern Sierra Aspens

Fall Color, Eastern Sierra Aspens. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of aspen trees along Bishop at the peak of their gaudy fall colors, Sierra Nevada, California.

On a week of brilliant fall color during an autumn when the color was exceptional in parts of the eastern Sierra, this little grove of aspens was almost absurdly colorful. I first saw them while driving away from a nearby shot – their fluorescent colors got my attention while I was looking in a completely different direction. The colors nearby were quite something, but they literally paled next to this grove. (I’ve heard trees like this referred to as Cheetos trees – and I think you can imagine why.)

Should you think that this color is simply something I’ve pumped up in post processing, take a look at the boulder in the lower part of the frame and see the tree trunks and the pale grasses at bottom right. The fact that I shot in over cast conditions, late in the day, and in a very light rain did intensify the colors a bit, but this is what they looked like.

These colors present some photographic challenges. The main one is that almost all of the light is in the red channel, and when shooting a digital camera it is easy to blow out (grossly overexpose) the red channel and not even realize it. I have found that with this subject it is critical to use the three-channel histogram display that shows the separate levels of red, green, and blue. The single luminosity histogram display averages the values of the three color channels, and if one is extremely hot (as is the red channel here) you can blow it out even if the histogram looks fine.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Dead Branches, Bishop Creek

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Dead Branches, Bishop Creek
Dead Branches, Bishop Creek

Dead Branches, Bishop Creek. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tangle of dead branches along the banks of Bishop Creek, Sierra Nevada, California.

Another photographic irony, perhaps, but I made this photograph within sight of the gaudiest and flashiest brilliant autumn aspen leaves that I saw during the first week of October in the Bishop Creek area. I’m not exaggerating. I had earlier spotted the “gaudy, flashy” trees as I drove away from a nearby location and looked, almost in shock, at their intense red, gold, and orange colors. For various reasons, I did not stop, but I made a mental note to come back here later in the day. When I returned went straight to the color and spent some time photographing it. (A photo of those trees will show up here before long.)

As I finished shooting that obvious autumn subject, I slowed down a bit and walked along the side of the creek in the fading evening light. As I did so, I noticed these tangles of old, dead branches along the bank and wondered how I might photograph them. The interesting and apparently random juxtapositions of the gray branches intrigued me right away, as did the various textures and shapes and combinations of bright and shadowed features. As I looked closer the colors of the scene began to become more visible – the red-brown colors of the pine cone at lower left, the similar tones of the fallen needles, and the slender lines of green where a few blades of grass draped across the branches.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Bare Aspen Trunks and Fallen Leaves

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Bare Aspen Trunks and Fallen Leaves
Bare Aspen Trunks and Fallen Leaves

Bare Aspen Trunks and Fallen Leaves. Bishop Creek, California. October 3, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The white trunks of nearly leafless aspen trees with fallen leaves below, Bishop Creek, California.

While the brilliant fall colors of the eastern Sierra aspens are an obvious attraction, I also like the bare, white trunks that begin to appear more clearly as the leaves fall. In fact, in some ways I prefer them as a subject to the leave. While I can’t stop myself from shooting those incredible colors, at some point they almost seem to produce a sort of visual overload. But the light-colored trunks, ranging from stout older trees to delicate and twisting small trees, especially against a background of rocks, fallen leaves, or the clutter of the forest have their own magic.

This is a scene from no special place – it is a just a spot along a road that I passed over more than once. I had shot in the general area earlier, but only noticed this as I passed by again on this cloudy and misty morning when the softer light allowed more of the details to appear and the slight rain brought out the colors a bit more.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email