Tag Archives: color

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

Aspen Color, Bishop Canyon

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Aspen Color, Bishop Canyon
“Aspen Color, Bishop Canyon” — A group of aspen trees in peak autumn color, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

All over the Sierra there are little bits of the landscape with which I have somehow developed a long term relationship — places I return to year after year. They are all different. There’s a particular boulder along the trail into Lyell Canyon, a small grove of aspens in the June Lake area, a granite slab in Tuolumne Meadows, a camp spot in the Yosemite high country, this little group of aspens — and, of course, many more. How each of them came to have these connections for me is a bit hard to explain, though some do have particular stories.

Perhaps these trees got my attention because they stand against an interesting background, but also because they seem like they should be an easily photographed subject — yet I have found them tricky to photograph over the years. Sometimes the color isn’t quite right, or else I arrive after too many leaves have fallen. But I inevitably walk the little use trail past them and make a few photographs every fall.

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: Sierra Nevada

Bench and Mountains

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Bench and Mountains
“Bench and Mountains” — Morning light on a bench near the base of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada.

Most often as we watch the first sunlight arrive on the eastern face of the Sierra Nevada we are either somewhere out to the east, perhaps in Owens Valley, or actually up in one one of the valleys that cut into this side of the range. There are a few places that can offer a little different view, locations that are east of the escarpment but high enough to view the east side almost straight on from close distances.

I made this photograph from one of those locations, a long ridge that runs roughly parallel to the Sierra crest. The terrain here switches from high desert sage country to large groves of small aspens and then becomes more alpine. (You can see some of those small trees in the foreground here.) I made the photograph shortly after sunrise, when the low sun angle still cast. large shadows across the lower slopes of eastern escarpment.

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: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke

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Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke
“Oaks, Meadow, Drifting Smoke” — Smoke from a management fire drifts among autumn black oak trees in Yosemite Valley.

This photograph and the circumstances that led to it are a reminder about how things sometimes turn out differently than you might expect. I had left for Yosemite Valley hours before sunrise, planning to arrive in time to photograph in early morning light. Everything was going fine until I got into the lower Valley and discovered that smoke from a managed fire was blanketing the subject! I was quite disappointed as I drove along the south side of the Valley. But there I was, and there the smoke was, and I was there to make photographs — so I decided to see what possibilities might remain.

I crossed over to the north side of the valley, and looked back into the sunlight and these trees silhouetted in the drifting smoke, which was now glowing in the backlight from sunlight coming over the Valley rim. The backlight made the brown autumn oak leaves glow, and the slowly drifting smoke constantly altered the landscape, sometimes revealing and sometimes hiding features.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Aspen Slopes

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Aspen Slopes
“Aspen Slopes” — Aspen covered slopes on the east side of the Sierra Nevada.

People new to the autumn aspen “scene” in the Sierra Nevada often ask, “Where is the best place to find the aspens in the Eastern Sierra?” My answer may sound facetious, but it is accurate — “In the Eastern Sierra!” Sure, there are particular places where everyone goes to look and photograph, and many of them are spectacular. But the trees are everywhere. Drive across any Sierra Pass (slowly!) and you’ll find them. Head up or down US305 and watch (mostly) to the west, and you’ll see tons of them. Head up into most any east side canyon and they will be there.

In some other places large swaths of trees change virtually at the same time — in New England, for example. But things are more varied in the Sierra, and the color sustains itself for almost a month. It starts at the highest elevations and more in the north than the south. Then, generally speaking, it works its way from high to low and from north to south — through there are some variations here and there caused by exposure and availability of water. The trees in this photograph are in the transition zone between the dry high desert terrain and the first conifer forests as the elevation rises.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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