Tag Archives: creek

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures

Aspen Color – Wall of Leaves

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Aspen Color - Wall of Leaves
Aspen Color - Wall of Leaves

Aspen Color – Wall of Leaves. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A nearly solid wall of brilliant fall aspen leaf color in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is going to be the first in a short series of “frame filled with foliage” photographs that I’ll post. Although I think they work best as prints – and fairly large ones at that – I’d like to share these since they are something a bit different that I’ve been working on.

Sometimes I’m just so impressed by the sheer density and complexity of the foliage that I’m tempted to just point that camera at them and click. It might look like that is what is going on here, but I am also trying (remember, “trying!”) to find some sort of pattern and form in these very complex textures. This photograph was made in a small aspen grove that was essentially at the color peak – only a very small number of partly green leaves remained, yet most of the transformed leaves were still on the tree. If you have chased aspen color, you know how difficult it can be to find the leaves at just this point!

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

Aspen-Covered Hillside, Reflection

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Aspen-Covered Hillside, Reflection
Aspen-Covered Hillside, Reflection

Aspen-Covered Hillside, Reflection. Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brilliantly colorful aspens ascend a hillside valley above the reflecting surface of a Sierra Nevada lake.

This absurdly colorful hillside above a small lake is a well-known autumn sight in the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California. If you hit it at just the right time and in just the right light, the colors can be almost hallucinogenic. (I’ve heard it called the “Cheetos forest,” for reasons that are probably pretty obvious.)

I’ve been there plenty of times, but have never quite hit the right combination of conditions to get a good shot of the color. I came very close a few years ago, arriving in the pre-dawn hours when there was just enough light to make out the river of color snaking up the small valley above the aspen forest near the lakeshore – but before the sun came up a snow squall swept through. I cowered in my car for half hour to escape the wind, and when I was able to get out and start shooting…. half the leaves that had been there 30 minutes earlier were gone!

The good fortune this time was not just that I was there when the color was strong, but it was also a matter of light and weather conditions. The day started out overcast, and things were looking a bit dull. But soon the clouds began to break up to the east (to the right in the photo) and bright but soft light began to filter though and between the clouds as if someone had set up a giant light panel to the east. Instead of photographing the entire hillside, I decided to photograph the horizontal layers rising from the reflections in the surface of the water, through the shoreline grasses and bushes, past the yellow/orange/gold aspens, and up the slope to the brilliant orange colors above.

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

North Lake and the Sierra Crest, Fall

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North Lake and the Sierra Crest, Fall
North Lake and the Sierra Crest, Fall

North Lake and the Sierra Crest, Fall. Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brilliant gold and red fall aspens ring the upper shore of North Lake as the Sierra Crest towers above.

Somewhat past the “golden hours” of first light I investigated a hill above this lake as a possible shooting location. Because this was a morning of mixed clouds and sun, the time for good light was more extended than it might otherwise have been. The clouds began thicker and gradually began to thin, and as they did so the mixed sun and cloud shadows moved continually across the landscape, spotlighting different parts of the scene. This was one of those situations that puts the lie to the notion that the landscape is a fixed and static thing – from my perspective the entire scene was in a constant state of flux and photographing it required full attention. Here most of the shadows had cleared from the scene, with the exception of some over the foreground lake and a few scattered among the peaks, and beams of light slanted into the scene to light up the grove of brilliantly colorful fall aspens.

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: People, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Photographer, Sabrina Basin

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Photographer, Sabrina Basin
Photographer, Sabrina Basin

Photographer, Sabrina Basin. Sierra Nevada, California. October 2, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A photographer working the autumn colors from a ridgetop in Sabrina Basin, Sierra Nevada, as an early fall storm comes in.

I decided to stop and wander out onto this ridge above Sabrina Basin, a spot that I have visited previously for its unobstructed view of the valley below and the peaks of the Sierra crest above Sabrina Lake, which lies in a bowl far up the canyon. I had my eyes on some rocky benches that run along the top of the ridge, and as I approached I saw that I wasn’t the only photographer with this idea. As I walked the narrow rock toward the overlook, he was working the spot from which I also wanted to shoot, so I decided to sit back and let him finish. (The ridge wasn’t wide enough for both of us to work together there.)

As I waited, I thought there was something interesting about his position above the valley, his concentration on shooting, his all-blue outfit (shirt and jeans, on a cold and rainy day!), and that wide brimmed hat – so I decided to make a few photographs of him. We barely talked at all. I hoped to get his name, but that didn’t happen. The best I was able to do was give him a card, and offer him a copy of the photo if he contacted me. Never heard from him…

© Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.