Tag Archives: creek

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

Tall Autumn Aspen Trees

Image Leave a comment
Tall Autumn Aspen Trees
Tall aspen trees with long, white trunks on an Eastern Sierra Nevada hillside.

Tall Autumn Aspen Trees. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Tall aspen trees with long, white trunks on an Eastern Sierra Nevada hillside.

The large grove of which these trees are a part is one that I’ve photographed for a long time. For the Sierra, it is a very large expanse of aspens, and they rise from a valley up the lower slopes of rock-strewn mountains. Most of then I have photographed them earlier in the season where the more colorful trees are mixed in with trees that are still green. But this time I visited later in October, and virtually the entire hillside was yellow, gold, and red. Note also the tall and straight aspen trunks — many Sierra aspens are much shorter.

I photographed these trees, as I often do, in soft, shaded light. The sun had not risen above the ridge behind them, so there were still fully in shadow — though the sunny edge of that shadow was rapidly approaching as I worked! Photographing aspens in these conditions reveals the difference between our own visual perception and what the camera “sees.” Looking at the scene you would say you saw colorful aspen leaves and white or gray trunks. But a photograph made in these conditions renders the trunks intensely blue. So the photographer faces a quandary for which there are several possible answers. One is to “go with the blue,” with the risk that viewers will be struck by what seems like unnaturally intense blue tones. Another is to shift the yellow/blue balance in post to produce something that better approximates the experience of looking directly at the trees.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Conifers and Hardwoods, Autumn

Image Leave a comment
Conifers and Hardwoods, Autumn
A mixed stand of conifers and colorful autumn hardwood trees, New England.

Conifers and Hardwoods, Autumn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A mixed stand of conifers and colorful autumn hardwood trees, New England.

Near the spot where I made this photograph, a carpet of wildly colorful hardwood trees was draped across valleys and ridges. It was quite a sight, but it was also very difficult to photograph it. One of the challenges of photographing in this part of New England comes from the very forest that produces those colors. The darned trees grow so close together and come right up to the edge of roadways, making it very difficult if not impossible to make photographs of longer views from many locations. That was definitely the situation here — lots of colorful trees, but lots of things standing between me and those trees.

It eventually occurred to me to use the blockages as part of the photograph. in this case there were conifer trees growing nearby and among the hardwoods, and once I thought about how I liked the effect of the muted green conifers against the riotous hardwood colors it seemed to make sense to juxtapose the two types of trees in this photograph. If nothing else, this photograph serves as a record of those qualities.

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

Aspens, High Desert Valley

Image 2 Comments
Aspens, High Desert Valley
Autumn aspen trees line a creek through a high desert canyon, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, High Desert Valley. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen trees line a creek through a high desert canyon, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Heading across the Sierra early in the third week of October, I wasn’t certain what kind of aspen color I would encounter. There’s always some color at this point in the season, but in many years it has been diminished by wind and passing early weather fronts. But it seemed that these influences were muted this year, and as I approached Sonora Pass I was encouraged by seeing much more color than I expected. I turned south after crossing the pass I headed south where the forests of the Eastern Sierra begins to meet the high desert sage country. As I passed this small valley — where I had not really paid attention to the color potential in the past — I caught a flash of bright color below. I quickly turned around and backtracked to locate a better camera position.

Getting just the right conditions for these trees that grow along shallow canyons like this one is tricky, especially on the eastern slopes of the Sierra. Typical daytime light is often quite harsh, though that diminishes a bit with autumn’s lowering sun angles. But this time I got lucky, and broken clouds created patterns of light and shadow on the sage-covered hills. I set up and waited for the light to show up in the right places, and eventually it lit up the trees in the Vally and produced alternating light and dark patterns in the hills and mountains beyond.

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.