Tag Archives: early

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II
Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Seeing a photograph here with the Roman numeral “II” attached you may wonder if there is a version “I.” There is, of course, and the first of the pair was posted a few days ago. In this case, the only significant difference is that this is a “landscape” orientation view of the scene and the other version used the “portrait” orientation. When the subject allows it I often photograph in both orientations — partly for practical reasons and partly because they both seem to work!

The scene is a type that I like a lot, at the elevation where the forests we expect in the high country meet high desert sagebrush country. The aspen trees seem to like both, and they are frequently a bridge between the two types of terrain. Here it is late in the afternoon (or perhaps early in the evening?) and long shadows are starting to stretch across the landscape.


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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Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows #1

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows I
Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows #1. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is probably a familiar scene to Eastern Sierra aspen color hunters who poke around in harder-to-reach areas. I had been traveling through this high terrain, where one crosses the boundary between aspen country and conifer forests. It was late in the day, and soon the long shadows cast by peaks near the Sierra crest began to fall across the landscape.

I looked back and saw these sunlit groves… and the rapidly expanding and approaching shadow. I quickly set up and made a few exposures as the shadows began to mute the colors of some of the brilliantly yellow groves. Yet the foreground trees remained in the sunlight, glowing in its warm light.


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 to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Taberna Santo Antonio

Taberna Santo Antonio
Late-afternoon patrons gather at Taberna Santo Antonio, Porto.

Taberna Santo Antonio. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Late-afternoon patrons gather at Taberna Santo Antonio, Porto.

Given the recent string of Sierra Nevada Fall Color photographs, you might think that I have finished with the photographs from our long 2023 summer travel through Southern Europe. You would be wrong. ;-) I have mentioned before that I returned with about 5000 photographs. While I won’t share ALL of them here (you can thank me later!), there are more that are worth sharing. They will continue to appear from time to time over the next few months.

This one comes from Porto, Portugal, where we spend several days exploring the narrow and winding streets of the Ribeira district and surrounding areas. If I recall correctly, on this afternoon we had taken a long walk that looped through the busy downtown area, the wound down to the water and back up toward where we were staying… and, we hoped, to dinner! We ate nearby, but first we passed this colorful scene at a “taverna” with outdoor seating.


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 to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Domes, Evening

Domes, Evening
Early evening light on Lembert Done, Yosemite National Park.

Domes, Evening. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Early evening light on Lembert Done, Yosemite National Park.

During the last week of summer I finally managed to get up into the Sierra Nevada high country for the first time this season. (As you may know, we were traveling outside the US for most of the summer.) It was great to be back “home” in the Sierra — though the weather conditions were a bit… “interesting.” I encountered thunder and lightning, wind, rain, and even snow! Despite (or perhaps because of?) that weather, I managed to make this photograph of late light on some familiar Tuolumne Meadows during a brief clearing before sunset.

Folks who know Tuolumne Meadows will probably recognize at least a few things in this photograph. A bit of the meadow is, of course, visible in the foreground, just below the trees in the sunlight. The main geologic feature is Lembert Dome, which dominates the local view here, and to its left is its partner, Dog Dome. In the distance over the right shoulder of Lembert Dome is Mount Dana, the second-tallest peak in Yosemite, with its summit covered by clouds.


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 | FacebookEmail

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.