Tag Archives: eastern

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

High Desert Aspen Trees

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High Desert Aspen Trees
“High Desert Aspen Trees” — Aspen trees with autumn foliage ascend a high desert gully in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

These sage-covered foothills are at an elevation of 8000′ and higher, but they are brown and dry, especially this late in the season. Technically this spot is part of the Sierra Nevada — it certainly seems so when you look at these peaks. However, it feels more like high desert than part of the mountain range.

The little grove of aspens grows in the bottom of the canyon that drains the nearby highlands. These trees were approaching their peak color, but with changing light I had to work quickly. Cloud shadows were moving across the landscape, and the shadow of the low hill at bottom right was starting to intrude on the colorful trees.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Dunderberg Meadows

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Dunderberg Meadows
“Dunderberg Meadows” — Autumn aspen stretch across the landscape beneath Eastern Sierra Nevada peaks.

Transition zones in the mountains fascinate me — places where one sort of landscape runs into another. In this photograph from the Eastern Sierra Nevada, aspens extend across high desert sagebrush terrain and right into the lowest conifer forests. The demarcation between sagebrush and forest is fairly sudden, but the aspens live in both.

Decades ago my entire notion of the Sierra Nevada revolved around the forest and alpine zones. For that reason, and because I usually approached the range via its gentle west slope, I did not know about this high desert terrain. It is possible that the first time I encountered this zone was when exiting on the east side after a long walk in the high country — and it was a shock to me.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Tall Aspens, Fall Color

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Tall Aspens, Fall Color
“Tall Aspens, Fall Color” — A large grove of big aspen trees with autumn color, on an Eastern Sierra Nevada hillside.

This is a type of autumn aspen photograph that I think of as a “wall of color.” Here there are more of the tall and straight trees than we see in many places in the Sierra, and the entire grove is at or near its fall peak. It helps that I had a somewhat elevated vantage point to make the photograph, part of what lets me fill the frame with color.

To look at this photograph you might imagine a scene almost like New England fall colors. However, while such colors there can go on for miles and cover successive mountains (hills, really) and valleys, in the Sierra the color is more concentrated. Groves, many of which are small, can stand out brilliantly against the predominant background of dark conifer trees or rocks or sagebrush.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Aspen Transition

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Aspen Transition
“Aspen Transition” — Autumn aspen trees begin their seasonal color transition in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The colors of autumn aspen trees are so impressive that you might think that photographing them is simple. But there are challenges, at least not if you want the best possible photographs. The intense fall colors present a challenge to modern digital cameras. Very intense colors,like the yellows, reds, and oranges of these trees, can “blow out” the image if you use a “normal” exposure. The color is very intense, especially if the leaves are in direct sunlight. That’s why I often prefer to photograph these trees in soft, filtered light ore even in shade.

These trees are part of a very large grove on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. In this frame you can see trees at almost every stage of the transition, from green leaves to a few that are almost bare. In this case the combination of the Sierra crest to the west (right) and some scattered clouds served to make the light more gentle.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.