Tag Archives: fall

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

Autumn Evening, Near Franconia

Image November 7, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light comes to a broad valley near Franconia, New Hampshire.

This photograph resulted from more than a little serendipity. Earlier we had gone to photograph a nearby area that was on our list of places to see. That led to a detour up a few side roads, all of which took a bit more time than we anticipated. We finished there and moved on, but it was clear that evening was coming soon, and it made sense to find a nearby area to photograph rather than racing to a more distant location.

At about that time we spotted another side road with a sign suggesting a trailhead and a view — so we took it and ended up at a parking lot at the end of the short road. The colors in the area were spectacular, but the light wasn’t yet quite what we had in mind, so we wandered down the trail a bit. Soon I spotted the little bed of white flowers in the dry meadow, and as I thought about how to photograph it I wondered if I could include it and a view of the broad valley beyond. It turned out that there was one camera position that would work, and this is the result, a photograph made just as the light was beginning to suggest evening.

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.

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

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

Autumn Morning, White Mountains

Image November 5, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful autumn forest in morning light, White Mountains, New Hampshire.

I made this photograph on what I came to regard as the actual day of peak color in this part of the White Mountains. Here and nearby, the colors were noticeably more intense and widespread than the previous day, and one day later when some weather came through trees were dropping leaves and more bare branches were appearing. This photograph exemplifies an approach that I often like — using a longer focal length lens to isolate a small section of the overall landscape. Here I wanted to focus on the juxtaposition of the foreground trees and hill with the more distant pattern of the ascending gully.

Another aspect of this photograph is, I came to learn, typical of a lot of White Mountains autumn photography. It is often a challenge to get unobstructed access to longer and wider views of the landscape, partially because the forest are so dense and close-in, and partially because roads here tend to be designed without shoulders and with few places to pull over. Consequently, any place that does have a wider view seems precious. Here there was a small turn-out along the road, and if I put my camera in just the right spot I could manage to photograph between and over the nearer brush and trees… and obtain one of those long views.

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

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

Pine and Aspen, Eastern Sierra

Image November 4, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pine tree backed by aspens, forest, and Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.

This scene seems both typical and atypical of the Sierra Nevada. The familiar aspects are perhaps obvious, particularly if you spend time on the east side of the range. There is a solitary pine at the edge of dry, sagebrush meadow, with more such trees in the background. Aspens are mixed in with the pines, and in the distance they climb the hillside. Overall there aren’t really a lot of trees, and the views are quite open. Slopes climb steeply along the sides of the valley and toward the Sierra crest beyond.

What is atypical? For one thing, I made the photograph in virtually the middle of the day. I had started back home to the Bay Area that morning, thinking I’d drive through once the early morning light was gone. But the high, thin clouds softened the light enough in some locations to make midday photography attractive. Although my initial reason for going to this spot was to scout (and then to stop to eat my lunch), I ended up photographing. Another slightly unusual factor is the rather excellent aspen color, even high up in the mountains, at the end of the third week of October. I think the color sustained more this year due to climate and weather factors — it has been relatively warm and dry here during aspen season.

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

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

River Bank Forest, Autumn

Image November 3, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Perhaps you thought that I had shared all of my photographs from our early-October trip to photograph New England color. You might be wrong. I took a break from sharing those so that I could post some of the photographs from this year’s crop of Sierra autumn color images. And, I am not quite done with material either, so expect to see me alternate between coasts for a bit longer. Somewhere in all of this, there will also be some urban photographs from a brief visit to Manhattan.

I previously noted that it is often difficult to get longer views in the area of New Hampshire where we photographed. The forest is thick, grows right to the edge of roadways, and there are not many places to pull over. There are some openings, and when I found them I tried to take advantage. They came on a few routes that climbed to higher elevations, some areas with lakes and fields, and occasionally along rivers. This photograph is one of the latter, made while wandering along the banks of the Swift River, where I could photograph across and along the open areas above its course.

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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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: fall

Autumn Evening, Near Franconia

Autumn Morning, White Mountains

Pine and Aspen, Eastern Sierra

River Bank Forest, Autumn

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.