Tag Archives: fall

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

Desert Meets Forest, Autumn

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Desert Meets Forest, Autumn
An autumn conjunction of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, conifers, and aspens in the Eastern Sierra.

Desert Meets Forest, Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn conjunction of sagebrush, rabbitbrush, conifers, and aspens in the Eastern Sierra.

This is another autumn photograph from that wonderful Eastern Sierra transition zone, where the high desert country of sagebrush meets the mountain country of conifers and aspens. Many years ago I regarded the two environments as being completely exclusive, but eventually it sank into my thick skull that this perception did not align with reality. In particular I recall one autumn visit to a very dry region east of the Sierra where I saw some of the most colorful aspens growing in a small desert valley.

A photograph like this one presents some technical challenges to the photographer. I think it looks pretty simple, but it wasn’t. The first issue was the the scene was lit by fairly intense backlight. I love backlight, but it creates some extremely bright highlights — and underexposing the shot is necessary to protect them from blowing out. In addition, because the sun was low and almost directly in front of the camera there was a great potential for flare. To make this photograph I actually stood in front of the camera and carefully used my hand to cast a shadow on the lens. Finally, with all of these elements of very bright light and the need to underexpose a bit, some of the shaded areas ended up darker than they seemed “in the flesh,” necessitating some post-production work with curves to bring back some of those shadow details.

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

Brown Aspen Leaves

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Brown Aspen Leaves
Autumn aspen leaves have turned brown, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Brown Aspen Leaves. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen leaves have turned brown, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

During the past decade or so it has been, or so it often seems, a tough time for Sierra Nevada aspen trees. First we had a five-year drought that likely killed off quite a few of them. During some of those seasons the color transition was far from normal. While some trees managed to carry on more or less normally, others change colors weeks early, some turned brown or black, other simply dropped their green leaves. Wildfires, which have increased at an alarming rate in California, also burned through quite a few aspen groves. (That being said, aspens do show a remarkable ability to re-sprout from the roots of burned trees.)

For the most part this year’s color change was pretty decent, even though we are once again in serious drought conditions in California. But I did find a number of places where leaves had turned brown and then black instead of going through the more appealing yellow/orange/red transition. As I passed through one grove of smaller trees that I visit every year I saw quite a few brown and black leaves, but I decided that there was no good reason to overlook their potential as photographic subjects.

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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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Red Leaves

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Red Leaves
Red autumn leaves, photographed on a Santa Clara Valley trail.

Red Leaves. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red autumn leaves, photographed on a Santa Clara Valley trail.

These intensely colorful autumn leaves were along a footpath that I sometimes follow on my neighborhood walks — a regular event during the pandemic era. Mostly I follow sidewalks, but there is a fascinating detour that follow the route of an abandoned rail line that was eventually taken over and upgraded into a walking and cycling path. The foliage along the route is a combination of trees hanging over the fences of nearby properties and newer plantings that are part of the landscaping of this path. I came upon these leaves late on a slightly cloudy day, when the soft light beautifully illuminated the leaves.

The photograph is — once again! — a reminder that we don’t always have to travel to faraway places to make photographs, and that often there are subjects right in our neighborhoods. Carrying a camera in these places tends to make me more attentive to items of visual interest that I would likely not pay much attention to otherwise.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Big Sur Morning Surf

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Big Sur Morning Surf
Pacific Ocean surf crashes ashore on a foggy autumn morning along the Big Sur coast.

Big Sur Morning Surf. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Pacific Ocean surf crashes ashore on a foggy autumn morning along the Big Sur coast.

This photograph comes from my early November visit to the upper portions of California’s rugged Big Sur Coast, an area I can visit on short notice. On this visit I left home before dawn, photographed there a few hours, and returned home for a late lunch. Yeah, I’m trying to rub it in… These visits usually feature a combination of stops at familiar locations, where I look for new or different conditions, and the ongoing search for new locations and perspectives that I have not previously photographed.

This photograph mostly fits the first of those two categories. I made the photograph at a location where I frequently stop. The spot features a long view of a beautiful subject beyond rugged rocks and a small bay that is often full of agitated water. On this morning the surf was so wild that I decided to focus on it instead of the larger view. Every few moments a huge wave would crash against this outcropping sending water and spray up into the line of sunlight coming over the tops of the mountains to my left.

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 | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.