Tag Archives: foliage

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

New England Woods #7

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New England Woods #7
The autumn color explosion begins in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

New England Woods #7. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The autumn color explosion begins in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.

Every year at about this time I head to the east side of the Sierra Nevada to photograph fall color, which mostly means aspens. This year’s trip to the “east side,” however, was to the east side of the United States. That’ right, Patty and I finally made it to New England for its famous fall color season. (Don’t worry, I’m still hoping to squeeze in a quick visit to Sierra fall color before long.) Friends have told me for years that I had to see east coast fall color, and an August visit to Vermont’s beautiful forests intrigued me even more. Then I did a B&H podcast (“Fall Foliage East and West with Jerry Monkman and G Dan Mitchell“) and listened to my fellow interviewee, Jerry Monkman, talk about photographing there. After all of that, I guess it was pretty much fated that we would go this year!

I’ll have a lot more to say about New England fall color, the specifics of our visit, and how the East and West Coast experiences compare later on — there’s too much to write in a single post! I made this photograph near the start of the visit, perhaps a day or two before this year’s peak color in this area of the White Mountains. The color variations are, as I already understood, much greater in New England than in the Sierra, and the hardwood forests seem to all change nearly simultaneously. This photograph, like many of my favorites from this trip, was made in soft light and cloudy conditions, which provide some of the most beautiful light for this subject.

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: Nature

New England Woods #5

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New England Woods #5
A dense New England forest full of slender trees.

New England Woods #5. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A dense New England forest full of slender trees.

Slightly out of numerical order, here is another in the short series of photographs of New England woods from our late-August visit to (mostly) Vermont and parts of Massachusetts. To recap, we spent a week with a large family group in Southern Vermont, not far from Wilmington, where we rented a large place that we all shared. It wan’t primarily a photography trip — we spent more time talking, cooking, eating, and generally sitting around. But I did have a few opportunities to explore bits of the natural surroundings.

Again, the dense growth of these woods was unfamiliar to me. On the west costs I’m more likely to see relatively open forests or perhaps grasslands interspersed with deciduous trees. Here in Vermont the growth is thick , and it comes right to the edge of roadways and paths, leaving few opportunities for long views. So I often found myself walking along rural roads and photographing into this lovely foliage from its edge.

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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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New England Woods #4

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New England Woods #4
Thick green woods along a road in Southern Vermont.

New England Woods #4. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Thick green woods along a road in Southern Vermont.

I am not quite done with the New England photographs yet, not by a long shot. Stay tuned. This is another one from our August visit to the East Coast, when we joined members of our extended family for a week at a place near Wilmington in Southern Vermont. The main goal of this event was family-oriented — lots of eating, talking, sitting around — but nearby rural roads provided lots of opportunities for learning about and photographing these woods.

This is, it almost goes without saying, not at all like my familiar haunts on the West Coast. At the time of year when California is largely golden-brown, the Vermont countryside was lush and green. Remarkable, and almost unbelievably, Vermonters were talking about this year’s drought! It sure didn’t look like any drought I’ve seen before in the West! The trees and undergrowth are so dense and green that it can be hard to photograph them — so I often found myself photographing into the edge of the forest from roads and trails.

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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California Fall Color, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Sierra Nevada Fall Color

2022 Fall Color

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It is that time of year again — my favorite season! This past week on walks here in the San Francisco Bay Are I have noticed the signs of the seasonal change. The sun is setting an hour earlier, our first (early!) Pacific weather front is arriving this weekend, some trees are starting to change colors, and the sound of old leaves skittering along the ground in the breeze is everywhere.

Autumn Aspens, Lake, Wildfire Smoke
Wildfire smoke drifts over the Sierra Nevada crest above a lake surrounded by autumn aspens. @ Copyright G Dan Mitchell.

Fall color is more prevalent here in California than many realize. The earliest hints come to the high country of the Sierra Nevada in late August, when something in the air changes, corn lily plants turn yellow, the bilberry starts to pick up a bit of red, and you might even find an odd yellow aspen leaf here and there. Things pick up as we progress through September, and by the very end of the month it is often possible to start finding a few examples of good aspen color up high. Then the color works its way down to lower country, the valleys, and the coast over the following months. I’ve sometimes photographed “fall color” in the Central Valley as late as… January!

The main aspen color season in the Sierra peaks during the first half of October. It tends to start at higher elevations as early as the very end of September, becoming quite pronounced early in October, and working down to lower elevations into the third week of the month. If you can only go once, targeting your visit for about one week into the month is a good plan.

No one knows for sure how the season will evolve. Some things stay relatively constant from year to year, while others vary quite a bit based on temperature fluctuations, the amount of precipitation that fell during the year, whether or not early storms sweep through, and more.

I share annual updates on my Sierra Nevada Fall Color page at this website. I just posted this years first message there today — it is mostly some early thinking about how the season may evolve, along with a record of what has happened in some previous seasons. The latter may be useful as you plan your autumn color search in California.

One more thing: I may have something new to write about regarding fall color in a few weeks. Stay tuned…

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.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.