Tag Archives: foliage

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn Color, Canyon Walls

July 8, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn color foliage marches up the lower slopes of Zion Canyon, Utah

I was in Zion three times during October this year – it is a long story how that happened! On the final occasion, we were passing through the area on our way back to California at the very end of the month, having stayed the night before in Kanab and having a plan to stage the next day’s long return drive from St. George, Utah. The drive between those Kanab and St. George is not all that long, so we figured we would see what Zion might offer up as we passed through. Since we had photographed the high country along the Mount Carmel Highway earlier in the month, and since the fall color was rumored to be starting in Zion Canyon, we decided to head there in the morning. (In the end, we finished up here a bit sooner than we might have, so we ended up driving well past St. George, but that’s a different story…)

The height of the Zion Canyon color typically comes a bit later than this, so we figured that we might not see the very best color – but Zion is sort of like Yosemite in that there is something to see no matter what. After many days of shooting, this was one of those days when energy was at a bit of a low ebb. We started out in the upper end of the canyon, where we found some colorful red maples, but I don’t think any of use were necessarily quite “seeing it” at this point. So we moved down that canyon a bit, looking for whatever might turn up, and hoping for a bit more color that we were seeing. One of the last places we stopped to shoot was in this area from which features such as the Great White Throne and The Organ are visible. Here we were a bit more inspired, since there was a variety of things to see: the Virgin River, the flats along the river in the bottom of the canyon, a decent amount of developing fall color, towering rock walls, and evolving light. As I poked around along the river bottom I saw that some very colorful trees were visible up high along the base of the steepest cliff walls.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Leaves, First Light

June 21, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

First morning light on aspen trees and fall foliage, eastern Sierra Nevada, California

This past fall I had exactly one day to photograph aspens in the eastern Sierra Nevada. This was a bit odd for me, since I usually spend quite a number of days chasing fall aspen color up and down the east side of the range. But this year my target was a bit further away in Utah, and we merely paused for an extra day on the “east side” on our way to that other state. Fortunately, we hit great conditions, in terms of good aspen color and fine weather that didn’t prevent us from getting up to those trees.

Very early in the morning we headed up to an area that I have photographed many times. There are a couple of iconic photographic subjects at this location, but I mostly got them out of my system some years ago and now I look for somewhat less obvious subjects when I go here. I began by shooting some trees near the outlet stream of a lake, with early morning light behind the trees. After working that tricky but beautiful light for a while, I decided to go around to the far side of the lake to where a large stand of small but densely packed aspens stands at the base of a hillside. I got there before the sun came to this spot, so I quickly schlepped my gear up the hill a ways and into the end of the grove, setting up just before the sun arrived. Before the sun’s rays hit the tree, everything had a distinctly blue tone. As the edge of the shadow arrived, the aspen leaves began to glow more and to cast shadows on the trees in the background. These shadows quickly transitioned from soft and subtle to quite contrasty and sharply defined in a matter of seconds. This photograph was made just as the sunlight arrived but before it became intense, and the soft shadows of the leaves on the slender background trunks lasted just a moment.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Dogwood Flowers, Rain

May 31, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late spring rain on dogwood flowers, Portland, Oregon

We made a brief visit to Portland, Oregon over the Memorial Day holiday, and – surprise! – it rained! This was actually a welcome development for those of us who live in parched California, where we are in the second year of drought conditions. We spent most of our Portland time in the downtown area, predominantly between the main downtown and the Pearl district – where there are lots of interesting things to see, good food to eat… and, of course, Powell’s books. On the final morning we ventured out a bit further to an area of north Portland where we visited the beautiful St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River. We wandered down below the span and its gothic-looking support towers, where we found lots of vegetation including some very lush dogwood blooms.

There is also a bit of a technical story behind this photograph. I usually shoot with a full frame Canon system, using a variety of lenses and mostly working from the tripod. But that is a lot of gear to carry on a trip like this one that was not primarily about photography. (Though, to some extent, virtually all of my travels are at least partially about photography!) So I left behind the full-on system and instead carried my Fujifilm X-E1 Digital Camera, along with the Fujifilm 35mm f/1.4 XF R Lens and the Fujifilm XF 14mm f/2.8 R Ultra Wide-Angle Lens. The camera is a mirrorless “rangefinder style” body that brings to mind the classic rangefinder film cameras. This makes for a very small and light package – and this photograph was made handheld using the 35mm prime. While my main goals with this camera are more likely to involve street or travel photography, I’m quite pleased with how it performed in this nature shot.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lupine, Sierra Nevada

May 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A thick patch of spring lupine flowers high in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Range, California.

We had time for only a one-day trip to Yosemite, timed to coincide with the peak of the dogwood bloom season in the Valley. We left very early – way before dawn – with a plan of arriving in the Valley not too long after the sun came up. (This time of year, arriving by dawn in the Valley would require a 2:00 a.m. start time – and, in some ways, the Valley itself isn’t so much a dawn photography subject.) After we entered the park on highway 120 I started looking for some dogwood trees that often blossom a bit later – since the light was good here it would make more sense to stop and shoot that to keep driving to arrive further on when the light wasn’t as good.

We saw a couple of trees thick with flowers, and quickly turned around to drive back to them. We spent some time photographing these trees and then moved on. (Unlike in a typical year, there was no snow at the junction with the still-closed Tioga Pass Road, and areas that would usually be full of run-off water seemed largely dry.) The area, burned twice in recent years, along the road as it descends toward the Valley is often a good place to find wildflowers. I wasn’t expecting too much in this drought year, and for the most part I was right – but at a turn-off we suddenly came upon a very large patch of beautiful lupines and stopped to photograph. I’m crazy about shooting into the light, so I got down low and photographed these flowers with the light coming from almost directly behind.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: foliage

Autumn Color, Canyon Walls

Aspen Leaves, First Light

Dogwood Flowers, Rain

Lupine, Sierra Nevada

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