Tag Archives: fontainebleau

Photographs: France, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Boulders and Forest

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Boulders and Forest
Boulders and trees in the forest of Fontainebleau.

Boulders and Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Boulders and trees in the forest of Fontainebleau.

After weeks of urban travel, enjoying big cities from London to Paris, I was looking forward to the final week of this summer’s long trip to Europe, as we were going to spend it with family at a large vacation home in the countryside not far from Paris. Among other things, I had heard/read that we would be very close to the town of Fontainebleau and the Fontainebleau Forest. In fact, as we drove there we passed through this forest.

A few days into our stay we all decided that it was time for a hike there. I was hoping for a chance to do at least a little bit of landscape photography in this unfamiliar location, even though I would be doing it with my travel photography equipment and not using a tripod. The section of forest we visited was just outside the village of Barbizon, so it was not exactly a wilderness location — there was a small cafe not far away, and lots of people were out hiking and riding bicycles. The forest itself is lovely, though completely different from the great mountain conifer forests of “my” Sierra Nevada. By comparison, this French forest was nearly flat, with few hills more than a few hundred feet high. The trees are a mix of deciduous and conifers, spaced widely to allow plenty of light. The area is known for these large boulders.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Fall Color, Birch Tree

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Fall Color, Birch Tree
A birch tree provides early autumn color in the Fontainebleau Forest, France

Fall Color, Birch Tree. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A birch tree provides early autumn color in the Fontainebleau Forest, France

My first “fall” color photograph of 2018 comes from… France! We recently returned from a forty-day trip, mostly in Europe, and we were in France for most of the final two weeks. We started with a short return visit to Paris, but then we met other family members in the area near Barbizon and Fontainebleau. We were there for a full week, which gave us plenty of time to explore the area. One of the interesting features is a natural one, the forest of Fontainebleau. This is not like conifer forests of the American West where I spend so much of my time — the terrain is nearly flat (with only small hills) and the trees are mostly conifers. Fontainebleau also features some remarkable boulders, and I should be able to share some photographs of those later on.

In was, in fact, those boulders that brought us to the location where I made this photograph. We made a short hike into the forest and climbed one of those small hills to find it covered with the boulders. As others began to leave I stuck around a bit longer and found this birch tree that was just beginning to get fall color.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn | Email

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