Tag Archives: forest

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lake, Trees, Storm

October 26, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening at a subalpine lake on a day of late-season storms

This weeklong photography trip into the Yosemite backcountry this September brought some very strange atmospheric conditions. To begin with, the four-year California drought has deeply affected the Sierra, and by the time we got into the mountains there were wildfires up and down the range. One significant fire was burning no far away inside the park, another large fire burned just outside the park to the north, and a small lightning-caused “management fire” was burning very close to our camp. At least once per day we were inundated with thick wildfire smoke, morning or evening. (We counted ourselves lucky to get a good half day of photography conditions each day.)

Closer to the end of the trip we encountered another weather anomaly. Thunderstorms are not unusual this time of year, and it is even possible to get an early Gulf of Alaska Pacific storm. But instead we got the remnants of the hurricane off of Mexico. When all was said and done we had virtually two days of rain — not the terrible rain that keeps you in at the tent, but the general light rain that eventually gets everything wet, but which also produces some very wonderful effects of atmosphere and light. This evening exemplified such conditions. Beyond the forest ringing out lake the sky included dark clouds and lighter areas where a bit more light made it through, and all of this was mirrored in the calm surface of the lake.

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

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

Grove of Small Aspens

October 23, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dense autumn grove of small eastern Sierra Nevada aspen trees with bare trunks

This little grove, and this specific spot in this grove has become a sort of old friend. It is one of those odd little spots that most people would probably miss, and with good reason. The trees are small, they are on the far side of a creek, access is via a short and unmarked little one-lane gravel road, and the trees are in many ways unremarkable, especially in a place and at a time when there are many larger and more spectacular groves nearby.

I first came here by accident some years back, turning into a nearly hidden side road on a whim and then randomly exploring its short length. Part way along there is a wide spot, and I happened to pull off there, get out and look around. The small and very dense trees got my attention, and I discovered that they grow so closely that it is difficult to pass among them. (This year I thought I’d walk through the grove to see what is on the other side — I have up about thirty feet in!) But such a grove, with so many little trees, offers an astounding range of arrangements of trees. I can photograph up close with a wide-angle lens; I can step back and narrow the frame with a long lens, I can move in among the trees, I can visit when the trees are full of colorful leaves or almost bare. In any case, every time I pass by here, without fail, I take the little side road and stop quietly here for a few minutes.

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

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

Hillside Aspen Grove

October 16, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful autumn aspen trees ascend a hillside in Bishop Canyon, California

I love to photograph aspens in soft light, either very early in the morning or in the evening, when the trees are in shadow. This light enhances the colors of the trees and it fills in the shadows, creating an appearance that does not have the stark quality sometimes seen in midday sunlight aspen groves. I waited until the last hour or so of daylight to photograph this area, at which time the sun has already dropped behind the summits of the surrounding peaks.

This photograph takes in a small section of a much larger grove of colorful trees, at every stage from fully green to complete bare. I sometimes like to simply stand for a bit in front of such a grove, staring at the colors and patterns and trying to find small sections that might make a composition. Here I think I was first attracted to the bright leaves on the small trees near the top, but soon I saw the diagonal arrangement of the rows of trees. Each row has its own character. That primary row near the upper part of the frame is at its color peak, but in front of it there is another row of trees that seems to be going more quickly from green to bare. In the background there is a line of much larger trees, with their tall and straight white trunks.

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

Eastern Sierra Sunrise, Autumn

October 13, 2015 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

First light on rugged, snow-dusted ridges above aspen-covered Parker Bench

This is a special place, high along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada and open to the first dawn light from the east. It is also just far enough off the beaten track and difficult enough to access that it is usually not very crowded. (Don’t worry if you can’t get to it, there are thousands of other places where you can have a similar experience in the eastern Sierra.) We recently got up early enough to drive here and arrive well before sun rise. To this day, despite seeing many sunrises, I still often am surprised at how quickly the light comes and how silently. Living in a culture in which every spectacular thing, or thing that we are supposed to regard as being spectacular, is pumped up with loud music and lots of action, the sunrise comes often comes in complete silence and with little warning — you look up and notice that the light has already struck some small element of the scene, and soon you discover it moving across the landscape and quietly lighting more and more bits and pieces. I made this photograph when this first light had hit the rugged upper slopes above this aspen-covered bench, but before it had worked its way down to the trees.

This photograph also illustrates something I finally figured out about this strange eastern Sierra fall of 2015. This year the season began oddly, with very early first color in many places. In addition, many groves simply did not have leaves — either they lost them so early that I never saw them or perhaps they did not put out leaves this year. In other groves the leaves went almost straight “from green to gone,” with little or not brilliant color phase. Where this happened, I think it was the result of the four-year drought creating tremendous stress on the trees. At the same time, other climate factors thought by some to be associated with the drought also had the effect of delaying the color change of trees that were not as stressed by the shortage of water. Instead, these trees are changing later, likely due to overall warming temperatures. So far, this has been a season not quite like any other I’ve experienced. In this photograph you can spot examples of almost all of these conditions — completely bare groves, groves that have turned and already dropped leaves, some that are going straight from green to having no leaves, and even some trees that are still very green.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: forest

Lake, Trees, Storm

Grove of Small Aspens

Hillside Aspen Grove

Eastern Sierra Sunrise, Autumn

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