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

Autumn Leaves, White Mountains

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Autumn Leaves, White Mountains
“Autumn Leaves, White Mountains” — Autumn leaves and soaring tree trunks in a White Mountains forest.

This photograph illustrates a few important take-aways from fall photography, things that can be extrapolated to other kinds of photography, too. Again, the location was not iconic, even though it is along/near iconic places. We had stopped after seeing a sign for a pond, but I ended up finding the nearby forest even more interesting. Note that not all of the trees have changed color. As overwhelming as a fully fall-colored forest can be, the colors often stand out when there is some “non-color” in the frame, too. Note, too, that I made this photograph in soft light, which intensifies the colors while opening up the shadows. Finally, I think that some non-color structural elements can help with the composition of photographs of the subject — here that comes from the verticals of the tree trunks.

One thing we learned on this trip — our first to New England in the fall — is how quickly the leaves reach and then pass their peak color. The build-up seems a bit slower, but there was literally one day when it was obvious that the peak had arrived. And only one day later the leaves began to fall more quickly, bare trees became more apparent, and the color was in decline. The show wasn’t over, but the process was clear. Fortunately, because the color doesn’t arrive everywhere at the same moment, flexible photographers and leaf-peepers can move on to different locations that haven’t peaked yet.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photograph

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Winter Wetland Trees

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Winter Wetland Trees
A copse of winter wetland trees along the Pacific Flyway, New Year’s Day 2022.

Winter Wetland Trees. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A copse of winter wetland trees along the Pacific Flyway, New Year’s Day 2022.

This photograph is another one from our New Year’s Day adventure with friends under the skies of the Pacific Skyway. We joined up for New Year’s Eve and then New Year’s Day morning to celebrate the arrival of the new year along with a few tens of thousands of our bird friends, something that has become a tradition among this group of friends and (mostly) photographers.

I think that most of us would agree that it is the combination of birds and fog that primarily attracts us to these places in the winter. The attraction of fog might seem strange to those who live in it and have to drive in it and sometimes tolerate weeks of damp and gray. But its presence lends mystery to this landscape and creates an unending variety of conditions of mystery and light. On the morning I made this photograph, the skies were mostly clear, though a combination of high clouds and very thin fog near the ground softened the light on this group of trees.

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

Fallen Aspens, Canyon Light

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Fallen Aspens, Canyon Light
An autumn aspen grove in late afternoon light, with some trees that have fallen over.

Fallen Aspens, Canyon Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn aspen grove in late afternoon light, with some trees that have fallen over.

As I posted this photograph it occurred to me that “leaning aspens” or “falling aspens” might better describe what is going on here — but I’m sticking with the original title. This is a somewhat different view of a subject that I shared previously, photographed on an autumn day when the sun was just about to drop behind high ridges to the west and the hazy air glowed in the backlight. The primarily photograph I came away with included a larger portion of the scene, but I also grew to like this one that narrows its focus to a group of small-trunk trees. The trees at right on on the edge of a pond, and I suspect that they are leaning as a result of growing in wet, unstable soil.

This will almost certainly be my final aspen photograph of 2021, so I’ll add a few general comments about photographing this subject in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. One feature of the Sierra aspens is that they grow in wildly different niches. Some trees find large, flat areas with good soil, ample water, and protection from the elements, and they may grow into tall, straight, massive trees. Many others seem to struggle in rocky soil, drier locations, high elevations, limited light, exposure to wind, and these trees — the majority of Sierra aspens, in my experience — often show the effects. They can be twisted, stunted, knocked over by avalanches, and more. Superficially you might think that this reflects poorly on “our aspens.” But the reality is that we can find a great variety of aspen forms — more, I think, than in some areas known for these trees.

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

Autumn Color Layers

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Autumn Color Layers
Layers of autumn color from aspen groves ascending an eastern Sierra Nevada slope.

Autumn Color Layers. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Layers of autumn color from aspen groves ascending an eastern Sierra Nevada slope.

This is one of those “rediscovered” photographs that I had originally left behind a couple of years ago. I found it again during the last few months while doing a review of some older raw files. I originally made several exposures of this group of trees with autumn foliage in the eastern Sierra Nevada, and I initially went with something framed a bit differently and using the landscape (horizontal) format. But coming back to the set of images, I noticed that layered effect of these trees and thought it might be a worthy photograph, too.

This grove is somewhat characteristic of the sorts of aspen trees we find in the Sierra Nevada. As friends often remind me (usually after retiring from visits to these other places), in places like Colorado and Utah and similar locations you can find seemingly endless groves of tall, thick, and straight trees. That’s quite rare here in my state. It isn’t impossible to find large groves, nor is it impossible to find thick and tall trees — but that’s not the most common situation. Often the trees are smaller and with distinct “personalities” — which is another way of saying that they many be twisted in interesting ways rather than straight and tall. But in this grove, we get a bit of (almost) everything. Behind that first line of small trees, which are likely encroaching on the foreground meadow, there is a grove of tall aspens. Beyond that, as the slope becomes steeper and more rocky, the trees once again begin to have that… “personality.”

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.