Tag Archives: gold

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Old Cottonwood and Red Rock Cliffs

Image 2 Comments
Old Cottonwood and Red Rock Cliffs
An old cottonwood tree, changing to fall colors, stands in front ot a red rock cliff face, Zion National Park.

Old Cottonwood and Red Rock Cliffs. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old cottonwood tree, changing to fall colors, stands in front ot a red rock cliff face, Zion National Park.

There’s a very good chance that I’ve already said this too many times, but the color palette of the Utah red rock country is simply remarkable. The rocks themselves are astonishingly diverse, ranging from the reddish tones to whites, grays and blacks, and occasionally more exotic colors. The trees and plants, especially as the autumn color change begins, cover a range from grays through greens to yellow, orange, red, and brown. And all of this varies from the bluish tones of early morning and evening through the golden hour saturation and the midday intensity of light. I’ve said it before and I’ll likely repeat myself in the future, but to a Sierra Nevada photographer this can be almost overwhelming.

Early on our second morning in Zion National Park we took a drive that entered the park near Springdale just before dawn. We stopped several times as we began the ascent on the Mt. Carmel highway, first to photograph the intense dawn light and then, a bit later, to photograph this gnarly tree against the backdrop of a shaded canyon wall.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Early Autumn Aspen Grove

Image 2 Comments
Early Autumn Aspen Grove
A small grove of Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen trees begins to take on autumn color.

Early Autumn Aspen Grove. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small grove of Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen trees begins to take on autumn color.

Over the past decade or so the fall color change in the Eastern Sierra Nevada has come to attract a lot of attention. It is not unwarranted, as the aspen color throughout the range can be quite spectacular. It is also pretty accessible, and as the state’s population has continued to increase and as social media has spread the word faster and more widely… some areas have become quite crowded and even overrun for a few weeks each year. A few well-known locations have become some famous that they literally attract mobs of photographers and others. I won’t name them here — they get enough attention already. (I sometimes wonder how much blame I share as the author of a book on this event — though my publisher went along with my vow to drastically limit naming places that can’t handle the traffic.)

Despite the crowds, I hinted at the good new in the first paragraph of this post when I wrote, “throughout the range.” Often folks head straight toward the Big Name locations (as is natural) and drive right past a whole bunch of other wonderful instances of fall color. Over the years, some of my favorite aspen trees have been in places that are distinctly non-iconic. There are many things to like about this development. It means that I have subjects everywhere! I frequently find myself alone while photographing these locations. And over time I’ve developed my own little collection of place with personal meaning. This photograph comes from such a place, a grove that I had literally driven past for years before I finally stopped one day to make photographs.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Solitary Aspen, Dark Forest

Image 2 Comments
Solitary Aspen, Dark Forest
A small autumn aspen tree in the light in front of dark forest.

Solitary Aspen, Dark Forest. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small autumn aspen tree in the light in front of dark forest.

There is something about solitary trees standing against some sort of background. A friend has referred to them as “brave little tree” photographs — something I now think about every time I make one or see one. Landscape photography doesn’t always come quite this close to eliciting metaphorical associations, but I can certainly understand how one could make this association with these subjects. On a more prosaic note, from a purely compositional perspective, a single central subject posed against a larger and contrasting background often works visually, too.

This photograph was also an extra reminder to me about why I like to photograph non-iconic subjects. (Though I do have to admit that the solitary tree is a sort of generic icon, if that makes sense.) I rediscovered this photograph recently while reviewing some raw files from a couple of years ago. I usually record location information as I work on photographs, but with this one I could not even determine exactly where I made it! By sequencing the files before and after this exposure I was able to narrow it down to one very large drainage, but I don’t actually recall making the photograph! I I had worked with the file back when it was new, but I wasn’t fully satisfied with the result. When I came back to it I saw it in a somewhat different way, and I saw how to apply some newer post-processing tools to get the result I was after.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Aspen Grove and Rocky Hill

Image Leave a comment
Aspen Grove and Rocky Hill
A small aspen grove and a rocky hill, high in the Buttermilks.

Aspen Grove and Rocky Hill. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small aspen grove and a rocky hill, high in the Buttermilks.

This photograph comes from “Buttermilk Country” (also known as “The Buttermilks”) in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, an area perhaps best know to climbers for its innumerable bouldering opportunities. I’ve long wondered about the name, but in the past I had only speculated idly that something about the formations here somehow suggested “buttermilk” to visitors… though it is very hard to see any logic in that. I finally looked it up, and apparently the name goes back to the 1870s when a dairy supposedly operated in the area. (It seems like an odd place for a dairy, but I confess that my dairy experience is… limited.)

The area interests me photographically on a number of counts. Perhaps most obviously, it sits right beneath one of the most magnificent sections of the Sierra crest, and open views of these mountains are available throughout the region. Additionally, the rounded boulders and other formations that attract climbers are plentiful and quite different than the usual east side terrain. It also is one of those wonderful Eastern Sierra interfaces between the high desert and the beginnings of the more alpine world. That latter is what we were looking for when we visited recently, navigating far enough on some of the rough roads that we got to where the small aspen groves begin. It was a lovely morning — a dusting of new snow was on the nearby mountains, brilliant sun was shining, and a bit of haze accentuated the distance between near and far subjects.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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