Tag Archives: golden

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

Aspens in the Canyon

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Aspens in the Canyon
Autumn aspen trees turn golden in a rugged Eastern Sierra Nevada canyon.

Aspens in the Canyon. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen trees turn golden in a rugged Eastern Sierra Nevada canyon.

My memory may be imprecise, but I recall that Colin Fletcher (author of the classic “The Complete Walker”) describes a scene in one of his books where someone believes they have gone as far from the human world as possible, only to spot someone emerging from the inaccessible wild world looking happy and healthy. Some Eastern Sierra canyons might produce a similar experience. Driving Into such canyons and running out of road, it might seem that you have gone as far as you can go — but then someone emerges from that “beyond” and reminds you. (I looked at this canyon for a long time before I finally ascended it on foot years ago.)

This may be my favorite sort of East Side canyon — one that transitions quickly from high desert to alpine peaks. You can visit aspens by vehicle here — as I did this season — but you can also continue up the trail into the heart of the canyon and walk right through the distant grove seen in this photograph… and on among the peaks.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Entering the Dunes

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Entering the Dunes
Footprints lead into the sand dune landscape.

Entering the Dunes. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Footprints lead into the sand dune landscape.

Most of our landscape photographs try to present the landscape without obvious human presence. I write “obvious” because it is hard to find any place where no human effects are present. Sometimes photographers are criticized for presenting the illusion that this isn’t so. While I think the point is important, the criticism is unwarranted and based on its own untenable notion of what wilderness is. In any case, the inclusion of a more overt human element in photographs can encourage us to think of these places in a different way.

We often strive to photograph dunes after sand storms, when footprints have been erased. But including such things can also engage us in the landscape in useful ways — if nothing else they urge viewers to imagine themselves in these places. The footprints here are somewhat subtle, but I think that we relate to the scene differently when we see a line of footprints leading into it.

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

The Edge Of The Grove

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The Edge Of The Grove
Autumn color at the edge of a grove of white-trunk aspen trees.

The Edge Of The Grove. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn color at the edge of a grove of white-trunk aspen trees.

In a recent post I mentioned that I was almost done with fall color photographs for the year. Maybe. Sort of. But no promises. So here’s another one. This grove is a bit atypical for the Eastern Sierra, where we often see small groves of trees that are twisted and bent, and where continuous groves a tall, straight trees are the exception. I’m not certain why this is the case in “my” mountains, but I suspect it has to do with the rugged and often-rocky landscape, the relatively dry climate in parts of the range, and likely other factors. This grove on the eastern edge of the range abuts sagebrush high desert country, and perhaps the more open terrain allows the trees to get more light than they might receive in a deep valley.

This photograph differs from most that I share in that it is a re-working of a photograph that I shared a few years ago. A photograph is not necessary a finished thing, and a given version represents what and how the photographer saw the image at a particular point in time. We change and our way of seeing changes, and when we look back at earlier work it is common to reimagine how we might interpret the subject. Here the changes are mostly along the lines of “tuning up” the image a bit. There’s a slight tightening of the crop, some differences in how the colorful leaves appear, and some small changes to the foreground and the shadows.

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

East Slope Aspens, Autumn

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East Slope Aspens, Autumn
A large grove of autumn aspen trees extends up the lower reaches of the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

East Slope Aspens, Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A large grove of autumn aspen trees extends up the lower reaches of the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Many of the autumn aspen photographs that we see feature extensive groves tall, straight trees with beautiful white trunks, and sometimes the groves seem to stretch across entire mountains. For the most part, those are not Sierra Nevada aspens! While you can find some similar examples in the Sierra if you look around a lot, most of “our” trees tend to be a bit smaller, and they are often a bit more twisted and gnarly. Some, in fact, are downright small. If you are used to seeing those straight and tall groves… the Sierra may teach you to appreciate different sorts of trees.

However in a few places there are some rather large groves. They frequently show up in places where the aspens have little competition from conifer forest trees — on the tops of some ridges and in some of the sagebrush high country on the eastern flank of the range. This scene is an example of the latter, and the interlocking groves spread across the rise of these hills toward the eastern side of the Sierra in terrain that is otherwise largely open and dry.

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.