Tag Archives: green

A Brief Aspen Update (9/28/09)

September 28, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

Although my main weekend photographic activity involved a short pack trip into the Cathedral Lakes in Yosemite (more later on that), I did manage a quick Sunday afternoon visit to some aspens in the Tioga Pass, Lee Vining, Conway Summit area. With that in mind, here is a short report on what I saw.

Tioga Pass – As you head east over Tioga Pass you begin to enter the “aspen zone” of the eastern Sierra. (There are aspens west of the crest, but very few in this area and fewer still along the road.) There are some specimens turning colors in roughly the Ellery Lake area, but the first really colorful trees are near the far end of the section of the road the traverses the headwall of Lee Vining Canyon. These are small trees, but some are quite colorful right now – with other still-green trees promising a bit more color yet to come. From this area I could also see more aspens (and other fall foliage) on higher ridges above the canyon.
Lee Vining Canyon – A bit later the large aspen groves down in Lee Vining Canyon will usually put on quite a show – and many of the trees growing in this lower elevation protected area are quite large. However, yesterday there was very little color down in the canyon. I could see a very few trees starting to turn, but that was about it.
Lundy Canyon – I did not enter Lundy Canyon on this trip since I had another goal in mind – so what I can report is based entirely on what I could see while driving by on highway 395. High on the ridges above Lundy Canyon there are some very colorful groves of trees. There appeared to also be some down closer to the entrance of the canyon. (I’ll post more concrete information about Lundy as soon as I can find it. Typically Lundy Canyon peaks a bit later than some of the other areas.)
Conway Summit – The huge groves of aspens right below the highway to the north of Conway Summit are barely starting to turn colors. I saw a very small number of yellow trees right near the road but the vast majority of the trees here still appear to be green. This bodes well for conditions in a week or so. However, the long view toward Dunderberg Meadow from here shows that the higher trees are changing and colors there may be peaking. (I could not investigate these upper groves more closely since the car I was driving is not equipped for travel on rough gravel roads.) South of Conway Summit there are some large and not very accessible groves that are turning colors quite dramatically, but it is next to impossible to find a place to pull over and photograph them.
Virginia Lake – The road to Virginia Lake leaves right from Conway Summit. Based on my visits in previous seasons, the trees along this road, especially up higher, tend to be among earliest to show color and then drop their leaves. I have arrived too late more than once! Yesterday, however, there were many trees showing very good color even along the upper sections of the road. There are also still a good number of green trees, so this show is probably not quite over. The first groves you come to shortly after leaving Conway Summit are currently at different stages of color. There is a parking area along the right side of the road in this area, and the trees parallel to the turnout on the right as you ascend are almost entirely green. However, across the road and just a bit further up there is a large and colorful grove where I photographed. Although there are still green trees here, there are also a few trees that have lost quite a few leaves. Another grove a bit higher alongside a creek at an obvious bend in the road is starting to look quite colorful, though the number of green trees suggests that there is still some good color to come.

UPDATE: For first time visitors to my site arriving via this page… I have posted several other notes on aspen hunting during the 2009 season:

Enjoy!

California Fall Color

Eastern Sierra Aspen Color Reports Starting (9/24/09)

September 24, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

If you are really trying to follow the evolution of eastern Sierra fall color – most aspens – your best bet is to find some of the primary sources yourself and start following them. However, I’m going to continue to post a few here from time to time – and before long I should be able to start posting some of my own reports.

Inge Fernau posted an extensive description of her one-day marathon trip to Bishop Creek, including some photographs that will help those who know the areas already extrapolate a bit. Inge’s site is always worth a visit, and few post more thoroughly on the aspens.
The calphoto site is typically a great source of current information about the fall color in the eastern Sierra… but this season there doesn’t seem to be much info there yet. I’m hopeful that this many change in the next few days.
The Eastern Sierra Fall Color group at Flickr has a lot of information, both in the form of text and in images that will give you some answers to the “where?” and “when?” questions.
Greg Boyer’s One Horse Studio site is featuring frequent updates including one from the middle of the current week that sounds somewhat optimistic.

Remember a few things about finding and shooting aspens:

Conditions can vary a lot as you travel north/south and low/high. If you hear a poor report about one spot, you cannot necessarily extrapolate that to the whole range. Be prepared to move if your “perfect spot” isn’t in condition.
How you shoot the trees matters a lot. Sometimes a grove that seems to be almost green will appear to be quite yellow/gold if you go around to the other side for some backlight.
Time of day matters a lot #1. It is really tough to shoot them effectively in harsh, midday sun on a cloudless day. Early and late are often better, and shooting on the sun/shade boundary is often very interesting – though you’ll have to be prepared and work quickly.
Time of day matters a lot #2. A spot that is flat and boring in the morning may shine in the evening, and vice versa.
Time of day matters a lot #3. Shooting in shady conditions is sometimes very effective. You can get past the problems with black shadows and blown highlights and get a very wonderful soft effect – though you’ll likely have to do some color balancing in post.
If you show up and there is a crowd in the spot you were heading towards – yes, it happens! – look around. There is often something slightly different nearby and shooting something other than “the obvious thing” often leads to more interesting shots. (One morning I arrived at North Lake intending to do the iconic “across the lake towards Piute Peak” shot only to find a few dozen photographers lined up tripod to tripod in “the spot.” I went a few hundred yards away… and came back with one of my very favorite aspen photos.
Think small. Big groves are spectacular, but sometimes one perfect leaf can make a better photograph.
Think beyond the trees. Part of the experience includes other trees, rocks, moving or still water, clouds, grass, etc.

Happy aspen hunting!

UPDATE: 9:00 p.m. – Sierra Impressions points out that there is a probability of a change in the weather pattern next week – in the direction of true fall-like weather. That could mean cooler temperatures (a possible hard freeze is mentioned), perhaps wind, and (outside chance) some precipitation. It is always good to keep an eye on this stuff, for a whole bunch or reasons:

light snow can create some really wonderful photographic opportunities, but
it can also temporarily close passes, and
challenge your adaptability to and knowledge of more challenging conditions.
wind can quickly bring down some aspen leaves. (One morning I arrived before dawn at North Lake to find beautiful leaves. A squall swept in and it blew and snowed lightly for about an hour. At the end of that hour the large grove across the lake had lost half of its leaves!)

Besides following the official weather service reports – I like to read the “weather discussion” pages for more details – it also can be fun and informative to follow the Mammoth Dweeb Report. Not only does this site include some interesting local information and a lot of background stuff, but you can have fun following the speculation about longer term patterns.

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.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Late-Season Corn Lilies and White Flowers

September 18, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Golden late-season corn lily plants at Half Moon Meadow, Yosemite National Park, California.

The summer goes so quickly in the High Sierra! It was barely a month ago that I was in the Young Lakes region for a few days and the wildflowers were just starting to come into form, and only a couple weeks ago when I encountered peak condition wildflowers above 10,000′ in the upper Sabrina Basin. While you can still find wildflowers – including in this photograph! – if you know where to look in the Sierra, the signs of the coming autumn are beginning to appear throughout the high country, as they do every year at about this time.

Every year, there seems to be a day during the second half of August when I’m in the Sierra and I get a very clear and distinct impression of a change. In many cases I’m hard pressed to identify exactly what it is, but I know it is there. It might be something about the changing angle and quality of the light. Sometimes I think changing air movement and wind patterns may play a part. Perhaps it is the end of the lush moisture from melting snow. In other cases it is more obvious – like when I begin to see these late-season corn lily plants begin their transition: first they are thick and green; then a bit of brown begins to appear at the tips of the leaves; soon the veined pattern of the leaves begins to pick up brown and yellow streaks; before long some of the plants turn wild yellow and gold colors and their stems begin to weaken; and in a short time they fall over and taken on the texture and color of old corn stalks.

I photographed these brightly colored leaves at the edge of Half Moon Meadow in Yosemite during the last week of August while on a three-day pack trip into the Ten Lakes Basin.

(If anyone can identify the small white flowers in this photo I would be very grateful. And, no, the flowers are not growing from the bright yellow corn lily plants! 10/11/09 – I think we have a winner. It looks like it might be a plant called gray’s lovage.)

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Public Stairway, Telegraph Hill

September 8, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A public stairway ascends Telegraph Hill from downtown San Francisco, California.

Yes, I’m still extracting more photographs from my mid-August morning walking across a good portion of downtown San Francisco. After walking from the train station across Market and through the Chinatown area to North Beach, I wandered a bit around the latter neighborhood, eventually ended up in the Telegraph Hill area. While waiting for some traffic weirdness to pass I happened to look down a side street and catch a view back toward downtown buildings, so I wandered over that way and ended up going down this very steep “sidewalk” a bit.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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