Tag Archives: green

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Broken Branch and Wildflowers

Image October 25, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

We were camped on a low hill covered with trees — likely an old lateral moraine of some sort. A subalpine lake below our hill was surrounded by meadows, and the wildflowers were still in bloom even though it was late in the season. On several occasions I just wandered slowly around and through the meadow, and on one of those walks I found this broken branch lying on the green grasses next to a few colorful wildflowers.

We had been base-camped at this Sierra Nevada backcountry location for the better part of a week when I made this photograph. Working in a limited area for an extended period reveals details that we miss on shorter visits. With less time I tend to focus on the most spectacular and dramatic elements in the landscape. But given more time I slow down and start to notice the small things like this.

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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 Transitions

Image October 22, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photographers sometimes debate the “best” moment to photograph autumn aspen color. Some say it is when the first trees start to show golden color. Others prefer the stage where every color from green through yellow, orange, and red is visible. Then the green leaves fall and only the wild autumn color remains. But there’s also something compelling about the post-peak stage when leaves have fallen and stark white trunks are more visible. This photograph is from the “every color”stage. You can follow the “aspen color rainbow” from the closest green trees to intensely colorful trees farther up the valley.

This color range is not the only “transition” in this photograph. Aspens do not last forever — old trees die and new ones quickly spring up. I’ve gone back to burned groves months after a fire to see new shoots already emerging from the roots of the burned trees. Look closely at this photograph and you’ll see a row of old aspen snags near the front of the scene. Perhaps they were burned in a fire years ago, but now they are almost obscured by the colorful new trees.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow to Mountains

Image October 18, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

I made this photograph at the end of August several years ago, camped high in the John Muir Wilderness west of the Sierra crest. Experienced Sierra travelers are probably wondering about the flowers and all that greenery — by this point in a typical year much of this country is brown and dry, and the wildflower show is largely over. But this was an unusual year. The preceding winter had been very wet, and this sustained the lush growth all the way into early September.

Our basecamp location was on a rise above a meadow with a small lake. From there we had a clear view to high peaks on ridges to our south and southwest, a view that we got to know quite well during our stay. On this morning I walked down to the lower end of the meadow, past the lake, to just before the terrain dropped into a large canyon. Here the outflow from the lake watered an area of meadow and alpine willow bushes.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New Hampshire Forest

Image October 16, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

We had never visited New Hampshire, or anyplace else in New England for that matter, until two years ago — when we went twice! The first visit was for a late-summer extended-family get-together at a place we rented just north of Wilmington. (The other trip was that October, when we went back for the fall colors.) I found this landscape both intriguing and sometimes frustratingly different from the Western landscapes I’m used to. This is a land of very dense deciduous forests. They are lovely, but not conducive to the sort of big landscape images that I often look for. But there are a lot of trees to photograph!

Eventually I decided to just head out on foot and explore some of the gravel roads that surrounded our lodgings. At first it was difficult to see much through the mass of very green vegetation, but eventually I started to see compositions. And I remembered that forest photography often benefits from softer light, at the edges of the day or under cloud cover. There was a high, thin overcast when I made this photograph, and it softened the light and allowed shadow detail to emerge.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: green

Broken Branch and Wildflowers

Aspen Transitions

Meadow to Mountains

New Hampshire Forest

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