Tag Archives: grove

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Quiet Forest

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Quiet Forest
A quiet and unremarkable forest scene in a peaceful corner of Yosemite Valley

Quiet Forest. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A quiet and unremarkable forest scene in a peaceful corner of Yosemite Valley

There are a few things about photography that we don’t often talk about too much. One of them is the fact that some days simply don’t bring remarkable light and conditions. Exceptional conditions are… exceptional. You increase your chances of photographing them if you are out there a lot, but this means that you also increase the chances that you’ll have some days when things seem a bit… dull. This was one of those days. Actually, it had been better earlier in the day and it promised to be good later on, but at the time of day when I made this photograph the light was somewhat “blah.”

So I strapped on my pack, grabbed my tripod, and went for a slow, lazy hike in an area that didn’t feature any particularly distinguishing iconic subjects. It was actually a wonderful walk. Having given up on the idea of finding brilliant light, the pressure was off, and I was free to wander slowly, looking around and going wherever it seemed interesting. At one point I crossed a bridge and decided to follow a little trail into forest along the shores of a river. A ways up that trail I though that rocks and trees off to one side looked interesting, so I left the trail and wandered off that direction, finally stopping to photograph some interesting tree bark patterns. Once I was set up it made sense to look around a bit, and I soon spotted this little scene with a path, some trees, and a large boulder.

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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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Small Aspen Trees, Autumn

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Small Aspen Trees, Autumn
A tightly spaced grove of small Eastern Sierra aspen trees with fall color

Small Aspen Trees, Autumn. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tightly spaced grove of small Eastern Sierra aspen trees with fall color

I like to say that it is never too soon to start thinking about fall color… though I forgive you if you aren’t sure that May is quite yet the right time. To be honest, I came across this photograph of a familiar subject earlier today while I was backtracking through my archive of older raw files. I have a bunch of urban/street photographs queued up for posting here soon, but I feel like sharing a few more natural photographs first.

The location is in a popular area for Eastern Sierra Nevada fall color, but there is nothing exactly iconic about this particular grove – though it is a place that I’ve returned to every fall for years. I suspect that something about it caught my attention on my first visit, and that whatever that “something” is, it is not a feature that every viewer will spot. I recall stopping here the first time I visited. It was late in the day and the sun was about to drop behind the surrounding high ridges. I was surprised to see this densely spaced grove of slender trees, with trunks exposed below their fall color crowns. I stopped and made a few photographs, and the spot has become one of my touchstones in the Sierra Nevada.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Black Oaks and Ghost Trees

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Black Oaks and Ghost Trees
A pair of skeletal dead “ghost trees” behind a row of black oak trunks

Black Oaks and Ghost Trees. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A pair of skeletal dead “ghost trees” behind a row of black oak trunks

This is a subject familiar to virtually anyone who has spent much time in Yosemite Valley, and especially to photographers who have worked there. Generally, the black oaks of the Valley are one of its most characteristic features, tied to its relatively low elevation in the Sierra Nevada. Oaks are lowland trees, but they are still abundant at the elevation of the Valley. You’ll find them in warmer, open areas, often near meadows.

While they are not the most colorful trees, in the right light they can be fascinating. Early in the season the backlit leaves can be intensely colorful, and the same effect is possible in autumn light. Their curving, skeletal trunks can be quite beautiful in snow, where they contact with the near-perfect verticals of conifers. This group of trees grows unusually close together. As a result they have strongly vertical character, likely created as they compete with one another for access to sunlight. I photographed these in early spring, when brown autumn leaves remained on the branches and before the new spring growth appeared.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest Scene

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Forest Scene
The trunks of tall conifers trees in afternoon light

Forest Scene. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The trunks of tall conifers trees in afternoon light

I had initially stopped near these trees to photograph an entirely different subject in the opposite direction, behind my position as I made this photograph. I spent a good deal of time on that other subject, but in the end it didn’t (at least not as of this date) end up seeming to “work” quite the way I envisioned. As I finished I saw this row of strong, side-lit tree trunks and thought it might make a photograph. Ironically, I almost didn’t both — at first the light wasn’t remarkable, and I knew that I had photographed similar subjects in the past with success. I wasn’t sure that this version was going to work.

But, this being a cloudy day in the Valley, the variable light began to play on the trees, alternately lighting them and putting them in shade. At the same time, the variability extended to the complex pattern of more distant forest. I’m always intrigued by the challenge of making a workable composition out of very complex and “busy” subjects, and here the momentary light makes all the difference. (And, yes, I do seem to be in a bit of a “black and white mood” with some recent photographs. Maybe this is to balance out some of the other highly colorful images.)

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