Tag Archives: grove

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

Eastern Sierra Foothills, Autumn Aspens

October 26, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small grove of autumn aspens is dwarfed by eastern Sierra foothill terrain

This is another Sierra Nevada autumn photograph, though the aspens take a smaller role in this one. The eastern base of the Sierra is a fascinating place. In some locations one can almost precisely locate the base of the range, where steep mountains or cliffs plunge directly into the alluvial fans at the base of the range. In several of these spots I have descended from the crest on long pack trips and walked to the “edge of the Sierra” to suddenly find myself in what feel like high desert terrain. In other locations the transition is more gradual, such as this location where the north-south highway reaches 8000′ of elevation or higher, putting this country in the same elevation range as many High Sierra meadows.

Here the junction with the range is more gradual, with high desert mountains and hills seeming to merge with the eastern extent of the Sierra and occasionally marked by huge rocky outcroppings and here and there cut by the ancient paths of glaciers. At the base of the hills in this photograph a couple of small groves of aspens manage to find a place in what is otherwise sage brush high desert, hinting at the forests to be found at higher elevations.

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

Aspens and Sage Brush, Evening

October 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

High desert aspen groves on sage-covered eastern Sierra hills

I’m continuing with one more characteristic eastern Sierra autumn photograph, though perhaps not the most common sort of view of the subject. The photograph does include some small groves of aspen trees in fall colors, but they are dwarfed by the immense scale of the rolling eastern Sierra foothills, covered by high desert sage brush, and cut with valleys containing creeks draining the eastern slopes of the range. I made this photograph in the early evening, just before sunset, as the low angle sun was sweeping across the crest and casting light and shadow almost parallel to the slope of the hills.

We usually look for fall aspen color in country that is higher and/or wetter — often somewhere up one of the great eastern Sierra canyons or perhaps along a ridge near the crest. But aspens grow in many places, some of which are unexpected or even surprising. They grow a good distance from the Sierra itself, sometimes far out in the high desert, and in areas that hardly seem alpine at all. Sometimes these are smaller trees, seeming to get by on less water and perhaps in a harsher climate, but occasionally they manage to form decent sized groves.

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

Slender Aspens

October 15, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Slender aspen trees with leaves transitioning from green to yellow

I made this photograph quite a bit earlier in the season that usual — just past the middle of September. More typically I photograph these trees a couple of weeks later. However, this fall I made a reconnaissance trip to the Eastern Sierra at this early date and discovered quite a bit of good color, especially at higher elevations. (The typical pattern has the earliest color starting at higher elevations and in the smaller trees, then progression downwards and into the larger trees over the next few weeks.)

When it comes to the possible ways to photograph aspens, there are too many to count: front, side, or backlit; while there are still green leaves, when everything is golden-yellow (and orange and red), or when the trunks are bare; in sunlight or shadow; big trees and small; up close or from further back. I photographed this beautiful little grove of slender trees from some distance, using a long focal length to flatten the perspective a bit and to create a tighter composition. The leaves were at a typical early stage, with a few having turned yellow and others still quite green. But I think it was the slender and stark white trunks and the patterns they created that drew me to this grove.

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

Dense Aspen Grove

October 12, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Small aspen trees, packed closely together, with golden autumn leaves, Eastern Sierra Nevada

While the exuberant colors of large groves of autumn aspens are attractive, there is something about the trunks that is hard to resist, even when the colors may have diminished a bit — or perhaps because the colors are less striking. I know I’m not the only photographer who returns to this “take” on the subject. It is fun and more than a bit challenging to make compositions out of such complexity. Frequently I’ll stop and look at a grove, think “that will make a great photograph,” and then gradually discover that some subtle element is not quite right and the whole thing won’t work. I’m continually surprised that a subject that seems so simple often isn’t.

To a great extent it is a question of balance of several sorts. The complex patterns of trunks cannot be completely uniform or there will be no form to the image. There must be some differentiation in the ways that trunks are grouped and among the angles of branches. But too much differentiation is also a problem. There is a “just right” quality to these compositions that is hard to explain, but which I know when I see it. A bit of “dissonance” can help, too — a little bit of something that seems to step outside the predominant patterns. In this photograph that could be the diagonal branches at coming across from the right, or it might be the group of closer leaves along one side. There is also some sense of depth, and if you look closely you may see a good distance into the more distant and darker areas of the small grove. And aside from the obvious vertical lines, there are three horizontal layers — brush at the bottom, trunks in the middle, and yellow leaves at the top.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: grove

Eastern Sierra Foothills, Autumn Aspens

Aspens and Sage Brush, Evening

Slender Aspens

Dense Aspen Grove

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