Tag Archives: grove

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Late Season Aspen Groves

February 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Late season aspens with sparse leaves on Boulder Mountain

This wasn’t my first visit to Utah, but it was my first visit during fall. We started in the west, where we knew we might find aspens, and we managed to catch the tail end of the aspen color in the high country around Cedar Breaks National Monument. From there we bypassed the obvious visit to Zion Canyon (that came later, on our homebound trip) and headed east, past Bryce and then Escalante and the small town of Boulder. Past Boulder, in terrain I had not visited before, the road began to climb as we drove on into the approaching sunset.

The first time I had driven past this place it was very early in the spring, and I was stunned by the number of aspen trees gathered in huge groves extending far up the slopes of these mountains. I remember making a mental note to visit them some fall, and this was that return visit. Being accustomed to the schedule of eastern Sierra aspen color, however, we arrived after the prime color — it comes earlier here in Utah. But in some ways, the few scattered trees with their wild late-season colors turned out to be more dramatic. What we thought might be a quick drive over Boulder Mountain to Torrey turned out to take a long time as we kept stopping and photographing these trees until there was no light left.

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: Utah

Utah Aspen Grove, Fall

February 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This is another photograph of those beautiful, tall, nearly straight aspen trees — a growth pattern that I don’t see so often here in the California Sierra Nevada, but which is very common in Utah. These trees are probably near the end of their autumn color phase, even though I made the photograph near the beginning of October. It seems that the fall color comes a bit sooner here! (At higher elevations, almost all of the aspen color was already gone by the end of the first week of October.)

The photograph suggests several thoughts to me. First, that photographing aspens during so-called peak color is not the only option. The trees actually pass through a transition that can be photographed at almost any point, from the first hints of color, through the peak, and right on through to the time when few leaves are left. In fact, it may be possible to work the light a bit more later on. Second, while the early and late light is often best, it is possible to photograph this and other subjects during the main part of the day. I made this photograph in the afternoon as some high clouds passed overhead and softened the light. Finally, Utah’s public wild lands are under threat today, including from some misguided Utah legislators who seem to think that the profits of a small group of extraction industry corporations are more important than ensuring the protection of these features — to the extent that they are calling for reducing the area of existing national lands and the take-back of others. One group that works to protect such places is the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. Consider supporting their work.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Aspen Trees, Valley

January 7, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn aspen trees follows the path of a Sierra Nevada valley

I’ve had this one sitting on my virtual desktop for some time now, and I suppose it is time to share it! Some who photograph a lot in the eastern Sierra may know the location, though the specifics are probably not all that important. Here, as in other locations on the “East Side,” a river of aspen trees runs down a shallow water-course that drops from a ridge to a lake through sage brush country.

The photograph was made a bit earlier than usual for this location, in this fifth (and, as I write this, hopefully final?) year of California’s recent great five-year drought. This has affected the entire state, including the patterns of fall color along the eastern escarpment of the Sierra, where (to make a long story short) some trees have changed much earlier than usual and others have died. This familiar spot changed early, and I was fortunate to be there on this date when I would usually not be looking to photograph aspen color.

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

Lake Shore, Autumn Morning

December 19, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light strikes grass on the shoreline of a Sierra lake reflecting autumn aspen color

Some photographs have to age for a while before I go back and figure out how to “see” them. This is one of those. I made the photograph a few months ago on a lovely autumn morning high in the Eastern Sierra, at a corner of a well-known location from which people frequently photograph a rather different view. I had begun the morning near this lake, looking for ways to see the landscape in this location in ways that weren’t quite as familiar to me, partly with photographic intent and partly out of not wanting to be part of the assembled crowd!

A bit later, once the expected light show had ended and those who came only for that had departed, I wandered down along the shore of the lake. Where there had been dozens a bit earlier, there were now only two, myself and one other photographer. I’ve been intrigued by these grassy areas along the edge of this lake, but I had not thought to photograph the scene from quite this direction before — and my timing was either perfect or, more likely, lucky in that the first beams of morning light to find their way through surrounding trees were just beginning to strike the patch of grass.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: grove

Late Season Aspen Groves

Utah Aspen Grove, Fall

Aspen Trees, Valley

Lake Shore, Autumn Morning

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