Tag Archives: gully

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

Aspen Cascade

Image October 20, 2020 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn aspen trees spill down a small valley in the Eastern Sierran Nevada.

There is no escaping the fact that this is an iconic Eastern Sierra fall color subject. Heck, even Apple used it for one of their operating systems! It was a bit of a surprise to me that I ended up here on this year’s abbreviated fall color expedition. I had initially planned to photograph much farther north and perhaps even to the east of the Sierra. However, those plans were derailed after I crossed the Sierra crest via Sonora Pass and dropped into the worst wildfire smoke I think I have experienced. I headed south, thinking it might get clearer as I drove, but it actually got worse. Coming into Lee Vining I could barely make out the near shoreline of Mono Lake in the noxious murk. So I decided that I would just continue south until the air improved.

It wasn’t until Bishop, California that it became tolerable, though it was smoky even there. So I headed into the the Sierra from there and ended up in the drainage in which this is one of the three major forks. I mostly photographed other things, and even when I went here the first time I spent most of my time of photographs of individual aspen leaves. When I returned to my camp after sunset a huge and thick cloud of wildfire smoke descended. I almost packed up and left, but I decided I would see what it looked like in the morning. It was still smoky when I woke up, though some light was getting through, so I chose the sure bet and went to this place. This curving grove of aspens winding its way down a shallow gully to the shore of a lake is a remarkable thing, with quite a lot of color variation from top to bottom.

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: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Morning, Temblor Range

Image April 1, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on spring-green hills of the Temblor Range.

Many landscapes appeal to me, but if you want to see geology laid bare I think the best places are those where few things grow, or at least where the plant life is so small and sparse as to permit a direct view of the land itself — places above timber line or arid places. This location, the Carrizo Plain, is not the driest place in California, but it is hot enough in the warm season to turn the place brown, and there are virtually no trees here.

The geology and geography here are worthy of attention. The most obvious feature is the Temblor Range of mountains lying to the northeast. These mountains mark the mighty San Andreas earthquake fault — its line sit at their base and the effects of its motion may be see in many places. A second feature, at least for me, is the immensity of the landscape. It is one of those places where distances are deceiving, and what looks like a quick jaunt across the valley could add up to nearly ten miles. On the morning I made this photograph the valley had been full of post-rain fog when the first light arrived. As it cleared it left a certain combination of both clarity and softness in the light.

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

Aspens Ascending A Gully

Image November 23, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Colorful autumn aspen trees ascend a gully in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

In the past I have looked at this grove but not photographed it. Unfortunately, it stands in close proximity to an Eastern Sierra Nevada “feature” that has long troubled me — a fake waterfall apparently created by a nearby homeowner who seems to have redirected a stream over the top of an outcropping in order to make his/her backyard more picturesque. Unfortunately, once you see how this was done you cannot unsee it, and the “waterfall” becomes an annoying and even insulting feature.

But there are these trees. And they are quite nice, following a narrow gully in the break between two outcroppings of solid Sierra rock. I like the way that the ascending band of trees narrows as it rises, almost suggesting a queue of travelers passing through a narrow pass. There are also some beautiful and colorful trees stretched across the bench at the top of the outcroppings. Finally, these trees are in the state of color transition that I’m almost ready to say I enjoy the most — that stage where a few trees are intensely yellow/gold and others are still just barely beginning to change.

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

Curving Aspen Grove

Image October 22, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An aspen grove in various stages of autumn color transition descends from a Sierra Nevada ridge

Some of you may recognize this aspen grove as being somewhat iconic — though you probably also know that it is often photographed in a somewhat different way. It is also usually photographed at a different time of day from when I was there — on a cloudy afternoon as a weather front was starting to fill in over the Sierra crest, moving conditions toward the potential for some light rain or even a few snow showers a bit later on.

Once again, I photographed in this soft light rather than in full sun. The direct sun can overwhelm the colors of an aspen grove like this one, while the soft light opens and illuminates the shadow areas and can even make the colors seem more intense, especially when some of that soft light is a bit directional and fills in the color from behind. This grove is rarely all in prime color condition all at once, since it covers a range of exposures and elevations. Here it is quite colorful both at the bottom and the top, though there are clearly areas where the leaves have already dropped.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: gully

Aspen Cascade

Morning, Temblor Range

Aspens Ascending A Gully

Curving Aspen Grove

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