Tag Archives: hardwood

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New Hampshire Forest, Autumn

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New Hampshire Forest, Autumn
Multi-colored autumn foliage in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

New Hampshire Forest, Autumn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Multi-colored autumn foliage in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

We paused along the Kancamagus Highway to photograph at this large turnout, a place with a parking lot next to a rocky river, where the opening in the forest above the water let a bit more light into the edge of the forest. Just about every variety of New Hampshire autumn color was present where the forest ended at the river’s edge.

I have noted that there are not a lot of places where a photographer can get a bit of distance on such trees — often the opening for roadways is narrow and there isn’t usually a wide shoulder along the highways. The forest is quite dense, especially by comparison to the mostly-open forests that I’m familiar with in the Sierra Nevada. Within the density there is also tremendous diversity, with many kinds of trees growing closely together and, in the autumn, producing a kaleidoscope of almost all of the fall colors one can imagine.

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.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

River Bank Forest, Autumn

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River Bank Forest, Autumn
Autumn trees along the banks of the Swift River, New Hampshire

River Bank Forest, Autumn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn trees along the banks of the Swift River, New Hampshire

Perhaps you thought that I had shared all of my photographs from our early-October trip to photograph New England color. You might be wrong. I took a break from sharing those so that I could post some of the photographs from this year’s crop of Sierra autumn color images. And, I am not quite done with material either, so expect to see me alternate between coasts for a bit longer. Somewhere in all of this, there will also be some urban photographs from a brief visit to Manhattan.

I previously noted that it is often difficult to get longer views in the area of New Hampshire where we photographed. The forest is thick, grows right to the edge of roadways, and there are not many places to pull over. There are some openings, and when I found them I tried to take advantage. They came on a few routes that climbed to higher elevations, some areas with lakes and fields, and occasionally along rivers. This photograph is one of the latter, made while wandering along the banks of the Swift River, where I could photograph across and along the open areas above its course.

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.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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: New England

Autumn Forest and Creek

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Autumn Forest and Creek
A creek flows beneath autumn trees in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

Autumn Forest and Creek. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A creek flows beneath autumn trees in the White Mountains of New Hampshire

This is a photograph of another branch of the creek that was featured in a recent photograph. The creek in the previous photograph flowed under a bridge to join the creek seen here. Both flowed down gentle rocky sloped though a quiet hardwood forest that was perhaps just past the prime color. On a day when crowds were visiting the more famous sites in this mountain range, it was pleasant to stop here in the still quiet for a while.

People from the Northeast who have me advice on this trip recommended several thing. Some had to do with timing, some with the typical transitions of the color. Others were about locations — and as a first-time visitor to this area I needed that advice. In addition to pointing out some of the must-see locations, almost everyone also said to get off the main roads and poke around some of the backroads, especially the smaller gravel routes. This was one of those, a road that we followed on a whim — and we ended up off the beaten path in places that are not as frequently visited.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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: New England

Peak New England Color

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Peak New England Color
A White Moutains forest of almost-exclusively hardwood trees at the peak of fall color.

Peak New England Color. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A White Moutains forest of almost-exclusively hardwood trees at the peak of fall color.

This photograph, if nothing else, illustrates some aspects of how New England fall color is different from what I usually photograph in California, particularly in the Sierra Nevada. Out here the colors tend to be relatively uniform, usually yellow to brown, broken by occasional examples of other colors. For example, the great majority of our aspens turn yellow/gold, which is why the occasional red and orange exceptions attract so much attention. And the Sierra trees are far less likely to appear in huge, mountain-covering stands — they more typically line the bottom of a valley, run upslope along a gully or other feature, and are surrounded by green conifers.

So what differences can we see here? First, the hardwoods vastly outnumber the sparse conifer trees. (I like the contrast the latter provide, however.) The hardwood forest stretches for great distances — that area of the photograph is quite large but it is only a small portion of the fall-colored trees I could see here. The tree color is also much more diverse, here including every shade from green through orange and red.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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