Tag Archives: highway

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.

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

Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog

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Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog
Colorful autumn trees and morning fog in distant valleys, New Hampshire.

Autumn Trees, Mountains, and Valley Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful autumn trees and morning fog in distant valleys, New Hampshire.

This route across the White Mountains is — as I was warned and then witnessed — a very popular location for viewing New England fall color. While I like to investigate less well-known subjects as I get to know a place, since this was our first-ever visit to this region in the fall we started out by joining the hordes on this road. It is iconic and, as I often say, “there’s a reason it is an icon.” The autumn forests here are, indeed, spectacular and our visit coincided with peak color. (In case you wonder, it only took me a day or two to start exploring a few odd little gravel roads, too.)

While this viewpoint is popular and likely heavily photographed, on a morning like this it presents some aesthetic and technical challenges. The beautifully receding hills beyond the fog-lined valley are almost directly in line with the rising sun. This leads to flare challenges and to high contrasts between shadows and backlit foliage. Nearby trees, as lovely as they are, also impede on some of the longer views. But with the camera in just the right place, using my hand to shade the lens, and an exposure that captured scene data to be optimized in post… I think it works.

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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

A Small Wave

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A Small Wave
On a day of quiet seas, a small wave crosses a kelp bed along the California coast.

A Small Wave. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

On a day of quiet seas, a small wave crosses a kelp bed along the California coast.

My recent photographs from Point Lobos have mostly used the grand landscape as the subject, focusing on central subjects set in expansive surroundings. If you are familiar with those locations you might have been able to identify the specific places where I photographed, and you might have recognized the actual subjects of the images. This is not one of those photographs.

This photograph could be from any of an uncounted number of places along the coast of California — or any other coastal zone for that matter. I think this photograph can work in at least two ways. On one level it is a “capture” of a real thing that happens in these places: we see the submerged sand and kelp through clear water, while the more turbulent water that follows the little wave reflects more sky color. But I like the fact that it also woks as an abstraction of shape, color, and form.

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

Green and Gray

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Subalpine plants growing on exfoliating granite, Yosemite National Park.

Green and Gray. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Subalpine plants growing on exfoliating granite, Yosemite National Park.

As California confronts increasing drought and rising temperatures, I have come to expect to see hot and dry conditions wherever I go in the state. Last week we spent some time in the “Low Sierra” foothill country, and we experienced just that — a few days of extreme heat and an earlier-than-usual transition from spring green to summer brown in the foothills. But we encountered a few surprises, too, and there were moments that reminded me of how it used to be.

The first was on a short drive up to the 6000′-7000′ range above a foothill town. Here we found plenty of green growth and quite a few wildflowers, albeit earlier than usual in their annual progression. A day later we entered Yosemite and briefly visited the high country. Following three very hot days, it was pleasantly surprising to have rain and cooler weather and to see some flowing water and new greenery, including these plants growing on exfoliating granite at about 8000′.

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.