Tag Archives: landscape

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

Autumn, Eastern Sierra Valley

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Autumn, Eastern Sierra Valley
The autumn color of aspens, willows, and more comes to the valleys of the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Autumn, Eastern Sierra Valley. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The autumn color of aspens, willows, and more comes to the valleys of the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

During the past week I made my first trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada to look for the annual fall aspen color transition. Broadly speaking — even though there can be some earlier and later aspen color — I regard the first three weeks of October as being the most likely time to find good color, with the second week perhaps being the most reliable period. Over the past few years the transition has seemed to start a bit earlier, but this year it seems to be on what we used to regard as a “normal” schedule. There wasn’t much color at all during the first few days of the month this year, but it was starting to come on more strongly towards the end of the first week. It should be quite good as of this October 8 posting… but that’s a guess, since I’m back home now. (I’ll be heading back up in a few days.)

Since folks often ask me about the aspen color season (perhaps because I wrote “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide To Autumn In The Sierra.” Being ready to answer those questions was one reason for visiting early in the season. (OK, the main reason was to make my own photographs! And to make a presentation about autumn color in Mammoth Lakes.) I visited areas between highway 88 (Carson Pass) in the north and Bishop Creek Canyon to the south, stopping in quite a few other places in between. This photograph comes from one of those intermediate stops, a rugged east-side canyon that holds a lot of wonderful fall color from aspens, willows, cottonwoods, and more. (Looking for more information about the aspen color transition? Pease visit my Sierra Nevada Fall Color page.)

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: Sierra Nevada

Peaks And Sunset Clouds

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Peaks And Sunset Clouds
Colorful sunset clouds above the crest of the Sierra Nevada

Peaks And Sunset Clouds. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful sunset clouds above the crest of the Sierra Nevada.

The High Sierra can be a place of remarkable and striking light… but more often the conditions revolve around successive days of perfectly blue, cloud-free skies. That is probably among the reason the place is called the “range of light,” but it also can be challenging for photographers hoping for special, unusual, and striking conditions. Yes, we complain about “perfect, blue-sky conditions!

But eventually, even in this gentle range, the conditions do change. Most often in the summertime Sierra the change comes from periodic intrusions of monsoonal moisture that bring a few days of thunderstorms. On our recent trip we got a bit of that on our hike in… and then, a week later, on our hike out. For the rest of our stay was almost under those “perfect” conditions… except for our last evening, when the Sierra presented us with these beautiful sunset clouds, producing a beautiful luminous benediction to our visit.

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

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Tree, Lake, Granite Bench

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Tree, Lake, Granite Bench
A solitary tree grows along the shoreline of an alpine lake below Sierra Nevada granite benches

Tree, Lake, Granite Bench. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary tree grows along the shoreline of an alpine lake below Sierra Nevada granite benches.

This is another “quiet light” photograph, made during the “edge of the day” times when the light is muted and soft, when the glow of light on nearby rocks gently enters the scene. During these hours, especially in the morning, the air is still and cool, the reflective surface of water is unbroken, and the world is a quiet place.

I made this photograph very near to our weeklong backcountry base camp, in a high, rocky spot nestled in the curving shore of an 11,000′ lake in a valley full of meadows, boulders, and running water. The high valley was surrounded by even higher peaks, and every morning before the sun rose above those ridges we have and hour of more of this light.

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

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

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

Curving Beach, Fog

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Curving Beach, Fog
Fog retreats to the shoreline above a curving beach near Point Sur

Curving Beach, Fog. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fog retreats to the shoreline above a curving beach near Point Sur.

This is the same location where I made a couple of other recently posted photographs — a spot along the Pacific Coast Highway not far from the town of Big Sur, where a long, curving beach runs out toward a peninsula that has long been the home to an iconic California light house.

Much to my surprise, I encountered really beautiful conditions on this morning visit to the area. The forecast had called for essentially clear conditions, but I was instead greeted by a persistent fog bank that remained right along the coast, stubbornly intruding into the hills in some locations, while pulling back and allowing sunlight over the ocean in others. This scene was dynamic as I photographed it, with the fog intermittently rising and falling or drifting across this scene, located near the delta of a river that empties into the Pacific near the small hill sitting on the beach.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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