Tag Archives: leaves

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

Tall Autumn Aspens

Image Leave a comment
Tall Autumn Aspens
“Tall Autumn Aspens” — A tall grove of aspens with bright autumn colors, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This grove showed an interesting pattern — most of the color in the frame comes from short trees along the edge of a clearing, while the white trunks of older and taller trees extend on up toward the top of the frame. Straight trees like these are the exception in much of the Sierra, and we often see shorter aspen trees that are twisted and bent. I suspect that the extra light from the nearby clearing is one reason that these trees grew taller.

Once again, this is a photograph made in the soft light. I came into this canyon late in the afternoon, and soon the shadows from very tall ridges in the west moved across the landscape. The soft light allows the details in darker areas to emerge a bit, and that nearby clearing diffused a bit more reflected light into the scene.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Forest

Image Leave a comment
Autumn Forest
“Autumn Forest” — Autumn colors begin to appear in a Yosemite Valley forest.

This forest scene comes is on a little-used trail along the Merced River in Yosemite Valley. It is a good distance from the major attractions that draw crowds, so it tends to be rather quiet. (Though you can hear the sounds of traffic passing nearby.) I spent some time here on an autumn day when the deciduous trees were turning subtle colors and beginning to drop their leaves.

Dense forest scenes like this one are often a challenge. There’s so much interesting stuff in them, but it can be difficult finding a composition among all of the details. One feature of these scenes is that they don’t immediately reveal all of their details, and it takes a bit of time to understand what you are seeing.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspen Thicket

Image Leave a comment
Autumn Aspen Thicket
“Autumn Aspen Thicket” — A thicket of dense aspen trees with autumn leaves, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph comes from near the end of the autumn aspen color transition. Although one can stretch the season out to about one month, eventually the leaves all fall and we’re left with bare trunks. Generally speaking, the leaves fall first at higher elevations, and that’s where I found this grove. While the fully colorful trees are exciting, I also like this stage when the white trunks start to become the stars of the show.

There are many ways to photograph aspen trees, but I’m particularly fond of softer light. I find this when there is some thin overcast, or very early or late in the day, or even in light rain to snowfall. In this case I photographed at a time when nearby tall ridges blocked the direct sunlight, and the soft light filled the shadows.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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 York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Signs of Autumn, Manhattan

Image Leave a comment
Signs of Autumn, Manhattan
“Signs of Autumn, Manhattan” — Autumn colors and fallen leaves along a pathway in Manhattan.

I don’t know how many of you (who view these posts at my website) pay attention to the “categories” listings. They group the posts by their subject and focus, and the photographic posts always include the categories appropriate to their subjects — they might be “nature,” or “New York City,” or “Fall,” and so on. This photograph fits into a rather broad set of them, including those listed in the previous sentence and more. Yes, it is a fall nature photograph from New York City!

There’s little to suggest this location (unless you look very closely) but I made this photograph while walking along the High Line Park on the west side of Manhattan. When I’m in NYC I typically photograph obviously urban subjects — people, buildings, streets, and so forth. But in one section of this urban trail there were big piles of lovely autumn leaves, fallen from trees planted along the elevated walkway.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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