Tag Archives: leaves

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Black Oak Leaves and Branches, Sky

November 14, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Autumn black oak branches and leaves silhouetted against blue sky, Yosemite Valley, California.

Believe it or not, one of the difficult things about photographing in the Sierra Nevada is… the weather is too nice! Sometimes for weeks on end it seems that you might see only perfect blue skies… boring perfect blue skies! When I visited Yosemite around Halloween this year to photograph fall color in the Valley I was really hoping for the same sort of “awful” weather I had last year – two days of rain and mist and clouds. Instead I got weather that seemed more like late summer than autumn.

So, what the heck, if the shapes and colors of the Valley’s oaks appear overhead with the “perfect blue sky” as a backdrop perhaps I’m supposed to photograph them against the perfect blue sky. All joking aside, I was attracted to the intense and saturated of the color of the sparse leaves on this tree, made all the more intense by the sun shining through their translucent shapes from behind and the almost monochrome shapes of the branches, and contrasted with the deep blue of the sky.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Black Oak Trees, Autumn, El Capitan Meadow

November 13, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall color of oak trees in morning light at El Capitan Meadow, Yosemite Valley, California.

It hardly looks like Halloween, but that’s when I made this photograph. I spent two days in the Valley over the October 31-November 1 weekend this fall – as I do every year – with the goal of photographing autumn conditions. I’ve photographed and described this spot so many times already that I’ll keep the description shot this time, but these black oaks grow in El Capitan Meadow at the base of the famous granite cliff and they catch beautiful light this time of year throughout the day.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Yosemite

LeConte Memorial Lodge, Autumn Oak Leaves

November 11, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn Oak leaves hang in front of the LeConte Memorial Lodge in Yosemite Valley, Yosemite National Park, California.

Historic LeConte Lodge is located near the base of the cliffs along the south side of Yosemite Valley not far from the Housekeeping camp. The lodge was closed when I visited in early November, perhaps for the season, but the oak trees in front of the building were in full autumn color.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Aspen Trunks, Lichen Covered Rocks

November 8, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three small aspen trees with fall color leaves among small plants grow from a crack in lichen-covered rocks – Sierra Nevada, California near South Lake.

Yet another variation on the “bare aspen trunks with some leaves, photographed against granite” theme – I can’t help myself! :-)

This is another of several photographs I made along the road below Parcher’s Resort on the way to South Lake in the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California. At this early October point in the season there are almost endless ways to approach photography of aspens – still-green aspens, aspens barely starting to change color, newly colorful aspens among still-green aspens, aspens at the height of their yellow/orange/red color, aspens past peak starting to thin a bit, aspens with only a few beautiful leaves remaining (and the rest littering the ground beneath), aspen trunks bare of any leaves and waiting for the winter to arrive – and all of these shot in an infinite variety of light, in an infinite variety of settings, with an infinite variety of compositions.

So I hope no one minds if I continue to post a few more. :-)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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