Tag Archives: maple

Photographs: Nature

Japanese Maple, Spring

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Japanese Maple, Spring
“Japanese Maple, Spring” — New spring growth on a Japanese maple tree, Hakone Gardens.

We have a couple of Japanese maple trees that we planted many years ago at our home. (We thought they were small trees, but we now know from practical experience that they can grow to be very large!) They are beautiful trees, with lovely green foliage that is thick enough to provide deep shade in summer. They produce beautiful fall colors, and their seeds “fly” though the air — our kids called them “helicopter” seeds.

I photographed this branch of a Japanese maple during our spring visit to the Hakone Estate and Gardens, where there is a beautiful Japanese garden. We were there to celebrate the cherry blossoms, but there was much more to see as we wandered the grounds as the day ended and evening arrived.

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: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Forest Path, Autumn

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Forest Path, Autumn
A Yosemite Valley trail winds among big trees and dense autumn foliage.

Forest Path, Autumn. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A Yosemite Valley trail winds among big trees and dense autumn foliage.

My feelings about Yosemite Valley, the location of this photograph, are… complicated. The place is in my bones. I first visited decades ago when I was just a child — yes, I watched the original firefall. I’ve gone scores of times since then, and I have seen the place in all seasons and all kinds of conditions. There’s no question that it is an utterly remarkable, almost unbelievable landscape. On the other hand, the human impact can be troubling. There are traffic jams, the increasingly necessary rules and regulations are jarring, it can be smoky and smoggy. Honestly, I avoid the place as much as possible udring the summer months. And yet…

… it IS “in my bones.” And I keep going back. Autumn may be my favorite season, and on the right day and in the right places it is possible to escape the impediments to the enjoyment of the Valley’s beauty — perhaps during a quiet moment along a mostly-deserted trail that passes big trees, with the space between them filled by delicate branches of maples and dogwoods transitioning to autumn colors.

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

New Hampshire Leaves

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New Hampshire Leaves
A patch of autumn leaves along the Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire

New Hampshire Leaves. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A patch of autumn leaves along the Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire

While it may seem that autumn is almost over, the autumn photography season isn’t bound by the calendar. I can find subjects in the Sierra that suggest autumn to me as early as the end of August, and it isn’t unusual to find some autumn red, gold, brown, and orange colors in parts of California all the way into January. All of this is by way of explaining that I’m not done with the autumn photographs yet!

This photograph comes from our October visit to New Hampshire, where we photographed New England fall color for the first time. After years of listening to fellow photographers rhapsodize about autumn in his region, we were overdue for a visit. I made this photograph… next to a parking lot! We had stopped to make some photographs of the larger landscape, but the soft light on the leaves caught my attention. This small vignette suggests the wildly diverse colors of the autumn leaves in this region.

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: New England

New England Woods #4

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New England Woods #4
Thick green woods along a road in Southern Vermont.

New England Woods #4. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Thick green woods along a road in Southern Vermont.

I am not quite done with the New England photographs yet, not by a long shot. Stay tuned. This is another one from our August visit to the East Coast, when we joined members of our extended family for a week at a place near Wilmington in Southern Vermont. The main goal of this event was family-oriented — lots of eating, talking, sitting around — but nearby rural roads provided lots of opportunities for learning about and photographing these woods.

This is, it almost goes without saying, not at all like my familiar haunts on the West Coast. At the time of year when California is largely golden-brown, the Vermont countryside was lush and green. Remarkable, and almost unbelievably, Vermonters were talking about this year’s drought! It sure didn’t look like any drought I’ve seen before in the West! The trees and undergrowth are so dense and green that it can be hard to photograph them — so I often found myself photographing into the edge of the forest from roads and trails.

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.