Tag Archives: mono

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Dense Autumn Aspens

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Dense Autumn Aspens
A grove of dense and colorful autumn aspen trees, to the east of the Sierra Nevada.

Dense Autumn Aspens. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A grove of dense and colorful autumn aspen trees, to the east of the Sierra Nevada.

This dense grove of autumn aspen trees, perhaps just past the peak of their seasonal color, provided an opportunity that isn’t easy to find in these groves — a slightly elevated position looking down into and across an aspen forest that stretched away up a nearby hillside. I was actually here to photograph something else, a distant landscape. But once I finished that task I moved on and spent some time with these trees.

Unlike many of the trees in my aspen photographs, these are not technically in the Sierra Nevada. Instead they are in a smaller range located east of the Sierra. The range may be smaller, but it is still high, with peaks over 11,000′. Being in the rain shadow of the Sierra, these mountains are rather dry, but there’s enough moisture to sustain very large stands of aspen trees.

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: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake, Autumn Haze

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Mono Lake, Autumn Haze
Haze settles over the expanse of Mono Lake on an autumn morning.

Mono Lake, Autumn Haze. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Haze settles over the expanse of Mono Lake on an autumn morning.

On this autumn morning I began photographing at Mono Lake well before dawn. My main idea was to work from a particular spot that has interesting shoreline contours and views towards distant peaks, starting when I could photograph the light of the intensely colorful pre-sunrise sky reflecting on the lake’s surface. I did that, and I stuck around just until the sun cleared those distant mountains — then I moved on to photograph the lake in more “normal” daytime light.

I initially went to this spot hoping to photograph some thin fog that was trying to establish itself along the lake’s shoreline, where cool autumn air flowed over the warmer lake waters. As I considered the scene I became more interested in the silhouettes of the distant island and hills, many miles away, and the textures and patterns formed by morning breezes on the surface of the immense lake.

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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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: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Mono Shoreline, Autumn

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Mono Shoreline, Autumn
A spring morning along the shoreline of Mono Lake.

Mono Shoreline, Autumn. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A spring morning along the shoreline of Mono Lake.

After all these years of visiting and photographing the Sierra Nevada, I start to think I know the place. Actually, I do for the most part. However, there is so much there that it is impossible to really “know” all of it in a single lifetime. This fall’s two autumn-color visits to East Side reminded me of this. Although it happens regularly, I was surprised by the number of things I “discovered” for the first time in places that I thought I knew really well. I’ve shared a few of the resulting photographs recently, and now I add this one to the collection.

I had decided to look away from the aspens and head to Mono Lake on this autumn morning, and I had a specific place and photograph in mind elsewhere along the shoreline. I photographed that subject before dawn, and after finishing I decided to move on. But as often happens, while I watch the road enough to avoid getting into trouble, while scanning the passing landscape I caught sight of this little scene in a spot that I usually pass quickly in route to something else.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Burned Pines, Morning Sky

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Burned Pines, Morning Sky
The skeletal remains of a stand of ponderosa pine trees under blue high desert sky, Mono Basin.

Burned Pines, Morning Sky. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The skeletal remains of a stand of ponderosa pine trees under blue high desert sky, Mono Basin.

This photograph comes from my short trip to the area near Tioga Pass in Yosemite during the final days of summer — a trip to reacquaint myself with the Sierra after missing the entire summer up there. I camped near the crest where I could easily enter the park or head east and visit the eastern escarpment of the range and some of the nearby high desert terrain.

I made this photograph on a morning when I headed east, passing Mono Lake and continuing a bit further, then turning off the main road to drive along the edge of a huge ponderosa pine forest. At some point in the past a wildfire burned though here, and the skeletal burned trees have long fascinated me. These trees are right at the (former) edge of the grove, and Mono Lake and desert mountains are barely visible in the distance.

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.