Tag Archives: morning

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

Shoreline Aspens, Autumn

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Shoreline Aspens, Autumn
Colorful autumn aspen trees line the shore of an Eastern Sierra lake reflecting high peaks in morning light.

Shoreline Aspens, Autumn. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Colorful autumn aspen trees line the shore of an Eastern Sierra lake reflecting high peaks in morning light.

As I worked my way through what is actually a rather small collection of aspen color photographs I made this season I kept thinking that I had found all of the photographs worth taking through the full post-processing workflow. I was really only on the East Side for about 48 hours on this visit, and I made most of the photographs in two specific spots. But so far, each time I have “finished” and taken my final look at the raw files… I have come up with yet one more that I did not want to leave behind.

This is one of several I made from this location along the shoreline of this lake. Once I realized that I was going to be here I pre-selected a couple of spots to set up, and this one was on the agenda for my last morning before heading home. I knew that I wanted the foreground red trees in the the photograph, so I had to find a spot with a bit of elevation above the lake. I located it and the rest of the series of photographs was made from camera positions within about a five foot radius, adjusting my locations slightly to deal with some overlaps. Because it was somewhat smoky from wildfires, I decided on this composition as a way to exclude the more distant elements that tend to show the smoke up more clearly.

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

Autumn Aspens, Lake, Wildfire Smoke

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Autumn Aspens, Lake, Wildfire Smoke
Wildfire smoke drifts over the Sierra Nevada crest above a lake surrounded by autumn aspens

Autumn Aspens, Lake, Wildfire Smoke. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Wildfire smoke drifts over the Sierra Nevada crest above a lake surrounded by autumn aspens

This is one of several photographs I made of this Eastern Sierra lake near the peak of autumn color this fall. I photographed it from two perspectives, both of which I had decided on ahead of time. The first was from a slightly elevated position at a somewhat different location, a spot that provided an interesting view of some iconic aspen trees. This was the second position, along a shoreline of the lake where aspens grow and there is a view toward higher peaks along the Sierra crest. Because this was a somewhat special color year, I particularly wanted to include the foreground trees with red and orange leaves.

This particular composition reveals more clearly that the others I have shared that there was wildfire smoke in the air. The distance peaks of the Sierra crest are far enough away to be somewhat muted by it and their coloration is affected by the brown smoke, too. On the previous evening, after a day of fairly good conditions, thick smoke from a fire on the west side of the range had drifted over the crest and then descended into the valleys. I was quite awful, and it wasn’t entirely gone the next morning, though the brighter light of the rising sun cut through it a bit.

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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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 Lake, Dawn, Eastern Sierra

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“Autumn Lake, Dawn, Eastern Sierra” — Dawn light comes to an Eastern Sierra Nevada lake surrounded by autumn aspen trees and reflecting distant peaks.

Yes, this is a bit of an iconic spot, but with good reason. And this year the colors around this Eastern Sierra Nevada lake were exceptional. I first photographed here before it became the often over-busy place it is today, so I’ve seen the color transition here many times. It has been about a decade since I saw colors like what I found this year. The most striking thing this year was the abundance of red and orange colors, something we don’t see every time.

The circumstances of this photograph were a bit complex. I was camped nearby the night before, and at sunset a thick cloud of suffocating wildfire smoke descended from the Sierra crest. I almost packed up and left, but then I decided to at least stick around for the night and see what the morning might bring. It was still smoky in the morning though not quite as bad as the previous night. Figuring that the smoke would be even worse farther to the north, I decided to head to this nearby lake. The smoke muted the light quite a bit, but because the smoke is not consistently thick there were moments when it thinned and more directional light appeared. I decided to simply set up in one spot and patiently wait for those momentary changes in illumination.

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.

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

Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

December Geese

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December Geese
Migratory geese flock in Central Valley pastures on a foggy morning.

December Geese. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Migratory geese flock in Central Valley pastures on a foggy morning.

The experience of photographing winter’s migratory birds in California might be divided into several sorts of exercise. One is looking for the birds, often without finding them or perhaps spotting them too far away to photograph. Then there is the experience, after not finding them, of waiting for their hoped-for arrival, perhaps spending time doings something else entirely. When they do show up we then watch, often making a few hopeful initial photographs as they do the same things we’ve photographed before.

Sometimes we manage to get very close — occasionally because the geese, by some miracle, come to us, rather than due to our skills are finding them. The geese have work to do, and they seem almost oblivious to our presence as they feed. The flocks often move slowly across the landscape, producing a remarkable low, droning sound. If you have watched them long enough you know that eventually they will move, sometimes by leaving in groups that follow one after another, but sometimes in a sudden and virtually unpredictable eruption of flight that produces first a sort of “ripping” sound as thousands of pairs of wings flap and the flock becomes airborne.

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.

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