“Autumn Black Oak Leaves” — Autumn black oak leaves in Yosemite Valley.
Is it ever too early to start thinking about autumn? I don’t think so! Every fall I revisit familiar places to photograph the signs of the changing seasons. One of these is Yosemite Valley, where the most interesting colors often peak right around Halloween. At a minimum I make a long day trip up and back from the San Francisco Bay Area. But my preference is to visit for at least a coupe of days.
“Autumn Tree, Sculpted Sandstone” — A cottonwood trree with autumn foliage grows next to a sculpted sandstone cliff.
A group of us ventured down into a narrow Utah canyon, lined with red rock walls and dotted with autumn trees. A creek flowed along its length, and the soft sound of its moving water was never far away. With the fall colors and the colorful rock faces there were photographs everywhere. Not surprisingly, our progress was slow… but very productive.
“Desert Gold Bloom” — Desert gold wildflowers in bloom, Death Valley.
You often hear the expression that there is a “carpet of wildflowers” in a landscape. That description was apt in quite a few areas of Death Valley National Park when we visited in late February. To be clear, much of the landscape of this desert park sill looked like… desert. But in places there were wildflower blooms of impressive size.
“Desert Reflections, Lake Manly” — Desert mountains and sky reflected in Lake Manly, Death Valley.
Looking at this aquatic scene it is hard to believe the normally here we would be looking at arid salt flats extending toward the horizon, not the reflective surface of a very large lake. But this is Death Valley, a place of astonishing variety, and sometimes that arid landscape is full of water.