Tag Archives: north

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

Aspen Grove in Back Light

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Aspen Grove in Back Light
Bright back-light accentuates the colors of autumn Sierra Nevada aspen trees.

Aspen Grove in Back Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bright back-light accentuates the colors of autumn Sierra Nevada aspen trees.

This grove of small aspens presented a photographic problem. Due to Sierra Nevada wildfires, smoke had drifted across the entire range from west to east. There was an ugly haze in the sky that obscured any distant features and which discolored the light. Often in such conditions I will photograph with black and white in mind since that can actually take advantage of the haze in some situations. However, although it is possible to photograph fall color in black and white, this grove’s intense colors called for, well, a color photograph.

The solution had two parts. First, I used a longer lens to exclude the larger landscape, leaving only the small grove of trees in a little valley below my position. Second, I positioned myself where the sun was directly behind the grove, and the back-light lit the leaves from behind, almost making them glow and intensifying the 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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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Branches

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Aspen Branches
Winding branches of an aspen tree, Sierra Nevada.

Aspen Branches. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winding branches of an aspen tree, Sierra Nevada.

For some reason this tree sticks in my memory. I had been scouting and photographing in the Lake Tahoe area as part of the work on my fall color book. On my way back to the San Francisco Bay Area I decided to leave the Tahoe area and head south so that I could drive through Hope Valley and over Carson Pass. By the time I got here it was late and the light was fading. There was a solid wall of aspen leaves behind this exposed tree, but they were very early in the autumn transition and still mostly green. I did not seem like the typical “fall color” photograph, but I stopped and made a few exposures anyway.

Some time later I “found” this file in my archives and, unlike when I made the photograph, it somehow seemed obvious that it could be a black and white image. Sometimes I know (more or less) when I make the exposure that a photograph is going to end up in a monochromatic rendition. But I confess that I sometimes reserved judgment until I see the raw file later on… and that on some occasions a photograph that I initially conceived of as a color image only reveals its potential in black and white during the post processing phase.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove in Transition

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Aspen Grove in Transition
An Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove just past peak autumn color.

Aspen Grove in Transition. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An Eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove just past peak autumn color.

The first instinct, I think, when viewing and photographing autumn aspen trees is to just go for the brilliant colors. I’m no less guilty of giving into that understandable instinct than the next person. At its least sophisticated, this can amount to “point at the colors and snap!” But it turns out — no surprise! — that there’s a lot more to see in aspen trees that only reveals itself after having that initial experience. In short, there’s more than one way to photograph this subject!

While I subconsciously assume that the ideal tree is one that is completely covered with brilliantly colorful leaves, I keep learning and relearning that often the more interesting trees are those in the “imperfect” stages before and after the peak color transition. For example, one colorful tree can seem even more colorful against a backdrop of trees that are still at least partially green. The beauty of the colorful trees may seem just a bit more poignant when the scene reveals how transitory the phenomenon is.

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: Architecture, Photographs: Urban/Street

Window and Wall in Summer Light

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Window and Wall in Summer Light
High summer light falls across the walls of a building with white window frames.

Window and Wall in Summer Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High summer light falls across the walls of a building with white window frames.

There are still more of the pandemic photographs — the “postcards from pandemia” — that I have made from time to time since our world changed back in March of 2020. During that time I did a lot of urban walking in a several mile radius of my home, and I always carry a camera when I walk. On many walks the camera remained in my bag, but every so often some element of this area would catch my attention and the camera would come out, I’d make a few exposures, and then I’d continue walking.

I’m now not quite certain where this subject is, exactly. The style of construction is common in older neighborhoods around here. One thing that appeals to me about a photograph like this one is that it can be about many different things. On one hand it is a visual record of the urban architecture of a certain time and place. But it also, to me at least, also a little study in composition and forms, mainly rectangles. It also is a kind of minimalism, consisting of really only three colors — the dark windows, the blue wall, and the white window frame. There are two slightly mysterious elements that create visual dissonance for me. One is the diagonal shadow — really the only line in the scene that isn’t a perfect vertical or horizontal — that comes from some unknown and unseen source outside the frame. Another is that slightly dark and mysterious shaded area near the upper left.

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 | 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.