Tag Archives: photography

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Aspen Trunks, Lichen Covered Rocks

November 8, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Three small aspen trees with fall color leaves among small plants grow from a crack in lichen-covered rocks – Sierra Nevada, California near South Lake.

Yet another variation on the “bare aspen trunks with some leaves, photographed against granite” theme – I can’t help myself! :-)

This is another of several photographs I made along the road below Parcher’s Resort on the way to South Lake in the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California. At this early October point in the season there are almost endless ways to approach photography of aspens – still-green aspens, aspens barely starting to change color, newly colorful aspens among still-green aspens, aspens at the height of their yellow/orange/red color, aspens past peak starting to thin a bit, aspens with only a few beautiful leaves remaining (and the rest littering the ground beneath), aspen trunks bare of any leaves and waiting for the winter to arrive – and all of these shot in an infinite variety of light, in an infinite variety of settings, with an infinite variety of compositions.

So I hope no one minds if I continue to post a few more. :-)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Bare Aspen Trunks and Boulders

November 7, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Granite boulders stand behind a row of nearly bare fall aspen trees near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

This is one more photograph from my early October aspen-chasing expeditions to the eastern Sierra. On this trip I ended up in the Bishop Creek area and on this cold, slightly snowy, early fall day I ended up at one point along a section of roadway just below Parcher’s Resort near South Lake. Below Parcher’s there is a meadow – I parked there and spend some time wandering up the roadway past this area of steep, jumbled rocks and aspen trees and other foliage.

A note about the light in this photograph: I had passed by this area before – on previous visits and earlier during this trip – and thought about how I’d like to photograph here in diffused, shaded conditions. So I made a plan to return much later in the afternoon when I knew that the sun would move around behind the ridge about this spot and leave it in shade, but with some light coming in from the open sky and ridge on the other side of the valley – pretty much exactly the sort of conditions I look for when I photograph this type of subject.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: row, aspen, bare, tree, trunk, season, fall, autumn, white, branch, leaf, leaves, vertical, yellow, gold, rock, boulder, cliff, lichen, texture, parchers, resort, south, lake, bishop, creek, road, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, california, usa, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Fall Color, Leidig Meadow

November 6, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Fall colors of grasses, bushes, and trees along the edge of Liedig Meadow and the Merced River with cliff walls in the background, Yosemite Valley.

Yes, I’m still working Leidig Meadow… As I wrote earlier, I love the low autumn backlight and early November colors of trees and meadow at this location in Yosemite Valley. In fact I shot here on both afternoons during my visit on October 31 and November 1. Here the trees are roughly sidelight by light coming up the canyon from the west, and the light is aleady gone from the tall cliffs across the Valley and just to the west of Yosemite Falls.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: yosemite, national, park, valley, sierra, nevada, mountain, range, autumn, fall, season, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, california, cottonwood, tree, grove, bush, meadow, grass, brown, golden, leidig, meadow, merced, river, bank, trunk, branch, limb, leaf, leaves, silhouette, cliff, wall, afternoon, light, stock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Barren Trees, Leidig Meadow

November 5, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Liedig Meadow trees on an autumn afternoon with the cliffs of Yosemite Valley in the background.

I’m almost endlessly fascinated by trying to photograph these trees (primarily cottonwoods I think) in and around Leidig Meadow in Yosemite Valley, especially in late afternoon when strong side- and back-light creates silhouettes, adds the sense of depth from haze, and can make the leaves glow on the trees. This isn’t the first time I’ve worked on photographing this particular row of older, larger trees in front to the shorter and denser stand of background trees. I most often seem to use the shaded north Valley wall (near Yosemite Falls) or the view to the west down the Valley as the background, but in this photograph the background is provided by a slightly view of vertical cliffs along the south side of the Valley.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: yosemite; national; park; valley; sierra; nevada; mountain; range; autumn; fall; season; scenic; travel; nature; landscape; california; leidig; meadow; tree; cottonwood; oak; afternoon; grass; dense; grove; cliff; pinnacle; haze; atmosphere; black and white; trunk; branch; silhouette; back; light; stock

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.