Tag Archives: red

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New Hampshire Leaves

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New Hampshire Leaves
A patch of autumn leaves along the Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire

New Hampshire Leaves. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A patch of autumn leaves along the Kancamagus Highway, New Hampshire

While it may seem that autumn is almost over, the autumn photography season isn’t bound by the calendar. I can find subjects in the Sierra that suggest autumn to me as early as the end of August, and it isn’t unusual to find some autumn red, gold, brown, and orange colors in parts of California all the way into January. All of this is by way of explaining that I’m not done with the autumn photographs yet!

This photograph comes from our October visit to New Hampshire, where we photographed New England fall color for the first time. After years of listening to fellow photographers rhapsodize about autumn in his region, we were overdue for a visit. I made this photograph… next to a parking lot! We had stopped to make some photographs of the larger landscape, but the soft light on the leaves caught my attention. This small vignette suggests the wildly diverse colors of the autumn leaves in this region.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Storm Clears

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The Storm Clears
A Sierra Nevada summer storm clears at sunset.

The Storm Clears. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A Sierra Nevada summer storm clears at sunset.

Before I get too far into the background of this photograph, has anyone else noticed that the ways to title a photograph of (yet another) clearing storm are… limited? That aside, this was one of the most spectacular Sierra backcountry evenings I have experienced. After essentially two days of rain, some of it extremely heavy, the storm finally began to break up in the late afternoon, and we were able to venture out. I began by photographing post-storm fog drifting around the valley, but before long the thinning clouds to the east began to put on a wildly colorful show. As that finished I turned my attention back toward the ridge to our west. The fog and clouds there were breaking up, too, and the very last sunlight of the day back-lit clouds above the crest.

This was not an easy photograph, both to “capture” at that moment and to work with in post. As you may be able to imagine, technical challenges included a very wide dynamic range, great contrasts in coloration, the position of the drifting fog, and more. Among other compensations, now when I look at this photograph I am transported back to the sights and sensations of that wonderful evening.

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: New England, Photographs: Panorama

White Mountains Panorama

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White Mountains Panorama
Peak autumn color along New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway.

White Mountains Panorama. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Peak autumn color along New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway.

This is not my typical photograph — and in more than one way. I have already written that this year marked our first photography of the famous New England fall color, but another difference is probably less apparent. This is an iPhone photograph! I’ve been carrying various iPhones for years, but I rarely use them photographically for anything more than quick snaps and record shots. But we recently upgraded to the iPhone 14, and on this trip I decided to see what I could do with the thing. Its ability to make quick — and quite decent — panoramas, even in some challenging lighting conditions, is remarkable.

Aside from that technical issue, this photograph also exemplifies some of what makes East Coast fall color experience so different from the Sierra Nevada color that I have photographed for years. Most obviously, entire forests are almost exclusively hardwood trees, their color stretches almost unbroken across miles of terrain, and the colors are so varied. I’m still processing the experience and thinking about the relative attractions of this kind of autumn photography compared to kinds that are more familiar from my years in the Sierra.

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.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New Hampshire Forest, Autumn

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New Hampshire Forest, Autumn
“New Hampshire Forest, Autumn” — Multi-colored autumn foliage in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

We paused along the Kancamagus Highway to photograph at this large turnout, a place with a parking lot next to a rocky river, where the opening in the forest above the water let a bit more light into the edge of the forest. Just about every variety of New Hampshire autumn color was present where the forest ended at the river’s edge.

I have noted that there are not a lot of places where a photographer can get a bit of distance on such trees — often the opening for roadways is narrow and there isn’t usually a wide shoulder along the highways. The forest is quite dense, especially by comparison to the mostly-open forests that I’m familiar with in the Sierra Nevada. Within the density there is also tremendous diversity, with many kinds of trees growing closely together and, in the autumn, producing a kaleidoscope of almost all of the fall colors one can imagine.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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