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

Peak Aspen Color

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Peak Aspen Color
An eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove at the peak of fall color

Peak Aspen Color. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 9, 2017© Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove at the peak of fall color

I regard fall aspen photography as, to a great extent, an exercise in timing. One element of this is, of course, to simply be in the right place at times of peak color. Aspen color is rarely static, and from day to day it changes. Just a few days earlier I had been in this same spot and most of the trees were still green. (I made a mental note on that earlier visit to come back in a few days when I suspected that the colors might be more developed.) The time of day is also critical since light variations play a huge role in the ways the colors appear. Early and late in the day, when the trees are still in shadow but perhaps lit by open sky and reflections from surrounding mountains, the soft light can produce rather saturated colors and fill the shadows with light. When backlit, the same groves might be so bright that it is sometimes difficult to figure out the idea exposure. And when the groves are front lit the colors can be greatly diminished.

Before we came to this spot we had started our day by photographing in a rather different area a few miles away. We worked those subjects for perhaps an hour and a half, and at that point I remembered my idea of visiting this other location, the one where I made this photograph, before the direct sunlight arrived. So off we went, down one canyon and then up another, to arrive at this spot where I knew colorful aspen trees would spread up the hillside in the shade. The colors were quite incredible. Most of the hillside was in full color — a lot of golden/yellow, but also shades of orange and red. Here and there a few trees where still green, and for this composition I decided to place one of those clusters of green trees in almost the center of a frame otherwise filled with wild 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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

River Of Aspens

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River Of Aspens
A river of autumn aspen trees descends a valley and turns around a side hill

River Of Aspens. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A river of autumn aspen trees descends a valley and turns around a side hill

I made this photograph during a brief visit to a familiar place, one that I probably have photographed from time to time over a period of about a decade. It is interesting to think about how my relationship to the location has changed over the years. The first time I visited, it held an almost mythical attraction, with several features that are iconic enough that at least three views of the location are quite well-known. But back then the number of photographers going here was a fraction of what it is today when sometimes it feels like the “east side” is virtually over-run by photographers in the fall. I suppose that this allowed me to mostly get past those standard views and simply regard this location as simply one among many beautiful spots in the general area.

Yet, certain features still have the potential to produce especially memorable conditions. This “river of aspens,” snaking down a shallow canyon and around an outcropping before ending at the shore of a lake, is one of these features. The colors can vary quite a bit during the season and between successive seasons. I’ve arrived to find it almost completely green… or to find that almost all of the leaves had already fallen. I’ve been chased away by snow and wind. This year the situation was, again, somewhat different from what I’ve seen in the past. The colors were mostly intense when I arrived, yet they ranged from green through almost bare trees. Rather than trying to take in the entire view, I constrained my framing and worked for a composition that might draw attention to the fluid curve of the grove as it nears its end at the shoreline of the lake.

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

Tall Aspen Trees, Autumn

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Tall Aspen Trees, Autumn
A grove of tall aspen trees at peak autumn color, Eastern Sierra Nevada

Tall Aspen Trees, Autumn. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 9, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of tall aspen trees at peak autumn color, Eastern Sierra Nevada

“The color isn’t very good this year,” someone said. “The color is changing late,” said someone else. “It changed to early,” said another. “The trees are still all green,” according to one observer. “Too many trees are bare already,” lamented one photographer. “The early snow turned lots of leaves black,” someone wrote. “It isn’t as good as it used to be,” reported another. After watching quite a few fall color seasons in the Sierra, I have observed that seasons do seem to have a bit of a personality. I’ve also heard (and spoken!) some generalizations about the development of color every year. It finally occurred to me this season that I often hear some variation on the same comments almost every season! Someone reports early color — or that it isn’t starting on schedule. Someone reports that the colors are better — or worse — that usual. But, aside from some differences likely attributable to weather variations, both long-term and short-term, over time things do seem to play out it fairly similar ways each year.

This year I spent — so far — about six days in the Sierra during fall color season. I feel like I pretty much hit the peak color over the past few days, with good color remaining at higher elevations and starting at the lower levels. If you haven’t gone yet and can get away in the next few days, I’m confident that you’ll be able to find some great eastern Sierra color, too. You will find a few groves have lost their leaves, but you’ll also find some in peak condition and probably even a few trees that are still green. I made this photograph on a very cold autumn morning — made a bit colder due to a miscalculation on an ice-coated rock while trying to cross a stream! — in a location where the morning sun had not yet cleared the top of a nearby tall ridge. The trees were picking up some soft reflected light that opened up the shadows and revealed details and colors that would not be a visible later on when the trees were in full sun.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Meadow, Wildflowers, Granite Peaks

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Meadow, Wildflowers, Granite Peaks
A view of wildflowers leads across a meadow and lake toward High Sierra peaks

Meadow, Wildflowers, Granite Peaks. John Muir Wilderness, California. September 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A view of wildflowers leads across a meadow and lake toward High Sierra peaks

Taking a little break from the Great Basin National Park photographs today, I’m sharing another from our late August and early September backcountry time in the John Muir Wilderness. To recap, we spent essentially nine days base-camped in one spectacular location, from which we could easily explore outwards in all directions — to the meadows surrounding the lake below our camp, further down the drainage where marshy areas were lush and green, a few hundred feet higher where a spectacular meadow full of flowers provided views of alpine peaks, and further up the canyon where we could want cross-country past the timber-line. All in all, it was the kind of location and circumstances that produce a landscape photographer’s paradise.

Near the conclusion of our visit, as happens on any such trip, I was realizing that I still had not gotten to certain obvious subjects. In my case, I hadn’t really spent as much time as I should have in the area right below our camp, where these green meadows wrapped around a small, subalpine lake. So on the first two days of September I focused on exploring this nearby area a bit more. The precise spot in this photograph was one I had first walked through a week before, on the day I completed the (slow!) hike up to this lake. I had walked up this meadow on a faint trail, not really knowing where our camp was and a bit concerned about finding it. Nonetheless, the intense green of the meadow (unusual for so late in the season) and the abundant wildflowers immediately caught my attention. There were many kinds of flowers in the meadow, but here you can see the beautiful paintbrush blossoms, and then the meadow holding the little lake, a bit of forest, and in the distance the high peaks across the canyon from us.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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