Tag Archives: ridge

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Boulder Mountain Aspens and Distant Peak

November 6, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A distant peak in alpenglow above the fall aspen color on Boulder Mountain, Utah.

We had anticipated the huge aspen groves on the flanks of Boulder Mountain as we approached on highway 12 from the west, having seen these trees earlier in the year, last April, when we crossed the mountain in spring before the new leaves appeared. We weren’t sure what we would find since, a) Boulder Mountain is high and b) we had seen high elevations aspens earlier during the trip that had almost completely lost their leaves. As we climbed toward the mountain from the town of Boulder, we began to encounter aspen color, but as we climbed it was apparent that we had missed the most colorful phase of this years transition.

That was OK, though. Even a bit pre- or post-peak, the aspen colors can still be spectacular. We stopped at the first place where we could see large aspen groves leading on up the incline toward the higher portions of the mountain and made some photographs. Then we continued on, rounding the shoulder of the mountain to find some very large and still quite colorful groves ahead of us. Although the light was starting to fade as the end of the day approached and as high clouds moved overhead, it seemed worthwhile to try to photograph these trees with a long lens. I continued shooting through sunset and soon the last direct sun left the trees and the more distant mountains. Here there is still a bit of light on the highest peaks to the east, seen faintly through the haze.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Aspen Grove, Evening

November 4, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A ridgetop aspen grove in full autumn color, Dixie National Forest, Utah

This is another photograph that resulted from a more or less chance drive up a back road that I happened to spot while out looking for color, and the particular location of the photograph is anything but iconic – in fact, I’m betting that this grove of aspens is rarely photographed, given its someone “off the beaten track” location in a place without even a recognizable name. Essentially, we had turned off onto an interesting side road and started driving up into the mountains. A bit earlier we had stopped to photograph incredibly colorful aspens and other trees before moving on.

As we continued on up this climb, we became aware of time issues – mainly because I had an idea about photographing another specific location at sunset, and that location was still a good drive away from here. So when we came to an intersection along the gravel road, it seemed like a fine place to stop, look around, and consider heading back the in the direction from which we had come. As we pulled over we began to see several interesting things here. First, nearby there was a little old track leading into the aspen forest. (A photograph of that subject will appear here later.) Then another side road nearby started to look interesting, so we drove a short distance along it until we had a panoramic view of the mountains leading toward Cedar Breaks. Here we turned around, and drove the short distance back to that intersection, and I though that this row of colorful aspens, set along the edge of the ridge and fronted by a bit of meadow, looked interesting enough to photograph – and when I saw the faint clouds line up in the low spot between the trees I had to photograph the scene in this soft, overcast light.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Juniper, Red Rock, La Sal Mountains

October 31, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A Utah juniper growing on red rock with the La Sal Mountains in the distance, Grand View overlook, Canyonlands National Park.

We had a great visit to Canyonlands National Park, though the lighting was challenging, to say the least. Our visit took us up to the “island in the sky” highlands and included a stop at the Dead Horse Point State Park. Initially, the light challenges were simply from the midday light and the fact that there was a certain amount of haze in the air. The haze can be a nice effect in some cases, but it can also obscure some of the longer views such as those from this high plateau. As the day wore on, clouds began to collect to the west and, as luck would have it, the thickest portion of the clouds were almost directly west of us. Ultimately, this interfered with my chances for dusk shooting, but sometimes that’s just the way it goes.

Before heading to the golden hour light location that I had selected, we drove down to the “Grand View” overlook – appropriately named, as anyone who has been there can confirm. Here the high plateau ends suddenly with a steep thousand foot drop off to the next lower level of strata and the Green River joins the Colorado in the vast and rugged terrain to the south. I did eventually make some photographs of that subject – it is sort of obligatory! However, as I walked to the overlook I saw to my left this chunk of cliff-edge sandstone with its resident juniper and remembered looking at it the last time I was there. The soft light produced by the overcast was a Good Thing here, as full sun would have produced a very harsh effect on the rocks. Beyond lies the giant valley of the Colorado River and even further out are the high and distant peaks of the La Sal mountains.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Sabrina Basin

October 21, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Aspen trees with golden autumn colors, Sabrina Basin near North Lake

I had heard reports that the eastern Sierra aspen color was not very good at the beginning of October this year, and I already know that it was an unusual season with an earlier-than-normal color change. (I had seen some early color back in the middle of September while on a short backpack trip.) People I trust and whose reports I read had visited the area shortly before I did, and some of them had reported poor color and even trees that can lost leaves at the start of the month. Since I only really had a single day for Sierra aspen photography this year I was hopeful that they were wrong or at least that I could find a few trees in good shape, since sometimes a single branch with colorful leaves can be enough.

Much to my surprise, when I traveled up into the Bishop Creek drainage on October 3, I found a lot of excellent color. Maybe I just looked in the right places or perhaps I got lucky, but I found wonderful opportunities to photograph the aspens, and in many places I found trees at their peak of color. (This was, indeed, perhaps a week earlier than what I would expect in a more typical year.) These trees are part of a well-known group that is not far from the North Lake area – the morning light just clearing the ridge to the left of this scene and the wispy clouds were pluses.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: ridge

Boulder Mountain Aspens and Distant Peak

Aspen Grove, Evening

Juniper, Red Rock, La Sal Mountains

Autumn Aspens, Sabrina Basin

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