Tag Archives: road

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Nature

Levee Road, Fog, and Tree

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Levee Road, Fog, and Tree
Autumn tule fog glows in morning sun, blankets a Central Valley levee road, and obscures an old tree.

Levee Road, Fog, and Tree. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn tule fog glows in morning sun, blankets a Central Valley levee road, and obscures an old tree.

The subject here is an old Central Valley tree along a levee road on a very foggy autumn morning. You may recall that my previous photograph of a fog-obscured tree from this location was in color — thought just barely, as I wrote about in that post. Color was similarly subtle (as in “nearly absent”) in this scene, too, so I went ahead and interpreted the scene in black and white.

The quiet and moody quality of this scene, of course, comes largely from the tule fog. But that is enhanced by the way it glows in the back light from the sun, seen just above and slightly to the left of the tree. The fog is very thick here, but not very deep, and even though visibility was probably little more than 100 feet, the sunlight was able to penetrate and light up the fog.

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: New England

Autumn Creek

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Autumn Creek
A rocky creek beneath thinning autumn foliage in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

Autumn Creek. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A rocky creek beneath thinning autumn foliage in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

This is a slightly different perspective on a scene that was also the focus of another photograph I shared in the past few weeks. Both focus on this quiet little New Hampshire creek, a place we came upon serendipitously, after taking a few random turns off of the main highway and driving up a gravel road into the forest. Both photographs — this one and the previous — include the same creek and were made from almost the same camera position. In this one I expanded the field of view a bit and raised the camera to include more of the fall leaves in the canopy.

I often urge folks who ask about the “secret places” they should know about when they visit a new location to instead recognize that in order to understand the place well enough to find those it will take time… and that it isn’t a bad idea to at least start with icons while you keep your eyes peeled for non-iconic spots that appeal to you. That was certainly our approach on this trip, on which we began by photographing in one of the most iconic — and crowded! — regions for New Hampshire fall color. After the first day and a half or so of that, we started to “poke around” a bit, heading up this or that little side road that we noticed and then setting off for more distant places whose names on maps caught our attention.

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

White Mountains Creek, Autumn

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White Mountains Creek, Autumn
Autumn trees along a boulder-strewn White Mountains creek littered with fallen leaves.

White Mountains Creek, Autumn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn trees along a boulder-strewn White Mountains creek littered with fallen leaves.

This photograph exists because we eventually thought to move beyond the lovely but iconic area we first photographed to explore a bit. We headed away from where we were staying, driving north and east, heading toward some locations that seemed interesting for little more than their names on a map. As we drove along one two-lane highway, for no reason that I can now recall I turned off onto a smaller road that took us through some lovely flatlands. A mile or two up that road a gravel road branched off — it had an intriguing name so I took it. It entered thick forest and began to rise, often following small creeks. We stopped where the roadway crossed one of them, got the cameras out, and began photographing this lovely and lonely area.

I was encouraged not only because this turned out to be a nice locations but also because it marked a transition from taking in the icons (often a great way to begin) to exploring, poking around, and discovering subtle little treasures that one usually won’t find on the main roads. Taking this detour also confirmed some advice I had been given by photographers with more experience in this region: explore those little side roads!

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: Nature, Photographs: New England

New England Woods #6

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New England Woods #6
Lush undergrowth and ferns, with a tinge of late-season color, along a Vermont roadway.

New England Woods #6. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Lush undergrowth and ferns, with a tinge of late-season color, along a Vermont roadway.

Most likely no one noticed, but I have jumped from #4 straight to #6. What happened to #5? It is coming, but I felt like sharing this one first! Like most of the “New England Woods” photographs from our August visit to (mostly) Vermont and (a little bit) Massachusetts, I made this one while walking along the edge of the woods. I recently remarked to an East Coast photographer (while recording for a B&H Explora podcast about photographing fall color) that I was challenged by the density of these woods. Somewhat to my relief, he sympathized and mentioned something that I was starting to discover — it isn’t always easy to find a camera position, and that walking into the forest or along its edge can be a good idea. I made this photograph while walking along a rural Vermont road.

In California it can be hard to find subjects with this much green by the time August arrives. Out here we usually don’t see much rain in the summer months, and our green season is winter. (I often tell people who visit from other places and are surprised by our dry summer landscape, “Come back in winter!”) About the only place here to find such a natural scene full of ferns is in the redwoods, though sometimes I can find small examples near sources of water elsewhere.

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.