Tag Archives: season

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

Fall Color, Bare Aspens

Image November 9, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Nearly bare aspen trees in the center of a scene of Eastern Sierra autumn color.

This photograph, made when this grove had passed its prime, gets us closer to the end of this year’s autumn transition in the Sierra, when some trees here are almost bare. While writing about this photograph I pondered my favorite time of aspen season. Is it the first explosion of color early each fall? Is it the peak time when the greatest number of leaves are fully transitioned? Or is it this time, when some colorful leaves remain but it is more and more obvious that winter is almost here? Honestly, it is hard to pick one over the other, but I do love how the trunks and branches are gradually revealed as the leaves fall..

While this photograph focuses on trees near the end of the color transition, nearby and just out of the frame were many trees still in peak, golden color. This year it seemed that brilliant colors hung on just a bit longer, and I have some theories about why this happened. The ongoing warm-up of the California (and global) climate is one factor. Another specific to this year (thought not unique to it) is that the absence of significant early season storms or wind allowed leaves that might otherwise have been blown down to remain on the trees a bit longer.

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 Evening, Near Franconia

Image November 7, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light comes to a broad valley near Franconia, New Hampshire.

This photograph resulted from more than a little serendipity. Earlier we had gone to photograph a nearby area that was on our list of places to see. That led to a detour up a few side roads, all of which took a bit more time than we anticipated. We finished there and moved on, but it was clear that evening was coming soon, and it made sense to find a nearby area to photograph rather than racing to a more distant location.

At about that time we spotted another side road with a sign suggesting a trailhead and a view — so we took it and ended up at a parking lot at the end of the short road. The colors in the area were spectacular, but the light wasn’t yet quite what we had in mind, so we wandered down the trail a bit. Soon I spotted the little bed of white flowers in the dry meadow, and as I thought about how to photograph it I wondered if I could include it and a view of the broad valley beyond. It turned out that there was one camera position that would work, and this is the result, a photograph made just as the light was beginning to suggest evening.

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: Sierra Nevada

Pine and Aspen, Eastern Sierra

Image November 4, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A pine tree backed by aspens, forest, and Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains.

This scene seems both typical and atypical of the Sierra Nevada. The familiar aspects are perhaps obvious, particularly if you spend time on the east side of the range. There is a solitary pine at the edge of dry, sagebrush meadow, with more such trees in the background. Aspens are mixed in with the pines, and in the distance they climb the hillside. Overall there aren’t really a lot of trees, and the views are quite open. Slopes climb steeply along the sides of the valley and toward the Sierra crest beyond.

What is atypical? For one thing, I made the photograph in virtually the middle of the day. I had started back home to the Bay Area that morning, thinking I’d drive through once the early morning light was gone. But the high, thin clouds softened the light enough in some locations to make midday photography attractive. Although my initial reason for going to this spot was to scout (and then to stop to eat my lunch), I ended up photographing. Another slightly unusual factor is the rather excellent aspen color, even high up in the mountains, at the end of the third week of October. I think the color sustained more this year due to climate and weather factors — it has been relatively warm and dry here during aspen season.

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

River Bank Forest, Autumn

Image November 3, 2022 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Perhaps you thought that I had shared all of my photographs from our early-October trip to photograph New England color. You might be wrong. I took a break from sharing those so that I could post some of the photographs from this year’s crop of Sierra autumn color images. And, I am not quite done with material either, so expect to see me alternate between coasts for a bit longer. Somewhere in all of this, there will also be some urban photographs from a brief visit to Manhattan.

I previously noted that it is often difficult to get longer views in the area of New Hampshire where we photographed. The forest is thick, grows right to the edge of roadways, and there are not many places to pull over. There are some openings, and when I found them I tried to take advantage. They came on a few routes that climbed to higher elevations, some areas with lakes and fields, and occasionally along rivers. This photograph is one of the latter, made while wandering along the banks of the Swift River, where I could photograph across and along the open areas above its course.

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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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: season

Fall Color, Bare Aspens

Autumn Evening, Near Franconia

Pine and Aspen, Eastern Sierra

River Bank Forest, Autumn

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