Tag Archives: season

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

Aspen Leaves and Stone

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Aspen Leaves and Stone
Branches of an aspen tree with autumn leaves against the stone of an Eastern Sierra cliff.

Aspen Leaves and Stone. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Branches of an aspen tree with autumn leaves against the stone of an Eastern Sierra cliff.

Since summer is about to start… it seems like time to start thinking about autumn. I have written before that my mind is usually as much on the season that it isn’t as on the season that it is, perhaps because I’m always conscious of the cyclical and transitional nature of things. A few weeks ago I had a brief discussion with a friend about fall photography plans, and since then I’ve been considering where I may want to go this September and October. And as those subjects come to mind I cannot hep but be aware of the likely effects that the West’s current extreme drought and heat are likely to have on conditions.

But enough of that musing for the moment. This photographic vignette of a few aspen branches extending across cracked and lichen-covered granite focuses on one of the many little personal spots in the Sierra that I return to every year. There’s a good chance that you would pass this spot and not even see it, but that may be part of what draws me to it. While all of us own the iconic parts of the Sierra, each of us can have his or her own personal Sierra consisting an accumulated set of personal subjects and experiences.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Pacific Horizon, Autumn

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Pacific Horizon, Autumn
Brilliant autumn sun reflects from the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Big Sur.

Pacific Horizon, Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brilliant autumn sun reflects from the surface of the Pacific Ocean, Big Sur.

For almost my entire life (since my family moved to California from the Upper Midwest when I was four years old) I have lived within hailing distance of the Pacific Ocean and the western shoreline of the North American continent. Although I don’t live literally on the coast — a range of coastal mountains separates me from it — the Pacific is ever-present. That’s where our big winter storms come from. Fog from the coast cools us when the temperatures are in the 100’s further inland. Drives take me past the San Francisco Bay and the rivers emptying into it. And when I need a quick escape I can be over those coastal hills and at the ocean in less than one hour.

This photograph comes from a late-autumn pandemic-era day trip down the coast into what I think of as the “Big Sur coast” below Monterey and Carmel. These visits, as short as they were, reminded me that the natural world was still there and still doing more or less what it had always done. We think of this coast as running north/south, but it actually cuts inward to the east as you travel down it. Because of this, by noon I can photograph straight into the blinding light of the sun reflected on the surface of the sea.

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: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Sierra Morning

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Eastern Sierra Morning
Morning light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada under stormy skies.

Eastern Sierra Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada under stormy skies.

This photograph was made mere moments after another of the eastern Sierra Nevada escarpment that I shared recently. That photograph included the first, warm-tone light of the new day. This one comes after that initial golden hour light has left the highest peaks — though a bit of it remains in the lower foreground — and these formations are illuminated by somewhat harsher light. It was a remarkable morning, with conditions changing with extreme rapidity. The gently curving wave cloud in the previous photograph had, by the time I made this one, turned into a very dark layer beyond the crest.

There is another background story related to this series of photographs — a story that is partly about photography and partly about learning to know places. I first went to this location quite a long time ago, almost by accident the first time. Intrigued, I returned frequently when I had a moment, and as a result I saw the place in rather varied conditions. I began to get a sense not only of what I actually saw, but also of how this landscape might respond to conditions that I did not encounter. Eventually this served me well, and more than once I’ve aborted other photographic plans to go to this spot based on nothing more than a hunch about what the conditions might be like.

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: Sierra Nevada

Two Aspen Trees and Cliff

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Two Aspen Trees and Cliff
Two autumn aspen trees against the rocky face of an Eastern Sierra Nevada cliff.

Two Aspen Trees and Cliff. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.– all rights reserved.

Two autumn aspen trees against the rocky face of an Eastern Sierra Nevada cliff.

This is another photograph that isn’t quite totally new. Some years ago I made several exposures of this little scene, with the two trees with fall color backed by the rocky cliff face. (To be sure, this was not the only time I photographed these trees — this is a favorite spot of mine in the right conditions.) But This one is just a bit different than the earlier one — a very slightly different position, I think, and a different crop, plus some refinement of how I approached the post processing.

I sort of wonder if it may be too early to start sharing fall color photographs. Ah, heck, no! Never too early for that! In fact, my mind is typically on at least three seasons at a time anyway. First, the season that just passed and from which I still have raw files to process. Second the current season because, well, that’s obvious, right? Third, one season beyond the current one — because I always have slightly longer term plans running in the back of my mind.

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 | 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.