Tag Archives: sierra

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Within the Grove

November 27, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Filtered light inside an eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove with fall colors

This photograph reminds me that I like to encourage people to find their own special places when they go out looking for photographs or just to look. It is easy — and we all do it — to focus too much on the famous “places you must see,” even though there are places that may be just as beautiful and with which you can create personal relationship that is yours alone. After years of traveling in the Sierra, I have collected many such places — a rock I like to sit on here, a particular little peninsula next to a lake there, a nondescript aspen grove somewhere, a particular view.

This spot could be one of the newest on my list. It is just an aspen grove which, like quite a few in the eastern foothills of the Sierra, grows along the length of a stream dropping down from the mountains and into the eastern foothills. Several times I had looked up that way and noticed several thin lines of color in the fall and wondered what I might find, and this time I spent a little time exploring and found this grove. I’m quite serious when I say that it isn’t any more special in a general way than any other similar grove, but it is now one of “my” groves! Along the spectrum of Sierra Nevada aspens, these trees lean toward being a lot taller and straighter than the average, and the foliage beneath the canopy of aspen leaves is thick and overgrown. At first I thought that I would walk right into the grove, but when I tried I found it heavy going and I settled for a photograph made just inside its perimeter.

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Hope Valley, Autumn — Five Photographs

November 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This set of five photographs features scenes of autumn in Hope Valley in the California Sierra Nevada.

A colorful grove of autumn aspen trees, backed by pine forest, Hope Valley, California

A “wall of trees” photograph made in the evening at Hope Valley, California near the peak of the 2014 aspen color season.

Forest and meadows with fall color, Picketts Junction, Hope Valley

Fall meadow colors along the creek in Hope Valley, California near Picketts Junction were highway 88 and 89 meet.

Aspen color and pine forest, Hope Valley, California

Brilliant autumn aspen foliage in shades of yellow and orange in the upper portion of Hope Valley, just east of Carson Pass in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

Autumn forest including willow and aspen stretches up Hope Valley toward Carson Pass

A giant pine forest, intermixed with the autumn colors of aspen trees, extends across Sierra Nevada slopes toward Carson Pass.

A colorful grove of autumn aspen trees, backed by pine forest, Hope Valley, California

Photographed in evening light, the curving shape of a grove of autumn aspen trees with colors of green, yellow, and orange.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Too Many Aspens!

November 15, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Yesterday I realized that I had sort of forgotten a huge batch of aspen photographs from this fall in the eastern Sierra Nevada. How can one “forget” a big batch of such photographs, you ask? I simply became busy working on several other projects and after I moved on to them I stopped thinking about the earlier work.

I have so many of them — with more to come! — that I’m not going to string them out and post one at a time. Instead, here is one big batch of them all in one post. To save typing, all are from the eastern Sierra Nevada in October 2014

(more below…)

Continue reading Too Many Aspens! →

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Nevada, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

November 9, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

My annual hunt for aspen color took me to the Lake Tahoe area in early October. I realized that although I’ve gone to Tahoe for many years that I have very few photographs of the area. So often Tahoe has been a place to go for other purposes, such as skiing or a cabin stay, etc. And, frankly, Lake Tahoe is very busy and, in many ways, an urbanized place — so my nature and wilderness instincts are often a bit frustrated there. But it is a beautiful lake, and I saw more of that when I went there with photographic intentions.

The underlying reason this time has to do with a project related to fall color in the mountains of California. I’ve covered many other Sierra fall color areas, but I needed more material from the Tahoe area. So I spent an evening, a full day, and part of a morning doing some exploring. The “full day” began with a drive to the Carson City, Nevada and then north towards Reno and back toward Tahoe via Mount Rose. There were quite a few aspens along this part of the drive, but I couldn’t stop much due to road construction. Then I did something I’ve done a number of times before — I circumnavigated the lake, paying special attention to fall color. I realized that there is quite a lot of it, even if much of the color is in areas filled with cabins and resorts. This photograph overlooks the northeast part of the lake from the roadway descending from Mt. Rose.

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.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sierra

Within the Grove

Hope Valley, Autumn — Five Photographs

Too Many Aspens!

Crystal Bay, Lake Tahoe

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