Tag Archives: south

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Aspen Trunks, Lichen Covered Rocks

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Three Aspen Trunks, Lichen Covered Rocks

Three Aspen Trunks, Lichen Covered Rocks. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three small aspen trees with fall color leaves among small plants grow from a crack in lichen-covered rocks – Sierra Nevada, California near South Lake.

Yet another variation on the “bare aspen trunks with some leaves, photographed against granite” theme – I can’t help myself! :-)

This is another of several photographs I made along the road below Parcher’s Resort on the way to South Lake in the eastern Sierra above Bishop, California. At this early October point in the season there are almost endless ways to approach photography of aspens – still-green aspens, aspens barely starting to change color, newly colorful aspens among still-green aspens, aspens at the height of their yellow/orange/red color, aspens past peak starting to thin a bit, aspens with only a few beautiful leaves remaining (and the rest littering the ground beneath), aspen trunks bare of any leaves and waiting for the winter to arrive – and all of these shot in an infinite variety of light, in an infinite variety of settings, with an infinite variety of compositions.

So I hope no one minds if I continue to post a few more. :-)

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Bare Aspen Trunks and Boulders

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Bare Aspen Trunks and Boulders

Bare Aspen Trunks and Boulders. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Granite boulders stand behind a row of nearly bare fall aspen trees near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

This is one more photograph from my early October aspen-chasing expeditions to the eastern Sierra. On this trip I ended up in the Bishop Creek area and on this cold, slightly snowy, early fall day I ended up at one point along a section of roadway just below Parcher’s Resort near South Lake. Below Parcher’s there is a meadow – I parked there and spend some time wandering up the roadway past this area of steep, jumbled rocks and aspen trees and other foliage.

A note about the light in this photograph: I had passed by this area before – on previous visits and earlier during this trip – and thought about how I’d like to photograph here in diffused, shaded conditions. So I made a plan to return much later in the afternoon when I knew that the sun would move around behind the ridge about this spot and leave it in shade, but with some light coming in from the open sky and ridge on the other side of the valley – pretty much exactly the sort of conditions I look for when I photograph this type of subject.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Red and Green Aspen Leaves

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Red and Green Aspen Leaves

Red and Green Aspen Leaves. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red and green aspen leaves in the Sierra Nevada near South Lake.

I spotted a grove of small aspen trees with very colorful leaves as I was driving down from South Lake and just as the light was just about too dark to continue shooting – especially since the wind was rising and by this time blowing like crazy! It can be tricky to shoot aspen leaves close up even in a slight breeze, but shooting them in fading light when the wind is rising to near gale force is darn close to impossible!

While many of the trees in this grove were headed more in the yellow direction, I found a few that seemed to be going almost straight from green to red.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Three Autumn Aspens, Cliff Face

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Three Autumn Aspens, Cliff Face

Three Autumn Aspens, Cliff Face. Sierra Nevada, California. October 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three autumn aspens with colorful leaves in front of a granite cliff face near South Lake, Sierra Nevada, California.

These trees grow along a rocky area on the road to South Lake just before Parcher’s Resort, where the road ascends past a steep rocky section with some low cliffs. I’ve long been intrigued by the rocks here and when I drove past earlier this day – in somewhat harsh light – I thought it would interesting to come back later in the day when this area was in shade and the light was softer and more diffused. When the aspens change color this spot turns out to be a veritable shooting gallery of rocks and trees, with many interesting juxtapostions of these two elements.

The only real technical challenge – aside from staying out the way of passing cars! – was dealing with the combination of low light in the shaded area and very windy conditions on this day. A significant early-season storm was making its way into the Sierra and the winds were really ramping up in the afternoon and evening. Normally I might try to deal with this by using a faster shutter speed, but shooting in the low-light shade made this less of an option, and I ended up standing around a lot waiting for brief and infrequent lulls in the wind. I also decided to accept a bit of motion blur from the leaves – in the end I don’t think that is necessarily a problem.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Web: G Dan Mitchell Photography
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