Tag Archives: summit

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

Aspens, Evening Light

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Aspens, Evening Light
Colorful autumn aspen trees in soft evening light, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Evening Light. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful autumn aspen trees in soft evening light, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The light changed quickly and the scene fell into shadow as the sun dropped behind the Sierra crest — if I worked quickly I might catch the last bit of light on the foreground aspen grove. It would have been humorous to watch me work in a distinctly non-landscape-photographer mode, quickly extending tripod legs, attaching lens to tripod and camera to lens, locating a composition, figuring out an exposure and grabbing a few frames as the last light began to fade.

The trees in this photograph exemplify features of this year’s aspen color season. In many places whole groves seemed to produce good color all at once, different from the typical gradual pattern. There was also good color late in the season, perhaps due to a lack of big storms, particularly wind storms.

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: Sierra Nevada

Break in the Overcast

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Break in the Overcast
Late afternoon sunlight breaks through overcast to illuminate eastern Sierra aspen groves.

Break in the Overcast. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Late afternoon sunlight breaks through overcast to illuminate eastern Sierra aspen groves.

On this year’s early October visit to the Eastern Sierra I was surprised to find more color than expected here and at other familiar locations. The high elevation color is typically past its peak by this date, mid-elevation color is getting good, and lower trees are still mostly green. But this year felt different — it seemed like the higher trees sustained their colors while the lower trees were ahead of schedule, with the result that the color spanned a wide range of elevations.

Heading south after crossing Monitor Pass I passed by this familiar vista. I was surprised by the amount of color and the good condition of the trees, so I made a point of scheduling a return visit in the evening when the trees are usually backlit right before the sun drops behind the crest. However, clouds had entered the picture and the light was dull… until a few beautiful beams of light broke through the overcast shortly before sunset.

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

Last Beam of Light

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Last Beam of Light
A final beam of sunset light falls across groves of Eastern Sierra aspen groves on an autumn evening.

Last Beam of Light. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A final beam of sunset light falls across groves of Eastern Sierra aspen groves on an autumn evening.

This is one of those locations that I feel like I should have been done with years ago. It is a somewhat iconic spot with easy access, and I have photographed it many times. But this year’s color transition seemed to follow a different trajectory than I have seen before — perhaps due to the preceding wetter-than-normal year or possibly related to relatively quiet autumn weather. In any case, it seemed like high elevation color came a bit later and overlapped the lower elevation transition more than usual. As a consequence, the color here was unusually interesting during the third week of October, so I reserved an evening to go there and photograph once again.

My plan was pretty simple. I would first visit a nearby area where I expected to find lots of bare trees, and after finishing there I would get myself in position for this location well before the best light arrived. The plan worked, and I photographed these and other nearby groves in the low angle light before the sun dropped below the Sierra crest. As more and more of the scene fell into shadow I began to think of packing up and moving on… but then I saw this one final beam of light slanting across the groves. I had literally only seconds to frame the scene, configure the camera, and make three exposures before the light was gone. In the first the beam was too bright, in the third it was nearly gone… but the middle exposure worked.

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.

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

Late-Season Aspens, Evening

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Late-Season Aspens, Evening
Late-season aspen groves in the early-evening shadow of the Sierra crest.

Late-Season Aspens, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Late-season aspen groves in the early-evening shadow of the Sierra crest.

The light for this photograph was special. I was east of the Sierra crest at an elevation of 8000′ or so. The sun had just dropped below the crest, and the direct sunlight was gone. However, clouds above the peaks were still directly lit by the sun and quite bright. As a result I worked in soft shadow light, but the trees were still gently backlit by those glowing clouds. This gave more directionality to the light than might have otherwise been the case, and this soft backlight enhanced the colors of the trees.

This location is one of the more fascinating and unusual in the range, though it is easy to overlook what makes it so. While the crest rises high to the west, here the terrain is on a boundary between high desert sagebrush country and the start of foliage that is more characteristic of the mountains. I think that the east side location, with its relatively less moisture, has a great effect on this. While I tend to think of aspens as mountain trees — and they often are — here there are many growing in terrain that is more desert-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.

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.