Tag Archives: sun

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

Backlit Autumn Oak Tree

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Backlit Autumn Oak Tree
“Backlit Autumn Oak Tree” — Branches and leaves of an autumn black leaf oak tree in Yosemite Valley.

My Autumn color hunting season in the Sierra Nevada runs from roughly the very end of September through the beginning of November, as color moves from the highest east side regions to the foothills and valleys of the Western Sierra. A trip to Yosemite Valley right around Halloween is traditional, and this year was there on that date.

While California’s western Sierra isn’t known as a fall color hot spot, there is a lot of beautiful color if you know where and when to look. In Yosemite Valley, much of the color comes from bright yellow big leaf maples, golden-brown black oaks, and yellow-to-red dogwoods. The tree in the photograph is a large oak growing in a Valley meadow. I photographed directly backlit by the sun, just before it moved behind a high cliff.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Sandstone Formations, Earlry Morning Light

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Sandstone Formations, Earlry Morning Light
“Sandstone Formations, Early Morning Light” — Early morning light on sandstone formations at Arches National Park.

Recently I have been revisiting photographs from a decade ago, including a couple of lengthy trips to Utah in the spring and fall seasons. On one we visited Arches National Park — believe it or not, my first visit. I felt like I sort of knew the place, having read Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire” a few times, but the reality of this landscape astounded me. My wife, Patricia Emerson Mitchell, likes to tell a story about me more or less losing it when I first saw those sandstone formations!

On this morning we entered the park very early, well before sunrise. I had been photographing for some time when I made this photograph. The sun had recently risen, but the light still was warm, and the effect on the red rock formations was striking. This is an example of my long-lens landscape photographs. Some people imagine that landscape photography must be done with wide and normal focal length lenses, but I often like to use long focal lengths to limit my view to small sections of the larger landscape

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Within The Grove

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Within The Grove
“Within The Grove” — Autumn aspen leaves begin to glow in morning light as the sun clears a distant ridge.

This is one of those odd little spots that is likely on no one’s itinerary of important aspen color sites except mine. I first stopped here a couple of decades ago on the drive between some better known locations, and since that time I have paused here every season to photograph this little grove. This year I arrived just as the canopy was thinning and, on this morning, as the first direct sunlight began to flood the grove.

I encourage everyone who is an autumn aspen aficionado to find a few special little spots like this that have personal meaning, even though they may not initially seem spectacular. I can almost guarantee that over the succeeding years you will be glad you stopped and made such places your own… and that you’ll get a special feeling each time you return.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline, Pond, and Mountains

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“Shoreline, Pond, and Mountains” — Early evening sun lingers on the shoreline of a small pond beneath the Sierra Nevada crest.

This pond was a frequent subject when I camped nearby on a mid-July backpacking trip into the Sierra Nevada. We camped just below the crest of the range east of Yosemite National Park. This valley holds numerous lakes, and we camped at one of the larger ones. The pond shown in the photo was nearby — less than a one minute walk from my campsite.

I photographed this subject both early and late in the day, the times when the light is more agreeable. This photo comes from early on my evening photography outing, when the shadows were just beginning to lengthen and stretch across the landscape.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.