Tag Archives: tree

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

Oak And Granite, Autumn

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Oak And Granite, Autumn
“Oak And Granite, Autumn” — Autumn leaves on black oak trees against a background of Yosemite Valley granite cliffs.

I like oak trees and oak leaves, but they do not generally provide the most intense fall color. In normal light the leaves are a sort of tan-brown that I charitably call “golden-brown.” They aren’t typically as spectacular as other trees that turn golden, orange, and red. However, when the sun is behind the tree, the leaves are translucent enough to glow with rich, warm color.

I was at this location in Yosemite Valley to photograph large trees in an open meadow. When I arrived the shadows from cliffs across the valley were staring to move over the meadow, and trees were gradually losing that colorful glow. Standing under this tree, I looked up and saw the silhouetted branches and luminous color. I quickly set up to photograph straight into the tree and managed a few photographs before the shadows arrived.

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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, 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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cottonwood and Sandstone

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Cottonwood and Sandstone
“Cottonwood and Sandstone” — A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage grows against Utah sandstone.

Right up front, a few things about this photograph. First, it is not recent — I photographed this scene back in 2014. I have been busy reviewing old raw files recently, and this one came up during that process. Second, unlike some of the others resulting from this review, this is a photograph that I have shared before, albeit in a different form. What you see here is a very different crop from the original, and by eliminating some elements from the original image I think I have significantly changed the effect.

The location is a place far out in theUtah backcountry — not exactly inaccessible, but not easy to get to. I was part of a group of a half dozen photographers who four-wheeled it out there and set up camp for days so that we cold photograph the heck out of the area. Sadly, from what I hear, this tree is no longer living, perhaps having succumbed to a drought and heat.

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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

Small Aspen, Trunks, and Rocks

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Small Aspen, Trunks, and Rocks
“Small Aspen, Trunks, and Rocks” — A small aspen tree grows along a rock face beneath taller trees.

As a fall color photograph, this is a bit subtler than some of the others I have recently shared. Instead of walls of brilliantly colorful aspen groves we have a single small tree along with a few other even “quieter” bits of autumn color. But the truth, of course, is that autumn in the Sierra is mostly not about those aspens, as spectacular as they are. The arrival of autumn with drying meadows, old leaves on the ground, and more is subtle but undeniable.

This little vignette is along a rock wall high in an Eastern Sierra canyon. The route is, for a distance, lined with rocks and with aspens that grow at their base and from cracks in the rock. I pass by here every autumn and inevitably stop to photograph — so these trees and rocks are “old friends” of mine at this point.

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.