Tag Archives: tree

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Autumn in the Canyon

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Autumn in the Canyon
A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage deep in the canyon of the Escalante River.

Autumn in the Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage deep in the canyon of the Escalante River.

In my previous post I mentioned something about the experience of wandering down canyons such as this one, in particular the seductive nature of the continuous pattern of “next bend,” straight section, and the next “next bend” — and the difficulty of resisting the lure of exploring just one more twist of the canyon. On this. day I ran into that temptation as your pre-set turn-around time arrived… and passed… and we continued through a couple more of these bends.

This was one of the earlier bends, a point where we came back down to the stream after passing over some higher ground in a straight section. Here we had to wade to cross the stream since the route now followed the opposite bank. After crossing I climbed up a bit to place this colorful cottonwood tree in a composition that included the canyon beyond, and as I photographed a string of horses forded the stream.

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 and Amazon.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Juniper, Sandstone Cliff

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Juniper, Sandstone Cliff
An old juniper tree growing at the base of a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park.

Juniper, Sandstone Cliff. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old juniper tree growing at the base of a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park.

As I recall it now, quite a few years later, this tree stands on a rise at the base of a large section of sandstone cliff in a place where a canyon makes a sharp bend. It is not a particularly remote or obscure spot, but the cliff is remarkable in terms of the late-day lighting and the patterns on the surface of the rock. The lighting was special — and challenging! — because the section of the canyon is aligned such that little direct light gets there. This means that much of the light is either from the very blue sky or reflected from very red cliffs, creating some almost otherworldly color effects.

My recollection is also that I found it a little complicated to get the compositions I was looking for here. I remember it as one of those places that is remarkable but which doesn’t necessarily present easy photographs. My archive of raw files supports this — I see a variety of different attempts at the subject, and each of them grappled with issues of juxtaposition and with objects that interfered with the composition. In fact, this version of the scene works because I found a different approach to cropping it that managed to eliminate one of this distractions.

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 and Amazon.

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

Aspen Reflections

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Aspen Reflections
Autumn aspen trees reflected in an eastrern Sierra Nevada pond.

Aspen Reflections. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen trees reflected in an eastrern Sierra Nevada pond.

Each year at about this time I ask, “Is it ever too early to start thinking about fall color?” The answer, of course, is no. Autumn is my favorite season for all kinds of reasons — the colors, of course, but also the return of cooler temperatures and “interesting” weather and shorter daylight hours. The period between Labor Day and the arrival of late-autumn snow is my favorite time in the Sierra. There’s nothing as beautiful as a late-September or early-October day in the high country.

As a person who has photographed Eastern Sierra aspens a lot — and who has written a book on the subject — the way I see this subject has evolved over the years. While I’m still impressed by a hillside completely full of colorful trees, I am constantly looking for other ways to photograph this subject. Here I aimed the camera down toward the surface of an Eastern Sierra pond, framing to exclude anything but the brilliant colors of a grove on the other side of the water.

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 and Amazon.

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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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Tree, Red Rock Ledge

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Tree, Red Rock Ledge
A tree grows at the apex of a sandstone ledge, Zion National Park.

Tree, Red Rock Ledge. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree grows at the apex of a sandstone ledge, Zion National Park.

I recall composing the photograph and making several versions of it as I thought about where to position the tree at the apex of the ledge, a question made a bit complicated by some of the subjects surrounding the main focus and by the need to have the camera pointing upwards rather steeply. Shortly after this visit to Zion National Park I shared one or two early version of the scene, one in portrait and one in landscape orientation, if I recall correctly.

The compositional questions remaining in the back of my mind, however. When I came back to the original files recently I decided to work a bit with a different image from among the original group. As I worked it started to seem that it might be good to try a crop that I had not considered originally, one that took out some extraneous material. (A big part of editing is determining how much you can remove!)

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | 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.