Tag Archives: trees

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

Hillside Aspen Color

Image Leave a comment
Hillside Aspen Color
A grove of colorful autumn aspen trees on a hillside shared with brush and conifers

Hillside Aspen Color. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of colorful autumn aspen trees on a hillside shared with brush and conifers

This little grove of slender aspens is high on a rocky hillside. It is a grove that I know pretty well, having watched it for many seasons while photographing more accessible aspens nearby. I’ve been attracted to its position, high on the southern slopes of this valley, in a position to catch early sun coming over the higher ridge top. Usually, by the time the other nearby trees that are my primary target are in full color, these trees have dropped many of their leaves. But this season seemed slightly unusual in one way — in such places it has been common to find isolated groups of still-colorful trees that usually drop leaves by this time.

Making this photograph required the use of a type of lens that not every landscape photographer considers using, namely a rather long telephoto — this particular lens is a 100-400mm zoom, which provides quite a narrow angle-of-view on a full frame camera. There are lots of things that often appeal to me about using longer focal lengths for landscape photography, but in this case it was a pretty practical matter: the trees were at a great distance and there was no realistic way to move closer!

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook |
Email

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

Aspen Groves, Transitional Color

Image Leave a comment
Aspen Groves, Transitional Color
Eastern Sierra aspen groves transitioning from green to autumn gold

Aspen Groves, Transitional Color. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Eastern Sierra aspen groves transitioning from green to autumn gold

The colors in this photograph are somewhat subdued, at least by comparison to what sometimes happens at this location when even more colorful trees are lit from behind as the sun drops toward the Sierra crest late on autumn afternoons. On this day the weather was quite cloudy, and sporadic light rain (and perhaps snow at higher elevations) fell as I photographed. Some cloudiness be very beneficial for photographing these trees, as the softer light takes the edge off of the brightest highlights and tends to fill in the shadows, potentially revealing details that can be lost in harsher direct sunlight.

Although I have not printed this photograph as of today, I imagine it as a rather large print, one that would show both the compositional sweep of the curving groves and the details of the trees. The colors are those of a grove in transition from summer green to winter bare trunks, with a few highlights of intense color mixed with trees that are still partially or even entirely green.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook |
Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Grassy Shoreline, Talus Fields

Image Leave a comment
Grassy Shoreline, Talus Fields
Grasses grow along the marshy shoreline of an alpine lake backed by a glaciated terrain and a huge talus field

Grassy Shoreline, Talus Fields. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Grasses grow along the marshy shoreline of an alpine lake backed by a glaciated terrain and a huge talus field

To illustrate just how long it took the sun to reach our camp near this subalpine lake, by the time I made this photograph I had already been up long enough to walk the length of the lake, make many photographs, and walk nearly all the way back to camp! Sunrise was actually much earlier, but the very tall ridge (see in the distance in the photograph) blocked the light for the first few hours of the day. If you look carefully you may notice the upper slopes are softly lit by light reflected from peaks on the other side of the valley, behind and to the right of my camera position.

In this extended morning twilight the quality of the place was special. It was quiet and still — the water on the lake was still mirror-like. Soft light gently illuminated the scene, and a few subjects that were more colorful stood out — as seen in the early autumn colors of some of the foreground grasses. It was a time to walk slowly and alone along the shoreline, taking my time to enjoy and photograph this quiet landscape.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook |
Email

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

Curving Aspen Grove

Image Leave a comment
Curving Aspen Grove
An aspen grove in various stages of autumn color transition descends from a Sierra Nevada ridge

Curving Aspen Grove. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An aspen grove in various stages of autumn color transition descends from a Sierra Nevada ridge

Some of you may recognize this aspen grove as being somewhat iconic — though you probably also know that it is often photographed in a somewhat different way. It is also usually photographed at a different time of day from when I was there — on a cloudy afternoon as a weather front was starting to fill in over the Sierra crest, moving conditions toward the potential for some light rain or even a few snow showers a bit later on.

Once again, I photographed in this soft light rather than in full sun. The direct sun can overwhelm the colors of an aspen grove like this one, while the soft light opens and illuminates the shadow areas and can even make the colors seem more intense, especially when some of that soft light is a bit directional and fills in the color from behind. This grove is rarely all in prime color condition all at once, since it covers a range of exposures and elevations. Here it is quite colorful both at the bottom and the top, though there are clearly areas where the leaves have already dropped.

See top of this page for Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information and more.

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 | Twitter | Facebook |
Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.