Tag Archives: usa

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

New Hampshire Forest

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New Hampshire Forest
“New Hampshire Forest” — Dense foliage in a southern New Hampshire forest.

We had never visited New Hampshire, or anyplace else in New England for that matter, until two years ago — when we went twice! The first visit was for a late-summer extended-family get-together at a place we rented just north of Wilmington. (The other trip was that October, when we went back for the fall colors.) I found this landscape both intriguing and sometimes frustratingly different from the Western landscapes I’m used to. This is a land of very dense deciduous forests. They are lovely, but not conducive to the sort of big landscape images that I often look for. But there are a lot of trees to photograph!

Eventually I decided to just head out on foot and explore some of the gravel roads that surrounded our lodgings. At first it was difficult to see much through the mass of very green vegetation, but eventually I started to see compositions. And I remembered that forest photography often benefits from softer light, at the edges of the day or under cloud cover. There was a high, thin overcast when I made this photograph, and it softened the light and allowed shadow detail to emerge.

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

Poison Oak

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Poison Oak
“Poison Oak” — Poison oak leaves transition to fall colors in the deep shade of a redwood forest.

Aspens are not the only plants producing fall color here in California. The ubiquitous poison oak plants become even more red and start to pick up a bit of yellow/brown late in the season. The plant is widespread in wild areas of the state, ranging from coastal bluffs to oak forests to scrub brush, and California hikers soon learn how to identify it. The red leaves are a clue, but the oak shaped leaves in groups of three can mostly confirm it. (Though some wild berry plants have a similar appearance — but their stems have thorns, which are lacking on poison oak.)

The plant is flexible and grows in various ways. It can grow almost like a bush. Sometimes it is found in what amount to poison oak thickets. Low growing plants are sometimes found underneath other plants. It vines and can send runners up the trunks of trees, as is the case here. I photographed this example in a dark part of a forest at the Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park in the town of Big Sur.

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: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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

Aspens in Green and Yellow

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Aspens in Green and Yellow
“Aspens in Green and Yellow — A grove of tall aspen trees in transition from summer green to autumn gold, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Recently I wrote that I have not been able to visit the Eastern Sierra this season (as of this writing) while I work through a health issue. It is disappointing to miss the aspen color season this year, but I’m fortunate to have a huge archive of photographs from previous autumns. Recently I dug back into that archive and found some older photographs that I never worked up for public presentation. This is one of them.

Sometimes the trick with aspen photography, and fall color photography in general, is finding ways to make some kind of compositional sense out of wild colors and abundant details. I often stop and stare at forests like this one, trying to find the section in which some sense of order may emerge. It is usually there, but it can take a while to find it. Here I think that the combination of the large gesture of yellow leaves and the underlying patters of vertical trunks makes it work.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Water Over Stones

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Water Over Stones
“Water Over Stones” — The waters of a Sierra Nevada creek flow over stones.

Every landscape photographer I know is easily distracted by flowing water. Our “thing” might be large-scale landscapes, trees, rocks, you name it. But during slow moments we’ll point our cameras down or across the nearest flowing water and see what we can do with this subject. It provides a lot of opportunities. Long exposures can turn flowing water into cloudy veils. Reflections introduce symmetry and/or colors. And, as in this photograph, the water diffuses and smooths features beneath its flow.

I was actually lucky to find such clear water on this backcountry trip. Right after we arrived at our basecamp the heavens opened up and it rained heavily for the next twenty-four hours. When we finally crawled out of our tents the day after it began, we found a nearby lake muddy with sediments washed down these creeks. But before long the sediments decreased and I found this clear creek.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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