Tag Archives: usa

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: New England

Autumn Morning, White Mountains #2

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Autumn Morning, White Mountains #2
Colorful autumn forest in morning light, White Mountains, New Hampshire.

Autumn Morning, White Mountains #2. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful autumn forest in morning light, White Mountains, New Hampshire.

This photograph gets the “#2” designation since I previously posted a landscape-orientation photograph of roughly the same scene. One of challenges of photographing fall color in New Hampshire (and much of New England, for that matter) is that it can be a challenge to find open views of the terrain. In many places the roads don’t have a lot of places to pull over, and the forest often comes right to the edge of the road, blocking the views. So when I found a more open location I took advantage of it. I visited this spot more than once, and on the second try I think I got the better light and color.

This photograph illustrates differences between fall color in this region and the Eastern Sierra color that I’ve photographed for years. It would be almost impossible to find a California location with so much color extending for such great distances. (And keep in mind that this is just a small slice of what was visible from this location.) The color here also varies a lot from tree to tree, though the result is that it can produce a somewhat undifferentiated effect in long views. I found it challenging to locate compositions in photographs that focused entirely on this color. Here I separated the upper and lower portions of the frame, and then found some leading lines in the distant gully and the contrast between the yellow trees and the shadow on the left side.

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: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Storefront, Two Men

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Storefront, Two Men
Two men at a Manhattan storefront as a Columbus Day parade passes by.

Storefront, Two Men. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Two men at a Manhattan storefront as a Columbus Day parade passes by.

Switching gears again today, this is another photograph from our October East Coast visit. The trip was primarily to photograph autumn color in New England, but we managed to spend a couple of nights in Manhattan before our homeward flight. Our visit coincided with what New York still refers to as the “Columbus Day Parade,” though the more modern designation is apparently also along the lines of Italian Heritage Day. (One bizarrely noteworthy moment was seeing Rudy Giuliani yucking it up at the front of one of the floats, but I digress…) We wandered around the periphery of the parade route, where the onlookers were in many cases more fascinating than the parade itself.

I made this photograph using one of my “blind shooting” techniques. There are lots of different thoughts about how street photographers should (or should not) interact with their subjects, and I think they all have some validity. Here I did not want the subjects to be distracted by me, so I held the camera in front of me as I walked by and made a couple of exposures without look directly at the two men. I think it paid off. I feel like there are a number of ways to try to make sense of what is going on in the scene and what it might imply, but I’ll leave it to viewers to figure this out.

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 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

An Ancient One

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An Ancient One
“An Ancient One” — An ancient bristelcone pine standing alone on a rocky ridge, White Mountains.

During my recent trip to photograph Eastern Sierra fall color I spent one day high in the White Mountains. This range (one of multiple “White Mountains” ranges in the USA!) lies to the east of the central Sierra Nevada, running south from roughly Boundary Peak, the tallest in Nevada, to Westgard Pass, which separates the range, somewhat arbitrarily, from the Inyo Mountains. It is a high, remote, dry, and largely unvisited range in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada. Although it rises as high as the Sierra, it lacks that range’s rugged, sculpted peaks — much of its high country is more of a rounded moonscape. It is one of the prime locations for bristlecone pines.

The bristlecone pines are remarkable trees. They are among the very oldest living things — some may be close to 5000 years old. Surprisingly perhaps, the oldest grow in some of the most rugged and least hospitable places. It seems that the struggle strengthens them, and these “old ones” are characterized by resistance to exposure and the appearance of being more dead than alive — the trees sacrifice the majority of their branches in order to sustain a few remaining living portions. Their remarkable character and great age always cause me to slow down and ponder.

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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

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Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Food Cart, Fifth Avenue

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Food Cart, Fifth Avenue
“Food Cart, Fifth Avenue” — A food cart vendor on 5th Avenue, near Central Park, Manhattan.

This photograph comes from the second of our two recent visits to Manhattan, this one about a week into the month of October. The previous visit was in August. (I can just hear the New Yorkers: “What!! You went to New York City in August? Are you nuts?”) Let’s just say that the weather on the first trip was different than on the second. In October it was quite pleasant, and there was a hint of autumn. Things seemed to be slowing a bit, and the light was different. In fact, in the urban canyons of Manhattan, the later sunrise meant that many places were still in shadow later in the day, including this street corner along the east side of Central Park.

We were staying a few blocks west of Central Park, and on this morning we went out for a walk through the park. I came upon this food cart when we reached the far side of Fifth Avenue. Two things catch my attention about this cart. First, it sure isn’t very busy! Second, because of those shadows the cart’s lights almost make it look like evening. It also occurs to me that something about the colors of light and shadow and the empty streets creates a sort of autumnal feeling.

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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.