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

Aspens, Eastern Sierra, Earth Shadow

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Aspens, Eastern Sierra, Earth Shadow
A grove of aspens with early season color, the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, and the predawn earth shadow in the sky

Aspens, Eastern Sierra, Earth Shadow. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of aspens with early season color, the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada, and the predawn earth shadow in the sky.

Long before I understood what I was seeing I had noticed and was intrigued by that band of darker sky just above the horizon during the morning and evening twilight, very close to the time that direct sunlight appears on the highest points. There is something very mysterious about it, and it suggests to me great distances beyond those encompassed by the immediate scene. Eventually I learned what now seems obvious — this is the edge of the shadow of the earth, dropping away in the moments before dawn and rising in the moments following sunset. (To this day, every time I think of this, I recall photographer Gary Crabbe’s “interpretive dance” as he explained this at a talk I attended years ago — one hand extended out and upwards pointing to the shadow, and the other extended at a slight downward angle pointing to the unseen sun. Thanks, Gary!)

I made this photograph from a high point east of the Sierra crest one September. I headed out this way in pre-dawn darkness not sure what I would find. I was pleasantly surprised to find extensive aspen color, even though it was just past mid-September, and then to find an open overlook from which I could take in a large section of the Sierra as dawn arrived.

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

,Autumn Aspens, Cliff

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Autumn Aspens, Cliff
Autumn aspen trees cling to ledges along the face of a cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Autumn Aspens, Cliff. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen trees cling to ledges along the face of a cliff in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

The aspens in this photograph have fascinated me for years. Nearby are some relatively large, tall, and straight trees, but for the most part the trees in this scene are small, slender, and sometimes even a bit misshapen. They manage to eke out a living on what appears to be solid rock as they send their roots into narrow cracks.

These trees seem to have, at least in my experience, a fairly short period of maximum color. Or at least that is what I tell myself when looking to explain why I have somehow almost always missed their best color. But it also appears that they change colors earlier than some of the other trees in the area — I made this photograph just past the middle of September, nearly two weeks before the typical start of the more widespread fall color season in the Sierra.

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.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Great Blue Heron

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Great Blue Heron
A great blue heron standing in a winter pasture

Great Blue Heron. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A great blue heron standing in a winter pasture.

Great Blue Herons are soloists — I virtually never seem them in groups, with only one strange exception. Both herons and egrets are closely related, and I recall being surprised a few years ago to encounter bird pairs consisting of a great blue heron and a great egret. I particularly remember watching one such pair land and then fly off together.

But this one was definitely alone. Earlier in the season I had seen few great blue herons, but by this point I was beginning to spot more of them, and I had already encountered several on the day I photographed this one — including one memorable critter that flew back and forth in front of me several times, gliding above a shallow bond. The bird in the photograph stood alone in a large pasture that was beginning to green up after winter rains. Up close they are remarkable birds, and their attentiveness to surroundings becomes apparent.

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.

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

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake, Wildfire Smoke

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Mono Lake, Wildfire Smoke
Mono Lake and tufa towers with drifting wildfire smoke in morning light

Mono Lake, Wildfire Smoke. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mono Lake and tufa towers with drifting wildfire smoke in morning light.

My foremost impressions of Mono Lake are usually formed around its vast expanse — the place is absolutely huge, and the low mountains to its east accentuate this effect. The great open space above its water usually presents an equally expansive view of sky, whether it is pure blue or broken by various clouds. (My other strong impression of the place is an audio impression — a combination of early morning silence and the sounds of thousands of birds.)

I made this photograph during very unusual conditions. On this late-summer morning a very large wildfire was erupting south of here, and its smoke was drifting northward in the early morning. The morning light was increasingly blocked by the smoke and eventually (after I made this photograph) the smoke became oppressively thick and I had to leave. When I made the photograph the smoke was drifting softly in front of those distant mountains and glowing faintly in the early morning backlight.

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.

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