Tag Archives: water

Aspen-Lined Creek

Aspen-Lined Creek
A creek lined with autumn aspen trees flows over rocks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspen-Lined Creek. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A creek lined with autumn aspen trees flows over rocks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph deserves another (semi-)apology. (Well, sort of…) This is another of those spots that I’ve passed for decades but never (at least that I recall) stopped to photograph. It isn’t that I never noticed it — rather, it is one of those places that almost everyone stops to photograph. Sometimes, almost out of sheer stubbornness, I refuse to join the throngs at such places.

But then, every so often, I do stop and perhaps find something interesting in such a place. In this case it was the colorful reflection on the water that picked up the colors of a sunny hillside and aspens beyond the border of the photograph… combined with the lovely color in the trees that line the 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.

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Autumn Reflections, Central Park

Autumn Reflections, Central Park
The Manhattan skyline is reflected in the water of The Lake on a hazy autumn day, Central Park.

Autumn Reflections, Central Park. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The Manhattan skyline is reflected in the water of The Lake on a hazy autumn day, Central Park.

We arrived in New York City late in the day, too late to do much other than meet up with family, get a bite to eat, and head back to the hotel. We stayed on the Upper West Side, more or less to the west of the Natural History Museum, and thus a short walk from Central Park. So the next morning — after coffee, of course! — we headed that way to walk and do a bit of photography. We were happy to see that there were still many trees with autumn foliage.

We casually ambled around this lake, known by the descriptive name of “The Lake.” To get photographs from the park that include the Manhattan skyline, I usually seek out open areas that are less obstructed by trees, such as meadows and lakes. The lakes have the added attraction of providing interesting reflections. So here the scene is the lake (oh, sorry, “The Lake”), the autumn foliage of the surrounding trees, and beyond that the skyline of Manhattan just south of the park.


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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Eastern Sierra Autumn Sunrise

Piute Peak Sunrise
Autumn aspen trees at the shoreline of a subalpine lake below sunrise light on Piute Peak.

Eastern Sierra Autumn Sunrise. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen trees at the shoreline of a subalpine lake below peaks in sunrise light.

I have photographed at this location for so many years that I no longer count on it to be a place to find something new… unless it looks like conditions might be unusually good. (I do still find other interesting subjects “in the neighborhood.”) But it is my tradition to check in for a short visit every year, and that’s more or less why I was there this October.

The morning was somewhat unpromising. There was a lot of color, but the patterns were unusual — green where I would have expected yellow and orange, and full color in places where I might have expected it to be green. And it was… windy. Very windy. Capturing a nice reflection on the waters of the lake was a lost cause. But sunrise is sunrise, and it is almost always a beautiful sight this ridge.


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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Dawn Reflections, Mono Lake

Dawn Reflections, Mono Lake
Colorful dawn light reflected on the surface of Mono Lake.

Dawn Reflections, Mono Lake. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful dawn light reflected on the surface of Mono Lake.

On this morning I had a particular scene in mind to photograph at Mono Lake, so I was at that location before sunrise. I worked that subject until just before the sun actually rose, as planned, and then I turned to something different — the surface of the huge lake itself, slightly disturbed by morning breezes, with waterfowl here and there, as the sun was just about to top a mountain range fare to the east. I angled the camera downwards to keep the sky out of the frame, including just a bit of the distant mountains many miles away beyond the far shore.

On a clear morning like this one, the most intense sky color comes before sunrise, after which the brilliant sun washes out the colors that are visible earlier. To make this photograph I aimed the camera directly toward the point on the horizon where the sun would rise, so the very brightest portion of the colorful sky was strongly reflected on the lake’s surface.


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 | Twitter | 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.