Images

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature

Bare Aspen Grove

Image Leave a comment
Bare Aspen Grove
A grove of small and nearly bare autumn aspen trees

Bare Aspen Grove. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of small and nearly bare autumn aspen trees.

We went to this location on a very early morning during the first half of October, a morning whose cold temperatures reminded us in the clearest terms that summer had now passed. I selected the spot for a couple of reasons: it can provide a beautiful long view of a section of the Sierra Nevada crest at dawn and there are aspens in the non-Sierra location. As the sun came up we discovered that wildfire smoke and clouds to the east would make this dawn less than the most spectacular we had seen. The sun also revealed that most of the aspens here had already lost their colorful leaves, despite the relatively early date.

If you are out there photographing enough you’ll find that the days of stupendously beautiful conditions are counterbalanced by other days that are less spectacular. (The good news is that if you are out often enough you will find the former enough to excuse the latter!) This was, at least in terms of what I originally had in mind to photograph, a morning that didn’t provide what I had hoped for. Yet, in many such situations, a look around and will frequently reveal something else, sometimes unexpected, that may make a worthy photograph. Immediately below our position on small ridge the aspen forest descended a small valley, and as I looked more closely at the nearly-leafless trees I feel that the groves of stark, bare trunks might be a good subject.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Panorama, First Light

Image Leave a comment
Panorama, First Light
The very first dawn light touches the tips of peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Panorama, First Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The very first dawn light touches the tips of peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This photograph comes from our weeklong expedition into the John Muir Wilderness back at the end of August and the first few days of September. To recap, “we” are a group of photographers who photograph the Sierra backcountry every year. (The group’s history dates back almost two decades, and I’ve been coming along for about ten years.) This year we were sponsored by Yosemite Renaissance, so we were accompanied by a several other artists connected with that organization. We typically set up a backcountry base camp in a “target-rich” location, and then spend a week getting to know the place and photographing the heck out of it.

I made this photograph mere steps from my tent. I got up before dawn, wandered around looking at subjects in the quiet pre-dawn light, and finally arrived back at this lakeside location as the first light touched the tops of the peaks. An advantage of staying in one location for a period of time is that you can scout a lot, determining best times and angles and finding lots of potential subjects. This one was on that list — I had visited it previously when the light was less conducive to photography, filed the location away along with a mental note about timing, and then returned a few days later at the appointed time.

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.

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

First Fall Color

Image Leave a comment
First Fall Color
An eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove with first signs of autumn color

First Fall Color. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An eastern Sierra Nevada aspen grove with first signs of autumn color.

One of the risks of starting my annual Eastern Sierra fall aspen color hunt a bit early is that I just might arrive too early for the color! That was mostly the case this year, when I made my first aspen-focused trip right at the beginning of October. The timing of the color transition can vary a bit from year to year, but I usually bet on the start of widespread color coming near the end of the first week of the month. Last year it came earlier — I photographed large groves of small trees at a location near the Sierra near the end of September, and I found good color close to the start of the month. That experience led me to start early this year.

There was some color when I arrived on October 2, but it was not widespread. Some of the higher elevation “scrub aspen” growing on rocky soil were changing to yellow, but most of the larger trees were still green. There were a few notable exceptions where groves had changed. More common were sights like this one — mostly green trees, leaning toward the lighter “lime green” color that comes before the transition, plus a few actual yellow leaves. This particular grove presented me with a special lighting situation. The trees were in the shaded bottom of a deep canyon, but across the canyon and beyond my camera position there was a large open slope that lay in direct sunlight. This rocky terrain reflected the warmer-colored light directly into the grove, giving a bit more light to the trees along its edge.

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.

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Night

Mono Moonrise

Image Leave a comment
Mono Moonrise
The light of the rising full moon reflected on the surface of Mono Lake

Mono Moonrise. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The light of the rising full moon reflected on the surface of Mono Lake.

This is another of the autumn photographs that isn’t really an autumn photograph, except perhaps by extension. I was in the eastern Sierra for about eight days in the first part of October, primarily to chase the fall aspen color. But that most certainly is not the only thing worth seeing in and around the Sierra at this time of the year. The night before we had watched the moon rise well after dark and speculated about when (and precisely where) the full moon would rise the next night. We did not have any authorities to consult, so we made a good guess that it would probably rise just after sunset, which still provides enough ambient light to illuminate the landscape a bit and to reduce the contrast between the bright moon and its relatively darker surroundings. As sunset approached we left the place where we had been photographing aspens and I pulled over at a likely spot… which turned out to be almost precisely the right place to be.

We looked up just in time to see the first sliver of the moon emerge above the small peak barely visible at the left end of the ridge beyond the lake. We were set up and ready to go by the time it cleared the ridge, and we spent the next few minutes continuing to photograph as the moon rose, the surroundings darkened, and the reflection on Mono Lake become more prominent.

Special Announcement: Sharing this night photograph of mine is timely, as later this week I and my colleagues from Studio Nocturne SF, a collective of Bay Area night photographers, are offering an “Open Studio” as part of annual the San Francisco ArtSpan event in The City. We are showing our work at Big Daddy’s Antiques, 1550 17th Street on the following schedule:

Friday: October 25, 6:30PM-9:00PM — Artist Reception
Saturday, October 26: 11:00AM-6:00PM — Open Studio
Sunday, October 27: 11:00AM-6:00PM — Open Studio

All three events are free and open to the public. If you are in the Bay Area, please drop in and say “hi,” enjoy our photography, talk with us about our work, and acquire a photograph for your collection.

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.