Aspens and Granite

Aspens and Granite
Aspens and Granite

Aspens and Granite. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 12, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stand of aspen with fall color in front of a granite filled slope, eastern Sierra Nevada

This beautiful stand of aspen trees is easily visible from the main highway running up and down the eastern Sierra, and I notice the trees every time that I drive past. It is across a small meadow where sheep graze at certain times of the year, and the trees are set against the backdrop of a small rocky hillside. I have stopped here before, but most often either the light hasn’t been quite right (I have been looking for a certain combination of back- and side-light) or the leaf color hasn’t been exactly idea.

On this October eastern Sierra trip we passed this spot quite a few times as we looked for photographic subjects in nearby areas. Conditions ranged from snow to fog to night to midday. Each time I again looked over at the trees and thought about the conditions in which I could photograph them, and because the trip was an extended one I passed by a few times when I could have stopped and photographed. Finally, on the second-to-last day of the visit, I figured out that I might or might not pass them again on this trip, the trees were showing a lot of color, and the light seemed about right.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

2 thoughts on “Aspens and Granite”

  1. Came across your blog while looking for ‘working’ reviews on the X-E1. I have an X100. Found the review very useful and realistic. Love your photos on the blog, those of Bodie reminded me of my visits there in the late 80s when I lived for a year in Santa Clara (I’m a Brit who is retired from the world of work).
    You make reference to the old world cameras; I still use my MX, LX, Leica R4 and Contax AX,plus old rangefinders. I guess I use maybe ten films a year to remember what it was like before everything went auto.
    Toying with the idea of the X-E1, so thanks for the in-depth post; can’t imagine you have the time for such lengthy articles.

    1. Thanks for writing, John. About my time for posts – others have asked me about this, too. Fortunately, writing comes fairly naturally for me, and I can often write relatively quickly. (Of course, sometimes I regret that speed!)

      Those old cameras had a certain sort of simple and tight efficiency about them that I often miss in the newer cameras. Don’t get me wrong – I love and rely on the things that my newer digital cameras can do, and some of my photography is perhaps only possible because of how cameras and photography have evolved. But those older, smaller cameras with their small, jewel-like lenses have a certain aesthetic quality that sometimes seems more genuine than the giant, high tech cameras we often use today.

      This is one of the things I like about what Fujifilm is doing with these small mirrorless cameras. While they certainly do incorporate a number of the technologies of digital photography that are so important to me, they do so in a way that also allows me to simply hold a small camera and shoot it. I hope that they continue to follow this path and refine and extend it.

      Dan

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