Tag Archives: autumn

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

Aspens, Ferns, And Boulders

Image Leave a comment
Aspens, Ferns, And Boulders
Early autumn aspen color with ferns and granite boulders

Aspens, Ferns, And Boulders. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn aspen color with ferns and granite boulders.

My arrival at this well-known Eastern Sierra location was perhaps a few days too early, and the color would not really peak until three or four days later. However, even when there are still a lot of green trees it is possible to find a few that are changing colors — and in some ways the striking fall leaf colors may even seem a bit more so when there are still some green leaves in the scene.

This photograph probably looks fairly static… but it was a very windy day! In fact, moments earlier I had given up photographing in a more exposed location because the winds were so strong! This grove was a bit more sheltered, being at the bottom of a steep, narrow bit of valley. Even so, the aspen leaves are easily moved in slight breezes and I had to wait for just the right moment to find a time when the motion was minimized. There is more going on in this scene than may be immediately visible. In a sense there are four primary components: the vertical lines of the light-colored trunks, the patterns of green and yellow leaves, the golden brown of the ferns, and hiding in the background the darker tones of rocks.

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

Autumn Dawn, Eastern Sierra

Image Leave a comment
Autumn Dawn, Eastern Sierra
Successive ridges rise from the high desert toward the crest of the Eastern Sierra Nevada in pre-dawn autumn light

Autumn Dawn, Eastern Sierra. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Successive ridges rise from the high desert toward the crest of the Eastern Sierra Nevada in pre-dawn autumn light.

Yes, I know I was supposed to be photographing aspen color. But there are other subjects in and around the Sierra during the autumn! It turned out that I arrived a bit before the peak color, so my inclination to photographer other things, too, was perhaps a bit stronger than it might have been a few days later. I also knew that some aspen subjects that I wanted to photograph would be in better light a bit later, and that left me time for a quick foray to this location before dawn.

I have photographed from this location previously, so I’m pretty familiar with the view, the camera position possibilities, and the potential for lots of interesting early light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada. However, as familiar as all of that may be, there are always surprises. I made this photograph a few minutes before the sun cleared the eastern horizon (or, more accurately, the mountains to the east) so the light had taken on the warm, colorful quality of dawn, but without the harsh quality of the first direct sunlight. The photograph spans a wide range of zones — from the sagebrush of the high desert to the summit of one of the highest Sierra peaks in this area.

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

Early Aspen Color

Image Leave a comment
Early Aspen Color
Early autumn season aspens begin to change color

Early Aspen Color. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn season aspens begin to change color.

As fall approaches I always anticipate the color change of aspen trees way in advance of the actual event, and I start watching for early signs more than a month before the color peaks. Way back in August I typically find a few early clues — yellowing corn lilies, drying meadows — and at some point in September I find my first few yellow aspen leaves. The change begins in earnest by the first week of October, and that is when I made this photograph. At this point, the aspen trees seem to move toward a sort of “lime green” color, often with a few interspersed yellow leaves, and in the right light you can convince yourself the fall colors have arrived.

There is a useful lesson about lighting in this photograph, too. Although this scene seems pretty straightforward, there’s more going on with the direction and color of the light than you might first notice. This grove of trees is, indeed, in the shade. The camera is pointing roughly east, a tall ridge rises behind this little grove, and it was still shading the trees hours after sunrise. This provides soft light that fills in shadow details much better than direct sunlight. Look deeper into the grove and beyond and you may notice that the color becomes more blue. Light in shadows is usually quite blue — after all, the main light source is the very blue sky! But the trees in the foreground are not very blue… and there’s a reason. Behind my camera position (if we could turn around and look backwards) was a very large mountain in direct sunlight, and the reflection of that light was strongly diffused and directed straight into the grove, warming the colors and highlighting the front trees.

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

Autumn, Eastern Sierra Valley

Image Leave a comment
Autumn, Eastern Sierra Valley
The autumn color of aspens, willows, and more comes to the valleys of the Eastern Sierra Nevada

Autumn, Eastern Sierra Valley. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The autumn color of aspens, willows, and more comes to the valleys of the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

During the past week I made my first trip to the Eastern Sierra Nevada to look for the annual fall aspen color transition. Broadly speaking — even though there can be some earlier and later aspen color — I regard the first three weeks of October as being the most likely time to find good color, with the second week perhaps being the most reliable period. Over the past few years the transition has seemed to start a bit earlier, but this year it seems to be on what we used to regard as a “normal” schedule. There wasn’t much color at all during the first few days of the month this year, but it was starting to come on more strongly towards the end of the first week. It should be quite good as of this October 8 posting… but that’s a guess, since I’m back home now. (I’ll be heading back up in a few days.)

Since folks often ask me about the aspen color season (perhaps because I wrote “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide To Autumn In The Sierra.” Being ready to answer those questions was one reason for visiting early in the season. (OK, the main reason was to make my own photographs! And to make a presentation about autumn color in Mammoth Lakes.) I visited areas between highway 88 (Carson Pass) in the north and Bishop Creek Canyon to the south, stopping in quite a few other places in between. This photograph comes from one of those intermediate stops, a rugged east-side canyon that holds a lot of wonderful fall color from aspens, willows, cottonwoods, and more. (Looking for more information about the aspen color transition? Pease visit my Sierra Nevada Fall Color page.)

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.