2011 September, Natural History Photography Blog

In the next month I hope to once again make a brief trip to Bishop, California to enjoy the changing colors of the quaking aspens (Populus tremuloides). Below are the websites and photographers I follow to stay abreast of how conditions are changing as the autumn season progresses. I will be carrying several cameras with me this year so I don’t have to change lenses in the field. The lenses I find most useful are 16-35 or 15mm fisheye, 24-105, 70-200. I will also carry a small Lumix LX3 infrared-converted camera with which the below image was shot:

Aspen trees in fall, eastern Sierra fall colors, autumn. Image ID: 23320   Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains

• G. Dan Mitchell’s Sierra Nevada photography is superb (especially his Yosemite images), and his blog is informative and well-written. Dan has written a super primer about fall color in the Eastern Sierra “Sierra Nevada fall color season – coming sooner than you think!” loaded with good information about what to expect and how to plan for autumn in the Sierra Nevada.
• Carol Leigh’s Calphoto.com. This is where many California photographers exchange detailed reports autumn foliage.
• Inge Fernau / MagicalGlow.com. I first noticed Inge Fernau’s photography as a result of her incredibly rich fall color reports on Calphoto. She gets out there to so many places, then fills us all in with exactly what the conditions are. Her blog is loaded with huge, beautiful images of the Eastern Sierra, and I’m hoping she publishes more of her fall color reports this year. Here is a two-part summary of her 2008 efforts, some spectacular images shown: 2008 Fall Color Summary Part 1 and 2008 Fall Color Summary Part 2.
• Greg Boyer and Cory Freeman / Sierra Impressions are two very talented photographers in Bishop, California who post timely info about conditions and their recent photographic works.
• Steven Bourelle / SierraVisionsStock.com. Steven Bourelle gave me advice prior to my first visit to Bishop for fall colors, and he was spot on with his recommendations. He has written an e-book guide about photography in the Eastern Sierra and Bishop Creek Canyon packed with good information along with a 2009 post “Eastern Sierra Nevada Fall Colors” about planning for a fall foliage shoot in the Eastern Sierra.
• Dave Henry’s reports and tips at the Sacramento Bee are really good.
• Michael Frye, one of the best photographers around who focuses on Yosemite and surrounding areas, has a blog post about Autumn in Yosemite. (Michael Frye has THE BOOK on photographing in Yosemite, I own a copy and have referred to it often.)
• Parcher’s Resort, near South Lake in Bishop Creek Canyon, maintains a fall color report in season.
• Eastern Sierra Fall Color Reports, a thread at NaturePhotographers.net started by Bishop photographer Cory Freeman / Sierra Impressions.
• Bishop weather forecast. (NWS)
• Pictures of Fall Color in Bishop Creek Canyon on Google Earth. If you have Google Earth installed, this provides a map with 18 of my favorite aspen images appearing superimposed where they were taken in Bishop Creek Canyon. You can zoom around and click any of the tiny thumbnails in Google Earth to see the image large along with captions. In a perfect world I would offer to actually walk around with your camera and shoot the photos for you, but in lieu of that this is the best I can do.

Aspen trees display Eastern Sierra fall colors, Lake Sabrina, Bishop Creek Canyon. Image ID: 17547   Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA

Aspen trees display Eastern Sierra fall colors, Lake Sabrina, Bishop Creek Canyon. Image ID: 17497   Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA

Aspen trees turn yellow and orange in early October, South Fork of Bishop Creek Canyon. Image ID: 17532   Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA

An explosion of yellow and orange color, aspen trees changing color in fall, autumn approaches. Image ID: 23325   Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA

White trunks of aspen trees, viewed upward toward the yellow and orange leaves of autumn and the blue sky beyond. Image ID: 23337   Species: Aspen, Populus tremuloides Location: Bishop Creek Canyon, Sierra Nevada Mountains, California, USA

Shameless plug: I’ve got a nice collection of fall color photos. Check them out, they really are pretty good if I do say so myself. (Heck, when the colors are peaking its hard to take a bad photo of turning aspens.)

Keywords: eastern sierra fall color, aspen, report, foliage, photography, picture, bishop, photo, autumn, image, information, description.

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