Autumnal

Vibrant fall color images from throughout the west coast and beyond.

Black Oak Burning Mist 1
Mist rising off the grasses of Cook’s Meadow in Yosemite National Park after an autumn storm provided much needed precipitation to California after the worst wildfire season in the state’s history. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Dancing Yellow Maple
Early November brings vibrant autumn color to Yosemite Valley; the short, picturesque hike to Mirror Lake along Tenaya Creek offered lots of opportunities to photograph red dogwoods and yellow maples under overcast skies with diffuse light. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Crystal Lake Mist
A treacherous drive on the steep mountain pass from Ridgway to Crystal Lake in the dark, pre-dawn hours with icy roads and no guardrails, but once we arrived, we had the location completely to ourselves, which is unheard of in this location! Intermittent fog was lingering on the slopes, so when the wind kicked up and messed with the perfect lake reflections, I took off the wide angle lens, and played with the telephoto for some intimate shots such as this. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
San Juan Mountains Autumn Color
Golden aspen, green pines, and red scrub oak make up just some of the autumn colors of the San Juan mountains, part of the Rocky mountain range in southwestern Colorado. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Last Dollar Road Leaning Aspen
Located between Telluride and Ridgway, the 13-mile-long, unpaved Last Dollar Road in the Uncompahgre National Forest may have the most beautiful aspen groves in Colorado. This grove was growing diagonally out of the steep hillside; I used a 200mm telephoto to compress the scene for a more abstract effect. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Aspen Tranquility
Just a simple scene of vibrant aspen in the blue, pre-dawn light along Crystal Lake. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Golden Japanese Maple
The autumn color in the City of Trees is just gorgeous right now! I thought I would try some more intimate, close up scenes during a weekend walkabout in downtown Sacramento recently, isolating autumn color compositions. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Autumn Kaleidoscope and Aspens, Lee Vining
A kaleidoscope of autumn color in the tangled brush at the feet of these majestic aspens in Lee Vining Canyon. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Aspen Light
My favorite aspen grove in Hope Valley is a special, magical place. It requires a little bush whacking to get to, but I've been coming here for years and never have seen another soul here, despite the ever increasing numbers of fellow leaf peepers who descend on this area every October. This particular spot just has a beautiful quality of light and I thoroughly enjoyed spending a peaceful autumn morning here. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Aspen Shadows
Aspen in various forms of autumnal transition being kissed by the early morning light along the Million Dollar Highway in southwest Colorado. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Faint Double Rainbow, Conway Summit
During my annual October photo pilgrimage to the eastern Sierra, the exceptionally windy weather threatened to thwart this year's trip. Despite the rough conditions, and the leaves blowing off the aspens early, there were beautiful scenes to be found, like an incredible morning rainbow over Conway Summit at the edge of a storm over the Sierras, and the dappled morning light on the golden hills. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Golden Merced Reflections
Autumn's glorious color reflected in the calm Merced River winding through El Capitan meadow at the base of Cathedral Rocks. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Woods Lake Clouds and Reflections
Dramatic clouds over the San Miguel mountain range of the Rockies provided rapidly changing lighting conditions. Using a graduated neutral density filter, I waited until breaks in the clouds provided illumination on the aspens in the foreground and on the mountain in the background. This was by far one of my favorite places to photograph in southwest Colorado, a location that provided wide angle vistas as well as many macro and intimate photographic opportunities. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
El Capitan Meadow Winter Tapestry
This gorgeous backlit tapestry of snow covered pine and black oak branches against the granite in El Capitan Meadow in Yosemite National Park provided a beautiful opportunity to capture blue and orange complementary colors. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Knights Ferry Bridge, Autumn Sunrise
Knights Ferry is a rural, historical gem of a community outside of Modesto in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The tiny town includes the ruins of an old mill and jail, and is home to the longest covered bridge west of the Mississippi at 330’-0” in length. The serene mood caused by the rising mist and bright autumn colors at sunrise evoked a serene painting to me. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Autumn in Lee Vining Creek
Located near Big Bend Campground along Lee Vining Creek lies this picturesque waterfall. The setting sun dipping behind the canyon provided an opportunity for longer exposures using a polarized filter. The brightly colored autumn foliage provided a vivid frame to this beautiful location. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Reflection of Autumn Colors and Cathedral Rocks
When there is a rare occurrence of both autumn color AND ample water in the Yosemite Valley, you have to grab your camera and go! A calm section of the Merced River and an overcast morning provided the opportunity to capture some beautiful autumn reflections of the foliage and Cathedral Rocks beyond. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Autumn Starburst over North Lake
The morning sun rising over the serene reflections of North Lake.
North Lake Autumn Reflection
Reflections of the golden quaking aspens on a quiet autumn morning at North Lake in the eastern Sierra. I just spent an amazing 8 days photographing the autumn colors of the eastern Sierra, my photo road trip pilgrimage every 2nd week of October for the last few years. This year, Chris and I camped a few days around North Lake, South Lake and Lake Sabrina along Bishop Creek and the fall colors were absolutely amazing. We awoke daily at 5am and photographed for hours every day, meeting up with some fellow landscape photographers along the way; to say we're completely exhausted is an understatement! This was Monday's sunrise over North Lake during clear skies- by the time we left, rainbows, clouds, and rain were everywhere and made for a diverse photographic road trip that we're looking forward to editing and sharing!
Aspen Tapestry
The aspens along Bishop Creek and South Lake Road were especially vibrant. We pulled off to the side of the road to photograph this grove with our telephoto lens that captured the interesting vertical trunks, and variety of the colored foliage. I rarely use Lightroom filters, but applied a matte filter to convey the otherworldliness of this scene.
Lundy Canyon Beaver Pond
If you drive to Lundy Lake, there is a dirt road leading past the paved road of the marina. I've always been hesitant to explore this road because of the cabins and seemingly permanent camp trailers parked in this location. But once you get past that, you climb up to Lundy Canyon and the gorgeous beaver ponds. I never thought beaver ponds could be so beautiful! With the diffuse, overcast morning light and clearning clouds, it made for a really memorable morning and definitely one of the highlights of my photo roadtrip!
Reflections of Fall, Cathedral Rocks, Yosemite National Park
The very faintest hint of mist rose from the Merced River early on an autumn morning, with fall foliage and the Cathedral Rocks reflected in the calm water. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Colorado Aspen Light
A halo of ethereal light skimmed the autumn gold of this aspen grove basking in the morning sun. www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Lundy Canyon Diffuse Light
Took a couple days off of work, and headed to the Lundy Canyon beaver ponds solo before sunrise. Typically this area is overrun with photographers during the prime autumn color season, but this particular morning I had the entire canyon to myself! It was very peaceful and very therapeutic. The colors along the ponds weren’t popping just yet, but this distant grove caught my eye from the dirt road. I pulled over, and a little bushwhacking and a couple of scraped knees later, I was in position, using a longer focal length to isolate the interesting layers of color. I love that early morning diffuse light on the aspen trunks. Have a great weekend, everybody!! https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com
Rush Creek Quiet Morning
Throughout most of the eastern Sierra this autumn, the fall color display was very muted, with many of the trees bare. But that’s OK! I rather enjoyed the subtlety of the color palette this year. A quiet morning spent exploring Rush Creek along the June Lake Loop was rewarded with soft mist and lovely light reflected off the granite. https://www.optimalfocusphotography.com