Nestled Treasure

Despite living in Northern California for over 12 years now, I had never taken the 4 hour drive over to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. When Willie proposed hopping over there to see if we could capture some fall colors, I immediately said "YES!" Our plans changed multiple times as we watched the weather and waited for the trees to turn color. We were a month too early, so we delayed. We were a week too early, so we went to Lassen National Park instead. And then finally it looked like the colors were changing and we skipped work, booked a hotel and drove down on a Thursday. We knew a few particular areas of the park were prone to having fall colors. Particularly the dogwood trees and we drove straight to them. The fall colors were not to be found! We spent the day hunting for signs of color. Just before the evening "golden hour" we pulled over at a pull-out and noticed this area ... to our amusement it was the exact area we had first scouted but the harsh light had now faded and we were coming in from a different angle. We grabbed our cameras and snapped away, before running off to see if we could find more colors elsewhere. I loved the way that a few tones of colors nestled up right against the giant Sequoia trees, and then on the other side the green pine trees framed the scene. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 125mm, f/11, 1.3 sec, ISO 64

Red Ribbon

Growing up in the East Coast I'm pretty familiar with fall colors. It's one of the few things I actually miss about the east coast (well, maybe that people actually have *yards* too) ... and fireflies. I miss those guys). When Willie asked if I wanted to go to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks for a fall colors photo-trip, I was immediately interested! After delaying the trip a few times, waiting for the colors to change, we finally found our opportunity, skipped work, and drove down for a quick 2 day trip. It turns out that the dry summer we had wasn't so conducive to the trees. They had gone from completely green a few days earlier, to mostly dead, brown, and leafless. We scouted this particular area earlier in the day but had left with low expectations. By chance we ended up back here after pulling off to explore a patch of color we had seen. We had scouted this area earlier but had come in from a different angle and had completely missed the yellow and orange leaves mixed in with the beautiful Sequoia trees. Despite the leaves looking a little dead, we were still excited to catch the yellow leaves mixed in with the red Sequoia trees -- which at this hour were starting to glow from the side light of the setting sun. I named this "Red Ribbon" because I loved the way the red trees mixed in with the rest of the forest, turning just a bunch of yellow leaves into a magical present for us! Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 86mm, f/11, 1/6 sec, ISO 800

Treesome

"There can be nothing in the world more beautiful than ... the groves of the giant sequoias and redwoods ... and our people should see to it that they are preserved for their children and their children’s children forever, with their majestic beauty all unmarred." -Theodore Roosevelt I've always been fascinated by these beautiful trees. The red bark, their massive size, the way they survive fire and live for hundreds (thousands) of years, the shape of the bark, their smell ... there's something that just calls one to feel at home amongst these massive beasts. Needing a break from some busy times at work, I was pretty excited to spend a few days amongst the trees trying to photograph them mixed in with fall colors. Willie and I arrived at Sequoia National Park in the afternoon and immediately began scouting a few spots we knew might have fall colors. Particularly we were looking for dogwood trees that would be mixed in with the giant Sequoias. We had seen this particular tree earlier and knew we would come back at sunset. One thing that I drew me back here was the way that the setting sun reflected off the left side of the trees, causing it to glow. It's as if the trees were alive, listening to us and telling us to take a rest and stay a while. At one point I put the camera down and made sure to soak it all in. The two Sequoia trees kissing and the dogwood peaking in for a hug made for a great scene! Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 125mm, f/16, 0.5 sec, ISO 400

Color Wheel

Willie and I spent 2 days exploring Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in search of some fall colors. Particularly we were looking to catch pink, red, yellow, or orange leaves matched up against the beautiful and massive red Sequoia trees. As we drove around in search of some colorful trees we noticed how few fall colors there actually were. It had been a dry summer in California and most of the trees had gone from green leaves to dead leaves. But one particular tree caught our eye from the road and we pulled over to check it out. I think we walked around in a 360 degree circle 2 or 3 times because this tree looked good from so many angles. We knew this would be a spot to come back to at sunset. One of the reasons why I love photographing the Redwood trees during the evening "golden hour" is that the lack of direct light causes one side of the tree to "glow". The red bark picks up the faint indirect light and just starts to radiate, and that's exactly what we saw here. Combined with the green branches, the pink Dogwood, and then the touch of green tree underneath made for a cacophony of colors! Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 185mm, f/16, 1.0 sec, ISO 400

Redwood Feast

Over the years my photography has brought me to a number of National Parks. At one point I started collecting magnets of each park I've been to. The collection is growing quite nicely but there were 2 parks that were missing that I really should have visited long ago: Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. They're just a few hours away but in my 12 years in Northern California, I had never been! Willie and I drove down on a Thursday and spent 2 days prancing around the parks in search of beautiful trees. It was harder than we thought because a dry summer meant that many of the leaves went from green to dead overnight. The reds and yellows we were in search for were hard to find. We found this particular grove of trees on our first day scouting and knew this would be one of our favorite spots to come back to. The pink dogwood was a perfect color to contrast with the beautiful red Sequoia trees behind it. To top it all off, I loved how the Sequoia trees "glow" in golden hour light, reflecting some of the indirect sunset light that sneaks it way through the forest. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 310mm, f/16, 2.0 sec, ISO 400

Trifecta

Willie and I drove down to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks on a Thursday and skipped work for 2 days so we could enjoy nature and photograph fall colors in the park. Particularly we were hoping to find some colorful dogwood trees mixed in with the beautiful massive Sequoia trees. When we got to the park we noticed how poor of a year it was going to be for those beautiful colors we had hoped for. Because it had been so dry, most of the leaves were going from green to dead. Hunting for a tree that also was nearby to a Redwood would prove to be fairly difficult. As we were driving around we came upon this particular tree. It was pretty sparse on leaves but we knew if we used a telephoto lens we might be able to isolate the leaves against the tree. I really liked the way that the yellow, red, and green all come together here to make a simple but lovely scene. Nikon D850 w/Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8: 120mm, f/16, 1/3 sec, ISO 800

Alone in White and Gold

Growing up in the East Coast I've always loved fall. The colors on the trees were breathtaking and as a kid, getting to jump in piles of leaves was ... so ... much ... fun! As much as I've wanted to photograph fall colors, I haven't really ever gotten those iconic yellow and white Aspen tree photos. While Willie and I were in Sequoia National Park for a fall color photo trip, we stopped at the range station to ask for any tips finding colors. One of the rangers suggested there might still be some aspen trees with color left in one particular area. There weren't. The leaves were completely dead. We found this particular patch of trees in a completely different area of the park. We had just run into Jean Day and had a great conversation catching up with her when we stumbled upon this tree. I loved the layers in it: the brown, goldfish tall grass on the bottom, the tall straight white trunk of the aspen with its golden yellow leaves, and the dark green backdrop behind it. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 340mm, f/11, 1/30 sec, ISO 800

Golden Grove

Over the last year or two Willie had spent quite a bit of time taking some amazing photos at Sequoia National Park. Despite living in California for almost 12 years, I had never been. I had been itching to go and we kept an eye on the weather so we could plan to arrive during the peak of fall colors in the park. Unfortunately the dry summer meant that a lot of the leaves turned brown and died before they picked up amazing colors. One minute the leaves were green, the next they were dead. We spent a day in Sequoia and decided to try out luck elsewhere. I've been collecting magnets from every National Park I've visited and we figured we could add to my collection by heading over to Kings Canyon National Park (which is its close next-door neighbor). Surprisingly the fall colors were much better over at Kings Canyon. We spent hours running around looking at different scenes and waiting for the light to get right. I enjoyed this scene because the golden leaves towards the ground contrasted nicely with the patch of green leaves left in the background. Nikon D850 w/Sigma 150-600mm: 220mm, f/16, 1/13 sec, ISO 800