Eastern Sierra fall colors

Here are some shots of fall color from the Eastern Sierra. There had been a snow storm two days before I got up there,  arrived on Oct. 7,2011. The snow had not yet melted and I was hoping that the snow and wind had not removed all the leaves, as can happen during a storm. I was fortunate, the leaves were in tact. In fact they were still mostly green on a lot of the aspens, which would seem to indicate the fall colors are happening a bit later than normal for the area. They were not at peak, the lower elevations were still green while some of the higher elevations were just starting with a few areas already well on their way. To find the more colorful areas meant I had to a be a little more selective but anytime out doing photography is a good time! So I had a real good time.  I visited the Bishop area, around South Lake and Lake Sabrina. I did go on the road to North Lake, but found a lot of people, and  snow and ice; with the warmth from the sun it was turning to mud. It also appeared that a lot of the tress around North Lake had already lost their leaves or did so during the storm. So after I got to the top I turned around and went back down. I also visited sites further north, Rock Creek, McGee Creek, and Lundy Canyon. In Lundy Canyon there was still a lot of green trees and the area around the beaver ponds was still mostly green. There was some steam rising from Lundy Lake, that was a nice treat. I think the Rock Creek area seemed to have the best color. I also took a drive up Tioga Pass and that had quite a bit of snow. It had been closed on the day I arrived but they opened it on Saturday morning. Ellery Lake had some nice reflections that vanished as soon as the breeze kicked up.

One of the things I did  different on this trip was to not bring a lot of equipment. I know sometimes I get too caught up playing with the gear, and usually  a lot of equipment  never gets used. So my tactic was to just bring a minimal amount of gear. Only brought one body, the Canon 5D Mark II, some extra batteries and the usual things like a release, tripod, filters, etc. Lenses were limited to a Canon 70-200mm f4L,  50mm f1.4, a Zeiss 35mm f2, and a Zeiss 21mm f2.8. The most used lenses were the Canon 70-200 and the Zeiss 35mm. The nice thing about the Zeiss is it makes me slow down and plan the shot a little more carefully, with manual focus it is a more conscious effort to get the shot the way I envisioned.

Overall I am quite happy with the results and hope you enjoy them as well.