Autumn in the Sierra Nevada: It’s all about the light.
- September 15th, 2009
- Posted in Uncategorized
- By Edie
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I moved to Yosemite from Rhode Island. One of the things that I truly, truly miss is Autumn. Rainy days in Queechee Gorge Vermont are among my fondest memories–the colors are incredible against grey skies.
I left that behind and came to Yosemite 4 years ago. Each autumn since then I have fallen to into what Longfellow once described as “a feeling of sadness and longing, that is not akin to pain/And resembles sorrow only as the mist resembles rain”. I’m not sure if it’s helped or hurt that we have one sugar maple in Yosemite Valley; But when my eyes are aching for some New England color, I at least have that.
One photographer friend refuses to photograph it because it is not native. I find myself at a loss for comprehension; I cannot fathom why that should preclude photographing such amazing color and texture.
As lovely as that tree is, though, it’s meager compared to the memory of entire Vermont valleys which become lakes of light and color.
I will admit to making some rather tactless remarks regarding the colors of the aspens in the Sierra Nevada. I’ve promised that I would hold my sarcasm in check this year, and will continue to do so.
It was recently pointed out to me by my good friend Christine Loberg that what makes Autumn in the Sierra Nevada special isn’t the colors, it’s the light. She’s completely right. Joni Mitchell’s song “The Fallow Way” comes to mind; “The sun has slanted all her rays/Across a vast and harvest plain/My memories mingle in the dawn/I dream of joyful vagabonds”. Add to that slanting sunlight clouds finally gathering in a white-hot sky, towering thunderheads or creeping mists.
August sucks for photography in the Sierra–no flowers, dry streams, colors bleached bleak and barren by brutal light. September brings rains to wash away the coat of dust that covers everything, cool nights and gentle warm days. Colors revive, and while they aren’t the colors of Autumn in New England, they are a welcome sight.
I don’t know if I will ever share the exuberant joy my fellow west coast photogs feel over the aspens. But I’ll look forward to the slanting rays of Autumn from now on with joyful anticipation.
love your entry today – when i lived near there i too missed the colors of autumn that i grew up seeing when visiting relatives in northern michigan – and the aspens in yosemite? i gave up saying anything about that a while back. you are so right – it is the light in yosemite and yosemite itself that is unlike anyplace else on earth. great photo!
Edie, not sure I’ll be able to convince you – and perhaps I’m better off remaining ignorant about the New England colors – but for me the approach of fall in the Sierra is a joyous thing. I like spring and I like peak season high country wildflowers and lush growth… but I like fall more.
I think Christine is on to something, though I think it is more than just the light.
By mid-August I’m already looking past the hot (yes, hot) and intensely sunny days of mid-summer and forward to the cooler, slower, quieter autumn. By the end of August the change is becoming increasingly obvious. Aside from Labor Day weekend, as people go back to work and school the crowds subside, I can get a wilderness permit just by showing up, and once on the trail I sometimes even have a whole lake to myself. The mule ears start to turn yellow, then brown, then black; in the higher meadows small plants begin to turn red and gold.
By September it seems like the Sierra are exhaling a big, slow, relaxing breath. The crowds really are going away, the occasional northern Pacific front affects the weather, the first dusting of snow appears on the highest peaks. And, as Christine notes, the light changes. I’ve thought about the light for a long time, and while I know it changes I can’t quite put my finger on what it is. It might be the change in colors. It might be the often somewhat cooler temperatures. Perhaps it is the lower angle of the sun and the gradual subtraction of the intense midday light. I’m not sure, but it is there – and I think about it all summer.
Hang in there… you’ll get it!
Dan
Gorgeous photograph!