Trees and Red Rock, High Country. Zion National Park, Utah. October 22, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Backlit trees in a high country terrain of rugged red rock sandstone, Zion National Park
Since this has been a recurring theme in my photographs from Zion National Park in October, I think I’ll keep the commentary a bit short on this one. I made the photograph along the Mount Carmel Highway, which passes through high country along an east-west route though the park. We had a day here while on our way to our eventual destination to the east, so we decided to focus on this high country area, with its deep washes and slot canyons, autumn colors, and rounded forms of various types of layered sandstone.
In this area the sandstone was a sort of medium red – not as intense as some of the deeper strata nor as light as some of the nearly white rocks found elsewhere. This rock was finely layered in many places, and formed into a small world of ridges and domes covered with widely spaced trees. I photographed the scene in afternoon light, when the sun was shining from behind the trees and creating a sort of halo of light for each one. Because of the backlight, a bit of atmospheric haze is present and the underlying rocks take on a deeper tone. Every so often a friend of fellow photographer might refer to something they call “G Dan light,” and this is it – the light of backlit trees, photographed by shooting almost directly into the sun, with just a bit of haze.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.