Category Archives: Photographs: Nature

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Kolob Canyon, Morning

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“Kolob Canyon, Morning” — Morning light slants over the top of sandstone cliffs above early autumn foliage in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park

I finally made it into the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park this October. From what I can tell, this area is much less frequently visited than the more popular and accessible Zion Canyon area. It seems to me that the park service sort of wants it this way, which makes sense to me. There is almost no formal development of this portion of the park aside from a very modest visitor center near the entrance. Along the dead-end road into this portion of the park, you find little besides a few turn-outs and parking lots at some trailheads. In addition, the entrance to this section of the park requires a significant drive from the most popular lodging areas in places like Springdale.

We arrived on a very cold early autumn morning when many trees and bushes were just beginning the fall color changes. In most places things were still very green, but here and there it was possible to find some nice displays of color. Near the location of this photograph the road made a sort of horseshoe bend across the lower portion of the canyon, and I spotted a lot of things that seemed to be photo-worthy to me: the early morning sun light beams slanting through morning haze across the upper section of the canyon, the dry waterfall at its furthest-back point, the always-beautiful red rock cliffs, and the colorful foliage beginning to appear in the canyon.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Oak Branch and Layered Sandstone After Rain

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Oak Branch and Layered Sandstone After Rain - Branch and autumn leaves of a gambel oak drape over layered sandstone after rain, Zion National Park
Branch and autumn eaves of a gambel oak drape over layered sandstone after rain, Zion National Park

Oak Branch and Layered Sandstone After Rain. Zion National Park, Utah. October 12, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Branch and autumn leaves of a gambel oak drape over layered sandstone after rain, Zion National Park

This photograph was made on the afternoon of the day we arrived in the Zion National Park area, after driving across Arizona and Utah from Moab through some substantial rain. The storm was moving from west-to-east as we drove the opposite direction, and we drove through its core in Arizona. By the time we arrived in Zion and drove over the Mount Carmel Highway, we mostly saw the aftermath of the rain, though a few sprinkles remained here and there – and they occasionally interrupted the photography.

The previous rain and the continuing showers enhance and saturate the colors of the rock and the vegetation and bring to life small streams and rivulets. Here the branch of an overhanging gambel oak tree, just beginning its change to autumn colors, intrudes into the upper corner of the frame and contrasts with the deep red-brown colors of the damp sandstone. Rock angle is everything in this terrain, and here the rock is at an angle that allows its layers to be stripped away gradually, revealing the underlying striations and creating interesting and complex patterns. Because this rock is down in a wash, wet sand sits on many of the small ledges.

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.
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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.

Photographs: Arizona, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Approaching Storm, Monument Valley

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Approaching Storm, Monument Valley - A storm front approaches the iconic towers of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
A storm front approaches the iconic towers of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Approaching Storm, Monument Valley. Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona. October 12, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A storm front approaches the iconic towers of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Considering that we only passed through Monument Valley on a drive between two other locations and that we happened to arrive when a storm front was passing through, I have to consider myself lucky to have made any photographs of the location at all on this visit. We were on the long drive between Moab and Springdale, so we unfortunately could not afford to hang around long waiting for idea conditions – so I went ahead and shot in the “weather.”

Quite a few of the photographs were made in actual rain – as in, it was raining where I was shooting, or I was shooting into or through curtains for rain. However, the nature of this storm was that a line of weather would come through, there would be a bit of clearing, and then the next squall line would arrive. So between the bouts of rain there were some moments of sunshine, and the sunshine not only dried things out a bit but it also made the clouds more visible Here a very large cell was building over some of the iconic Monument Valley formations. I chose the vertical format and only included a bit of the solid ground so as to emphasize the size and height of the clouds.

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Two Islands, Fog

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"Two Islands, Fog" — Two grass covered islands in thick fog
“Two Islands, Fog” — Two grass covered islands in thick fog

I made my first trip of the season to California’s Central Valley in late November, in search of migratory birds – geese, herons, egrets, and so forth. I look forward to this every fall, for the experience of seeing (and hearing!) the birds but also as an excuse to explore the landscape of this part of California and, especially, to do so in interesting and evocative weather conditions. And, yes, fog is among those conditions.

The tule fog is a frequent feature during the winter months in the Central Valley, sometimes sticking around for days on end. One can drive over the hills into the Valley in sunlight, only to see the blanket of fog on the Valley floor ahead, and once inside the fog there is little trace of that brilliant winter sunshine. (Except that this fog, being shallow, sometimes creates the very odd juxtaposition of very impaired visibility and diffused light so bright you can barely look into it. Sometimes you can look up through this fog and see the sky or the moon above.) On this trip, when I arrived at my destination the fog was so thick that bird photography was, to put it mildly, challenging. On my first loop around the dirt road I did go slowly and find a few birds that were close enough to the road to make photographs, but on my second pass I instead thought to focus on the fog-blanketed landscape itself.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.