Category Archives: Photographs: The Southwest

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

Tree, Red Rock Ledge

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Tree, Red Rock Ledge
A tree grows at the apex of a sandstone ledge, Zion National Park.

Tree, Red Rock Ledge. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree grows at the apex of a sandstone ledge, Zion National Park.

I recall composing the photograph and making several versions of it as I thought about where to position the tree at the apex of the ledge, a question made a bit complicated by some of the subjects surrounding the main focus and by the need to have the camera pointing upwards rather steeply. Shortly after this visit to Zion National Park I shared one or two early version of the scene, one in portrait and one in landscape orientation, if I recall correctly.

The compositional questions remaining in the back of my mind, however. When I came back to the original files recently I decided to work a bit with a different image from among the original group. As I worked it started to seem that it might be good to try a crop that I had not considered originally, one that took out some extraneous material. (A big part of editing is determining how much you can remove!)

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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

Green River Canyon

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Green River Canyon
A hazy evening overlooking the Green River Canyon as sunset.

Green River Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A hazy evening overlooking the Green River Canyon at sunset.

The story of this photograph — and this version of the image — is a bit involved for the usual two-paragraph post, but here goes. The first part concerns the fact that this is not a new photograph, but that I created and shared in the past. However, as I looked at it during my pandemic project of reviewing old files, I began to feel that it could benefit from a bit of reinterpretation. The result is not radically different, but I like it a bit more. A slightly modified crop and a few other bits of post-processing revision provide a stronger sense of what I recall experiencing when I made the photograph.

And speaking of making the photograph, this is where I get to — yet again! — tell a story on myself. I made the photograph on the first day of my first-ever visit to this Utah national park and, as is my frequently practice, I entered this park having done essentially no prior research. My idea, at least most of the time, is that I don’t want to go to such places with too many preconceptions, preferring to go with my own personal response to the place. (Funny story: We passed a turn-off at one point to “Mesa Arch,” one of this things that every photographer must “capture” in this park. I had no idea it was there… and we kept driving.) So, we entered the park and drove up to the “island in the sky” mesa area and began poking around. Eventually we “discovered” a location with a spectacular panoramic view down into and across the magnificent canyon of the Green River. I later came to understand that perhaps I wasn’t the first person to visit this spot… to put in mildly.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Towers, Windows, Mountains

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Towers, Windows, Mountains
Arches National Park towers and windows, backed by distant mountains in morning haze.

Towers, Windows, Mountains. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Arches National Park towers and windows, backed by distant mountains in morning haze.

The first time I visited Arches National Park, I was intentionally almost completely ignorant of the place. I had sort of connected it with Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire,” but only as a sort of vague background to the larger points of that book. I knew that so-called Delicate Arch was located in this par. But that was pretty much it. So the first time we drove into the place late one afternoon I was almost completely unprepared for the otherworldly quality of the impossible formation in the park.

I made this photograph a few days later, on a morning of oddly hazy atmosphere that muted the details for the landscape, simplifying it and bringing attention to the larger forms. While this is red rock country, that is barely visible in this light. The solitary pinnacle is silhouetted against a panorama of other-worldly towers and windows backed by the barely visible outline of the La Sal Mountains.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Fractured Sandstone Cliff, Plants

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Fractured Sandstone Cliff, Plants
Plants grow in cracks in a sandstone cliff, Zion Naitonal Park.

Fractured Sandstone Cliff, Plants. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Plants grow in cracks in a sandstone cliff, Zion Naitonal Park.

One unanticipated result of the pandemic restrictions on travel has been that I’ve had plenty of time to start digging through my archive of photographs made over the years. In some cases I have “discovered” photograph files that I had originally left behind, either because I didn’t understand how the image could work at that time or because I simply got distracted by other things and moved on. In addition to finding these “lost files,” the process of revisiting old work has caused me to rethink my original presentation of some photographs that I thought I was done with. This is one of those photographs.

The subject is in Zion National Park, where it is easy to find all sorts of interesting things along the red rock canyon walls. As I looked at my first take on this photograph, done eight years ago, I felt that I wanted to interpret it a bit differently. This version is cropped a bit more tightly, and I’ve handled the dynamic range of the scene a bit differently, perhaps retaining a bit more of the feeling subjects shaded by tall cliffs.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.