Category Archives: Photographs: Utah

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Red Rock Outcropping

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Red Rock Outcropping
A variety of plantlife growing on a red rock outcropping, Zion National Park.

Red Rock Outcropping. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A variety of plantlife growing on a red rock outcropping, Zion National Park.

Utah red rock country is full of little vignettes like this one, no matter where you are. the photograph comes from Zion National Park, but it could have been made in any number of other locations where the sandstone formations appear. This California photographer, used to the relatively gray tones of Sierra granite, cannot get enough of the wild colors of this state.

I made this photograph on a morning when we drove across Zion National Park highlands on the Mt. Carmel Highway. Changes along this route, which can only assume the park service regards as improvements, have made photography considerably more difficult here. Many places where I used to be able to pull over and photograph are now off limits. That problem aside, we still did find places to stop and photograph in the brilliant morning sun, a very different experience than photographing in Zion Canyon or other deep and shaded places.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Streamside Cottonwood Trees

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Streamsiode Cottonwood Trees
Streamside cottonwood trees along the Virgin River begin to change to autumn colors.

Streamside Cottonwood Trees. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Streamside cottonwood trees along the Virgin River begin to change to autumn colors.

This photograph comes from a very busy place in Zion National Park, along the trail to one of the more popular destinations in Zion Canyon. Fortunately, as is almost always the case in well-known national parks, you can usually step even a little ways off the main trails and put some distance between yourself and the hordes. That’s more or less what I did here — I just walked a little ways away from the main hiking thoroughfare to where the trees were overhanging the river a bit. (However, a warning: When there are so many people around, sometimes a critical mass of them may see you making photographs and decide to follow. Unfortunately, that happened here to some extent. On some occasions I’ve been known to go to some lengths to obscure my visits to such places!)

Once again, I was really mostly attracted by the reflected canyon light — that special light that reflects from sunlit red rock walls and then gently fills in shadows with softly-directional, warm light. (One challenge: if there is a breeze it can be hard to deal with the motion of the leaves in this low light.) I chose the portrait orientation for this photograph so that I could include a bit of the stream and the boulder along with a bit of the canyon wall above and beyond the trees.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

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

Cottonwoods and Red Rock Canyon

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Cottonwoods and Red Rock Canyon
An old cottonwood and a grove of smaller trees in front of the sandstone walls of Zion Canyon.

Cottonwoods and Red Rock Canyon. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old cottonwood and a grove of smaller trees in front of the sandstone walls of Zion Canyon.

There are at least two stories behind this photograph — maybe more. The first one involves a situation familiar to many photographers. When we go into these places carrying a backpack of gear, with a big camera on a tripod hanging over our shoulder, we aren’t exactly in stealth mode. And because lots of people in such places are trying to figure out how to make photographs to record their wonder… sometimes our presence draws them in our direction. I had wandered over to the bank of the Virgin River to photograph something and, sure enough, lots of other folks started showing up in what had been a pretty empty spot. I finished photographing there and headed back toward where I came from, looked back, and saw this big old tree towering above and decided it was worth a photograph. But now there were a few dozen people among those trees!

I made a mental note to remember the tree and come back to it later on as I continued up the canyon. When I did return the crowd had departed and I was able to get the scene I wanted. I’m generally not big on shooting with wide angle lenses, often preferring to limit the composition by using longer lenses and their narrower angle-of-view. But in the confines of a red rock canyon, a large tree like this cottonwood often towers above you, even if you have some space to move back. These big, old cottonwood trees fascinate me, and their varieties of form and setting seem almost infinite.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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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

Red Strata

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Red Strata
Overlapping ridges of red strata in the Utah backcountry.

Red Strata. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Overlapping ridges of red strata in the Utah backcountry.

Our plans for this day in Southwest Utah were a bit vague. Initially I had in mind perhaps three or four possible destinations, but recent rainfall (which leads to mud, with its pluses and minuses) convinced me that perhaps a drive on a long, isolated backroad might make more sense than a foray into a deep and narrow canyon. Besides, I knew of at least one canyon along the route that was less likely to be muddy, being a bit wider and shallower. So off we went.

One thing about a couple of photographers driving through a fascinating, beautiful place is that… there are a lot of stops. By the time we got to a decent turn-around point on this drive we realized that it was late enough in the day that we probably wouldn’t have a lot of time to explore on foot on the way back. I made a guess that a particular section of narrow canyon might be easily accessible from our route, though I couldn’t be sure since I had not previously visited that canyon. We stopped, walked a bit, and quickly realized that the entry was a bit more complex than we had in mind. We tried another canyon entrance with similar results — given more time we could have gone in, but time was the one thing we didn’t have. But along the route on the way in I had noticed this impressive are of impressively red and impressively eroded strata, and we had time to stop and photograph it before heading on.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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.