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

Red Rock, Tree

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Red Rock, Tree
A tree grows among eroded sandstone formations, Bryce Canyon National Park

Red Rock, Tree. Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah. October 6, 2012. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree grows among eroded sandstone formations, Bryce Canyon National Park

Recently I spent some time going back through older photographs from some visits to the Southwest, notably Utah, a few years back. I suspect that three things provoked me to do this. First, I have found that I’m not always able to completely understand my own photographs right away. Some are obviously “keepers” from the very beginning, but others only make sense after I have not looked at them for a while — so I build this periodic visit to older subjects into my workflow. Secondly, I love the Utah landscape, from its most intimate to its grandest subjects. It is a place I think about a lot, and a place that I would like to revisit often. Third, I’m acutely aware of the existential dangers to this very landscape posed by the ascendance of short-sighted, self-interested, hyper-partisan political forces in Utah right now. As a matter of principle, I have decided to not visit that state until their representatives stop trying to ruin it. (I urge you to consider contributions to the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance or other local groups working to protect Utah’s public lands for all Americans, and to join me in boycotting the state for now.)

This photograph comes from Bryce Canyon National Park, a place of great beauties… that I still haven’t quite gotten my mind around. The rugged red formations facing the rising sun certainly present a striking appearance, but working from along the main road and its offshoots I still haven’t found my vision of the place. Oddly, some of my strongest visual recollections of the place are looking back at it from the east and from a great distance. In this photograph a single small tree peeks out from behind some of the sandstone structures.

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: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building, Reflections

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Building, Reflections
Portions of downtown San Francisco reflected in the windows of a tall building

Building, Reflections. San Francisco, California. February 3, 3017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Portions of downtown San Francisco reflected in the windows of a tall building

This is an urban landscape photograph — while the subject is quite different from natural landscapes, I think of it is ways that are at least partially similar. Superficially, the urban world of towers and canyons presents some possibilities that are related to the mountains and valleys that I photograph in the non-urban world; I think about light and form in similar ways; and the ways I view each type of landscape can’t help but inform how I view the other.

It was only a few years ago when I understood something that intrigues me about glass-covered buildings like this one. (Yes, I’m slow sometimes…) We feel like we are looking at a building in a photograph like this, but a good part of what we actually see is not the building at all, but its form made visible by means of reflections of its surroundings, including other buildings and the sky. Here some skeletal forms help define its shape, perhaps more so than with some other buildings, but between those elements the windows themselves mostly reflect things that are not the building itself

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees, Snowy Ledge

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Trees, Snowy Ledge
Trees grow on a snowy ledge below Glacier Point

Trees, Snowy Ledge. Yosemite Valley, California. February 25, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees grow on a snowy ledge below Glacier Point

The cliffs and spires of Yosemite Valley — and not necessarily the most iconic among them — fascinate me. While there is only one Half Dome, there are uncounted intimate vignettes of ridge, ledge, spire, light, texture, color, and atmosphere everywhere, where the cliffs meet the canyon floor, up these giant walls, and along the rims of the Valley. The variety is astonishing — something that is uninteresting in one kind of light may glow in another, what appears as a featureless face in summer may acquire relief when there is snow, changing light color brings colors out of what might otherwise seem entirely gray.

In February a spent a couple of very early (and very cold!) mornings contemplating one specific area of the Valley, staring upwards as the bluish pre-dawn glow was transformed as light came to the sky and then as beams of sunlight slanted across the granite faces and ledges. On both mornings I photographed this subject — a pair of taller trees flanked by smaller trees and brush and a dead snag, and set against a particularly varied bit of cliff texture and color.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

The Shadow Line

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The Shadow Line
The boundary between morning sunlight and shadow traverses granite slabs

The Shadow Line. Yosemite Valley, California. February 26, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The boundary between morning sunlight and shadow traverses granite slabs

These slabs on the lower face of the Glacier Point apron always attract me, especially in the morning. I go way back with them — many years ago when I was, for a short time, a budding rock climber, we climbed on them, testing the limits of our trust in friction. Today, when I’m in this section of the Valley early in the morning, I always watch for the arrival of the first sun on the slopes.

I was in a cold meadow before sunrise on this winter morning. Soon the first light began to touch the cliffs along the north side of the Valley, and then trees along the upper rim near Glacier Point picked up the light. It worked its way slowly down the immense face, and the light final streamed through gaps behind Half Dome and slanted across this slope and revealed the cracks and scallops on the weathered granite.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.