Tag Archives: america

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

Towers and Shadows, Sunrise

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Towers and Shadows, Sunrise
Red rock towers cast shadows on a cliff face in sunrise light, Zion National Park.

Towers and Shadows, Sunrise. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red rock towers cast shadows on a cliff face in sunrise light, Zion National Park.

We have not visited Utah since before the 2016 election. I love Utah’s diverse and beautiful landscape, but once the state joined in the process of dismantling public lands I felt that the ethical — though painful — choice was to stay away until things were once again set right. Earlier this month we made it back and I can report that the state is as beautiful as it was before… and that I’m very glad to have been able to return. To a Californian, used to the mostly-gray landscapes of my beloved Sierra Nevada, the technicolor landscape of Utah is a revelation.

This photograph is another intuit combines planning and dumb luck. We got up a bit later on this morning. There was no need to catch the first shuttle into the canyon since our plan was to drive to higher country. This particular subject was on my list of sunrise possibilities, but when we arrived at the spot where I thought I could set up I could not find a place to pull over. That turned out to be good luck, as a few minutes later I figured out that a more elevated perspective was possible a bit further up the road. We found a place to pull over just. before the sun/shadow line reached the pinnacles, and I worked quickly to set up as the light continued to descend. I made a series of exposures starting with the first glimmer of direct light on the highest tower, and then I kept photographing as the light moved lower on the face, projecting the shadows of the ledge and towers on the cliff wall.

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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Tree, Red Rock, Morning Light

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Tree, Red Rock, Morning Light
A lone tree in morning backlight against a backdrop of red rock formations, Zion National Park.

Tree, Red Rock, Morning Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone tree in morning backlight against a backdrop of red rock formations, Zion National Park.

We recently managed to get away for our first long road trip in a very long time. We started in the Eastern Sierra Nevada, where the annual autumn aspen color show was well underway. From there we headed to Utah — which I have not visited since before the previous presidential administration — where we spent several days photographing in Zion National Park. From there we moved on to spend some time on one of the less-travelled Utah backroads before heading south for a very quick visit to the North Rim of Grand Canyon. (The story of that part of the trip is a bit too long to relate here. Perhaps later…)

Our visit to Zion was divided roughly into two sections. We spent the first part of the visit exploring and photographing sections of Zion Canyon on foot. Then we spent a day in the “high country” along the Mount Carmel highway, an area with an infinity of photographic opportunities that change with the light throughout the day. That is the area where I made this photograph of a solitary tree standing atop a sand stone formation in the brilliantly bright morning back-light.

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: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shades of Autumn

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Shades of Autumn
A scene of dense vegetation with fall color, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Shades of Autumn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A scene of dense vegetation with fall color, Eastern Sierra Nevada.

On this day I came upon a dense grove of small aspen trees mixed with some autumn-colored mountain willows with their slightly less flamboyant brownish fall color. At the time I arrived the trees were in the shadow of the tall mountains nearby, and the light had a bit of a blue quality. It was also soft and diffused, leading to an absence of very bright highlights and filling the shadows with light, too. The aspen leaves stood out a bit from the background with they yellow color.

Looking for some kind of order and structure in such dense subjects is a challenge, one that forces the photographer to look beyond the obvious ways of seeing. Subtle lines in the dense and complex texture can be enough to direct the eye. Slight contrasts in luminosity or color become important. And the lack of a single strong central subject lets the eye wander about the frame and take in the complexity of the scene.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspen Grove in Back Light

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Aspen Grove in Back Light
Bright back-light accentuates the colors of autumn Sierra Nevada aspen trees.

Aspen Grove in Back Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bright back-light accentuates the colors of autumn Sierra Nevada aspen trees.

This grove of small aspens presented a photographic problem. Due to Sierra Nevada wildfires, smoke had drifted across the entire range from west to east. There was an ugly haze in the sky that obscured any distant features and which discolored the light. Often in such conditions I will photograph with black and white in mind since that can actually take advantage of the haze in some situations. However, although it is possible to photograph fall color in black and white, this grove’s intense colors called for, well, a color photograph.

The solution had two parts. First, I used a longer lens to exclude the larger landscape, leaving only the small grove of trees in a little valley below my position. Second, I positioned myself where the sun was directly behind the grove, and the back-light lit the leaves from behind, almost making them glow and intensifying the autumn colors.

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.