Tag Archives: bottom

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Twisting Canyon

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Twisting Canyon
Morning light shines into the bottom of a desert canyon.

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

Morning light shines into the bottom of a desert canyon.

One of the things I like about this photograph is that it gives virtually no clues about when it was made — it could be a burning hot summer day, or it could be a winter day. In addition, there isn’t much to provide scale — is this canyon small and intimate or is it gigantic? The truth is that I made the photograph on a very cold winter morning, and the photograph is of of the bottom of a very large Death Valley canyon that winds up into mountains.

I think there is a lot going on in this scene, and with most of the components you could regard them for what they are or you could consider them for the graphic contribution. The bottom of the canyon winds back and fort and then disappears around a bend. The backlit top edges of gullies descend from left to right at the bottom of the scene, but descend in contrary motion above that. There is more depth to the scene than might first be apparent — a more distant slope sits in the upper left corner. And the faces are full of bent and twisted strata that have been tilted to a 45 degree angle.

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

Sandstone and Canyon Mud

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Sandstone and Canyon Mud
Cracked mud at the bottom of a narrow Utah sandstone slot canyon

Sandstone and Canyon Mud. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cracked mud at the bottom of a narrow Utah sandstone slot canyon

For various reasons I found myself looking back into my archives of older photographs this week. In one case someone asked about a particular subject and I thought that I could find the answer in the form of a photograph. In another I wanted to use an older image to illustrate a point. Sometimes when I go back to the old raw image files one thing leads to another and I’m off on an exploration of forgotten work. And, quite often, as I do this I “rediscover” photographs that I had originally left behind for one reason or another.

This week’s dive into the past took me back about four years to a wonderful trip to the Southwest. I had several weeks to wander. I started in the Kanab area, worked my way up to Capitol Reef to meet a photographer friend, then joined with a group of photographer/friends to spend several days camping and photographing in a remote area. I emerged from that backcountry trip to spend a night in a wonderful lodge in Boulder — what a shock that was! — and then headed west to join my family in the Zion area. I made this photograph early on the trip. I decided to explore a new area which I knew to hold some well-known features. I drove into the area, found a place to park at a likely looking trailhead, shouldered my pack and headed into a large wash, eventually entering a section of beautiful slot canyon terrain, with much from recent rains still covering parts of the canyon floor.

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.

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

Canyon and Stream

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Canyon and Stream
Canyon and Stream

Canyon and Stream. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 24, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small rock-filled stream wanders along the bottom of a deep Utah red rock canyon

Yet another bend in yet another Utah canyon! We had hiked a good distance down into the depths of this canyon, finally stopping (most of us, anyway) at a scenic bend with lots of interesting photographic subjects. We held up there to make photographs, to sit and talk, and to eat. A few of us went a bit farther and some went a good distance more, but soon we had all checked our watches and realized it was time to start back..

This spot is just below a narrow section of the canyon where the water flows through a narrow cleft and around a big curve. Here, below that section, it seems like the flow must slow a bit, since a few more trees manage to grow here and the bed of the creek held a lot of river rocks and silt. In the distance the canyon curves more toward the west, and this allows a bit more light down into the canyon, producing a bit of a glow ahead.

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

Bend in the Canyon

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Bend in the Canyon
Bend in the Canyon

Bend in the Canyon. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 24, 2014. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sharp curving bend in the bottom of a Utah canyon

In many ways this is a bend in the canyon much like probably many thousands or other bends in this and other canyons. In places the courses of these canyons seem to wobble back and forth, turning right and then left and then right again as they trace their way down into the deeper sections of such canyons. In this spot the canyon narrowed and steepened just a little bit, and the creeks almost filled the bottom of the rocky section of the canyon around the bend. The nearly vertical canyon walls towered hundreds of feet above and no direct sunlight made it down here while I walked through.

These spots form their own little worlds, cut off from the flat country surrounding the canyons high above, and far from entry and exit points above and below. They are quiet places — at least during the good weather times when I tend to visit — and they are sonically isolated from the rest of the world, too. It is possible to walk slowly down such a canyon, picking your way along and through the creek, stopping frequently to look and perhaps photograph… and completely forget that outside world.

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.