Deserts offer few clues about the scale of the landscape. Unlike forest scenes, where trees often provide a frame of reference, plants often play a lesser role. Even when there are plants it can be unclear from a distance whether they are large trees or small shrubs. Here the inclusion of the human figure clarifies the scale of the grand Utah red rock landscape.
Continue reading Photographer, Canyon Country
The photograph comes from a trip some years back that took me to Capitol Reef National Park. Although it was challenging to find the right composition, I wanted to get a photograph of this bend in an anonymous red rock canyon where trees were tucked into the edge of hollowed out rock. The feature is fascinating, but it is more or less unmarked, like so many similar features in this landscape.
Continue reading A Red Rock Canyon
Today I am sharing yet another “lost and found” photograph, again from a decade-ago visit to Utah and, in this case, Zion National Park. (“Lost and found” photographs disappeared into my raw file archives, only to be rediscovered years later.) This one features a bit of vegetation, including some with developing fall color, growing in the cracks of a sandstone cliff.
I am impressed by how little some trees need to make a success of it. In the Sierra Nevada I have seen beautiful little trees growing on little more than a shallow bowl in the granite holding a few hands full of soil. Here the trees are growing in cracks in the solid sandstone, and must have little or no actual soil to nourish them.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.
this photograph comes from a trip to Utah and Zion National Park over a dozen years ago. It is also another of my “lost and found” photographs — from a file that has languished in my raw file archives since that time. I think I may have left it behind after working up a different photograph of the same cliff.
This is a classic Utah red rock canyon scene, with bright green trees (just barely starting to take on autumn colors) at the base of red rock cliffs. I love how the red and green stand out against one another. As I’ve said before, this Sierra Nevada guy, after a visit to Utah, always feels like the gray rock of his “home range” looks a bit… bland.
Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)
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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.