Tag Archives: canyon

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

Open Book

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Open Book
A sandstone cliff meets the bottom of a Utah red rock country wash.

Open Book. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sandstone cliff meets the bottom of a Utah red rock country wash.

My virtual journey back through Utah continues. Since opportunities to go into the field are limited right now I am instead digging back though tens of thousands of raw files in my archives. I have always recognized that I leave some photographs behind as I move on to the next thing — and sometimes I’m not just not yet ready to “see” how a photograph will work. For years I’ve made these return visits to the old files, most often with an end-of-the-year traverse of that year’s images before moving on. This time I’m starting back in 2012 and working my way forward slowly.

I made this photograph in the first slot canyon that I ever visited. You might wonder how I managed to get to 2012 without visiting this kind of terrain. It is a long story, but for some reasons I’ve explained elsewhere I simply didn’t get to Utah and the Southwest until about a decade ago. Shame on me! As we walked into this canyon I really had little idea of what to expect, but I was entranced. This bit of sandstone cliff wall sat immediately next to the sandy bottom of the wash, and the color of the diffused light warmed as it bounced down from above between the canyon walls.

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

Sunlight, Escalante River Canyon

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Sunlight, Escalante River Canyon
A beam of sunlight on trees and red rock in the canyon of the Escalante River.

Sunlight, Escalante River Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A beam of sunlight on trees and red rock in the canyon of the Escalante River.

On this trip eastward across Southern Utah we came across this lovely section of the Escalante River at just about the perfect moment. We had just made our obligatory stop at the Kiva Koffeehouse — perhaps the most improbably-located such place I’ve ever visited — and were back on the road, making the short descent to the crossing of this river before the road rises to along Calf Creek to pass along Hell’s Backbone. It was October, and the trees along the valley were just turning autumn colors, and clouds were sending beams of light across the landscape.

I’ve visited and photographed along the Escalante several times, generally walking down into the canyon and wandering slowly, my preferred mode. Yet driving though this section always seems magical, too, and every time I cross the river here I think of those other places I’ve visited along its route. Heck, I’m thinking of them again as I write this!

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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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

Sandstone Landscape

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Sandstone Landscape
The sandstone landscape of Arches National Park in hazy morning light.

Sandstone Landscape. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The sandstone landscape of Arches National Park in hazy morning light.

There aren’t really any obvious landscape icons in this photograph, but it felt to me like it captured something characteristic of the broader landscape of Arches National Park. Made on a hazy October morning, there were some rather impressive towers behind me as I made the photograph, but much of what was in front was muted by the haze. There is one of the ubiquitous fins, some sunlit foreground dry grass and brush, a plateau covered with rounded sandstone formations, and in the distance a landscape that includes the canyon of the Colorado River.

I am particularly intrigued by landscapes such as that seen just beyond the fin, where low, rounded sandstone formations cover the ground. From a distance they are not very imposing, but up close such places are full of things to sustain the interest if you can take the time to wander in such intimate landscapes.

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.

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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 Rock Face

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Red Rock Face
Detail of a sandstone face, Capitol Reef National Park.

Red Rock Face. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a sandstone face, Capitol Reef National Park.

Many times when I have photographed in red rock country I find myself looking for other subjects that work with the sandstone to produce compositions — juxtapositions of features, trees, a bit of sky or clouds, water, light and shadow, and all of the other things that are part of the experience of this Southern Utah landscape. But at times it strikes me that the rock itself can be the entire subject. This is one of those photographs.

These masses of sandstone are remarkable on their own. They may first seem somewhat undifferentiated, but a closer look in the right light — in my view, the shaded light in canyons is ideal — reveals remarkable variations and detail. The color of the rock varies greatly depending upon time of day and, especially, the color of reflected light bouncing between anyone walls. Cracks and imperfections mark the rock even on the smoothest sections. And an infinite variety of markings combine on the surface — internal irregularities, color differences where the surface has been disturbed, and everywhere vertical lines formed by seeping and flowing water.

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.

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