Tag Archives: canyon

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

Canyon, Reflected Light

December 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Light reflected from sandstone cliffs along a narrow canyon passage, Utah

On my first full day of photography in Utah — as opposed to days spent traveling — my plans were a bit vague, but I wanted to end up in an area close to some very popular southwest Utah sites. I had no plans to visit the post popular of them, since they require permits and a lot of time spent getting the permits. However, I had an idea about visiting some nearly areas whose names I recognized, so I set off down a gravel road to the general area of one of them, still no knowing exactly what I was looking for. Soon I came to a short side road and a parking area labeled with a name I had heard of before, so I parked, loaded up camera gear, water, and a bit of food and set off on foot.

Almost any place around here seems to provide a sufficient number of beauties, and it wasn’t long after I set out to walk down this broad wash that I found my first red rock formations and stopped to photograph them. A bit further along the canyon briefly narrowed and bent as it passed between some sandstone walls, though which some more distant pinnacles were visible. The juxtaposition of pinnacles and cliffs and other elements was interesting, but the it may have been the beautiful light reflected on the right canyon wall that convinced me to stop and photograph here, too, before heading further down this wash to where the walls narrowed and slot canyons began.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

The Last Leaves

December 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The last autumn aspen leaves hang from the branches of nearly bare trees against a granite cliff

So many aspen photographs focus on the wild autumn colors — for good reason! But this is not the only interesting phase of the autumn transition, and I also like the reappearance of the bare, white trunks of the trees as the leaves drop away.

I made this photograph late in the day and in a canyon area where little light penetrates after mid-afternoon, and where trees grow right up against a jumbled granite cliff that is fractured and full of blocks and angles. Late in the day, when the only light comes from the blue sky overhead, the quality of the light becomes quite cold. (At this time of year the air also becomes cold quickly late in the day!) I stuck around after most others had left and photographed these nearly bare trunks into the blue hour period.

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

Cliffs, Trees, and Morning Light

December 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park is less visited than the areas near Springdale, Utah. It is a significant drive away, and the park service has (wisely?) left it relatively undeveloped — a very small visitor center, no restaurants, just a road into a very beautiful area with a lot of trailheads.

We visited this area on a fall morning when the light was just coming over the tops of the tall cliffs to the east and backlighting some beautiful atmospheric haze. Photographing these juxtaposed rock faces and buttresses with a long lens, not only was distance telescoped but the haze softened the scene even more than it otherwise might and muted the colors a bit. There is a lot of small detail in this scene, but most of it is suppressed, with the exception of the thin edges of light on the rock and the backlit trees.

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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

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

Trees and Cliffs, Morning

December 5, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on red rock cliffs and trees

Zion National Park, especially to a California Sierra photographer, is an almost ridiculously colorful place. One California friend describes Zion Canyon (which is not where this photograph was made, by the way) as “Yosemite Valley in Technicolor.” Another friend, a California landscape photographer, points out that somehow the Sierra looks “so gray” when one returns to their after photographing in Utah. And the color contrast is even more striking in the fall when the red rocks are not the only source of intense color — there are also the wild colors of autumn leaves, the deep blue of the sky, and the greens of pinyon pine and juniper.

I’m always a sucker for photographs of trees and mountains lit from behind, and I knew in advance that such an opportunity might arise when we went to this slightly less popular canyon in the early morning. In fact, I even rephotographed a few subjects that I had shot on the previous visit, partly because the conditions were different this time and partly because I think I understood them better on the second visit. This ridge sits below a much larger — monumental, actually — sandstone cliff at a bend in the canyon. As the sun rises above the much higher canyon rim it begins to cast light obliquely across this buttress and the single tree that grows on top of it.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: canyon

Canyon, Reflected Light

The Last Leaves

Cliffs, Trees, and Morning Light

Trees and Cliffs, Morning

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