Tag Archives: canyon

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

Cracked Mud, Canyon Light

November 18, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photo of dried mud, Utah. — “Cracked Mud, Canyon Light” — Reflected red canyon light illuminates cracked mud in a Utah wash

I had thought of titling this photograph “More Mud,” given that it certainly was not the only photograph I made of this subject recently. The group of us — 6 landscape/nature photographers — had set off down into a beautiful canyon, but before we dropped into the deeper section we came across this patch of trying and curling mud… and ended up stopping for a half hour or more to photograph this seemingly mundane subject.

But actually, it turns out that desert mud is often anything but mundane. When it is found in a narrow canyon with red rock walls, the mud takes on the colors of the reflected light and even a bit of the blue color from overhead open sky. In many cases, you might miss this if you were not tuned in to the light and color… but if you do see it, soon such places provide a wild range of colors. A highlight comes from overhead light reflected down into the canyon as it bounces off the red rock and takes on a very warm and red coloration.

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

Two From the Waterpocket Fold Area

November 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

I’m going to double-up here and share two photographs in a single post — both are from the Waterpocket Fold (Strike Valley) area just to the east of Capitol Reef National Park.

Utah’s Waterpocket fold, viewed from high in the southern part of Capitol Reef National Park

The “Waterpocket Fold” is a gigantic geologic formation in Utah, a good portion of which runs the length of Capitol Reef National Park and beyond. As I understand it, the formation is a monocline, where strata change depth at a fairly steep angle, and subsequent erosion has worn away and exposed these strata in amazing ways, especially where the up-trending layers end. This photograph, made from a high point along the ridge of Capitol Reef, looks south into the waterpocket valley as it bends and continues to head south.

Cottonwood trees with autumn foliage follow a wash up a canyon toward Waterpocket Fold area cliffs

This photograph looks to the east across the strike valley of the Waterpocket Fold feature from along the ridge of Capitol Reef. A wash (which may be Bitter Creek?) winds away and upwards toward the giant cliffs along the east side of the Valley. The scene illustrates, I think, quite a few common features of this terrain. It is quite arid and rugged — except that along the bottom of the wash, which periodically floods, a long grove of cottonwood trees and other vegetation has taken hold and seems to thrive.

History, Photographs: Photographers

Holding an Artifact

November 16, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Holding a Brett Weston negative — “Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1946”

During our visit to the Weston Home at Wildcat Hill in late September, Kim Weston shared a wide range of photographs and photographic objects , and accompanying stories, with us in his studio. (That’s him at the lower right of the frame.) He shared and talked about work by many of the Westons, from Edward Weston to himself. He even passed around various photographs and objects for closer inspection, including this negative of a very important Brett Weston photograph, “Brooklyn Bridge, New York, 1946.”

And — no surprise! — he has a lot of stories to tell. If I have this one correct, it goes sort of this way. Brett Weston’s photographs are very much about the print and the initial image in the negative served as source material for the final interpretation. That interpretation was the thing — not the negative. As I understand it, he wanted the prints, not the negatives, to remain as his legacy, and he had announced that we was going to destroy the negatives for many great photographs. He discussed this with Edward (?) Weston, who did not feel the same way about limiting editions and who apparently convinced Brett to let him pick a few negatives to save. Brett agreed, Edward chose, Brett went and brought back the selected negatives… which he had defaced with a hole punch. (You can see the holes near the four corners of this negative.)

Photographs: Photographers

Edward Weston Darkroom

November 15, 2014 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

In late September I had the opportunity to join a group of photographers visiting the Wildcat Hill Weston home in the Carmel Highlands area of the California Coast. The Weston family, members of which still live and work here, trace their family history at this place back to the great photographer, Edward Weston. The main house is maintained in much the state it would have been in quite a while ago, and there are wonderful archival objects — photographs, art, objects, this darkroom, etc — everywhere. This small darkroom, designed for contact printing, is a small space off the main room of the building. Not only does it have fascinating historical interest for photographers, but it is also remarkable to see the modest and personal space in which so much Weston photography was realized.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: canyon

Cracked Mud, Canyon Light

Two From the Waterpocket Fold Area

Holding an Artifact

Edward Weston Darkroom

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