Tag Archives: canyon

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

Cottonwood Tree, Sandstone Canyon Walls

May 24, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cottonwood tree set against the afternoon colors of shaded sandstone walls of Zion Canyon, Utah

I photographed this tree, still too soon to have fall colors, in front of the huge sandstone cliffs above the Temple of Sinawava feature at the upper end of Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. These trees grow here along the banks of the Virgin River, which makes some rather abrupt twists and turns in this portion of the canyon and flows right up against the canyon walls.

I should probably write something about the colors in this photograph. I actually held this one back for some time on account of the colors – which could easily be seen to be due to overly enthusiastic post-processing on my part. That’s not the case, but there have been a few other photographs that I have made that have evoked such responses, and sometimes I’d rather not have to explain. However, in this case I will explain! :-) The entire scene is in shadow, as the very tall cliffs are along the west rim of the canyon and completely block sun from this spot for a good portion of the day. The cliff face is extensively covered with a sort of “varnish” that is commonly seen on such walls, though it is much more extensive than usual here. This material normally is quite dark, black even, and is more reflective than natural sandstone. When it is in the shade it tends to reflect the blue tones of the sky – and that is where the intense coloration of this cliff comes from.

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

Cottonwood, Fallen Monolith, and Cliff

May 20, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunlight reflected from nearby canyon walls illuminates an autumn cottonwood tree in front of a fallen sandstone monolith and vertical cliff face.

I may be repeating a story I’ve previously told, but here goes. Earlier during my late-October visit to Utah we had wandered into this area, only to be largely stymied by clouds, cold, absurdly strong winds, and even a bit of rain. It was a bit disappointing, in that we had really looked forward to visiting this portion of the Escalante River, and when we started out in the early morning and saw a lot of beautiful fall color we thought we were in for a good day of shooting. Although that day was not a complete loss, it wasn’t what we hoped for – and by the end of the day we were struggling against very strong winds and cold.

Fortunately, nearly a week later we found ourselves back in roughly the same area of Utah, and as we considered the next day’s possible shooting locations the idea of giving this spot a second try came up. After considering that alternatives of trying a new location or going back, we decided to go back. It was a good decision! Where the first visit had been cold, cloudy, windy and even a bit damp, the second visit brought warmer conditions, almost completely clear skies… and most important, nearly windless conditions. (At one point we were cautiously admitting to one another that we had made exposures of foliage that lasted as long as a couple of seconds!) Near one large bend in the canyon there was a spectacular abundance of “targets” – brilliant cottonwood and box elder trees, beautiful canyon walls of various colors, fallen leaves, and more. On the previous visit we had all looked at this little scene of a large fallen section of the canyon wall with golden cottonwoods growing all around, and then pretty much continued on since the trees where being whipped around by the wind. But on this second visit the wind was calm, and light was reflected into the scene from sunlit sandstone walls to our left.

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

Cliffs, Morning Light

May 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Immense cliffs in the Pine Creek Canyon area of Zion National Park.

This was an interesting morning, as much for its place in the sequence of events on this trip to photograph in Utah as for the actual photographic opportunities. I have noticed, and other photographers I’ve spoken with about this seem to agree to at least some extent, that there is sometimes a sort of “getting up to speed” element to certain types of shooting when you are getting started. I recall mentioning this to one photographer friend in the context of a discussion about the idea that you should always have a clear vision for your photograph before you make it – a theoretical concept that most photographers I know acknowledge to be unrealistic and perhaps even a bad idea. (This is not to say that thinking about what your “capture” may look like as a photograph is unimportant, but rather an acknowledgement that things are often more complex than the simplistic notion suggests and that sometimes we, quite honestly, don’t really know for sure which images will work or why.) When the idea of waiting for a really good image before making a photograph came up, I shared the observation that I sometimes have to “prime the pump” but simply starting to make some photographs, even if I’m not convinced that the first ones will be great. (One friend then referred to this as “photographic foreplay.” ;-)

The previous day we had driven to St. George, Utah from the San Francisco Bay Area – a LONG drive – and finally stumbled into a motel in St. George close to midnight. (As I recall, the motel advertised something like “The Cheapest Rooms in St. George!”) Up in the morning for precisely the free breakfast that you might expect in such a place – I resisted and instead walked across the street to a Starbucks – we left early and headed into Zion. As I recall we did not spend much, if any, time in Zion Canyon, and we were soon heading up the Mount Carmel highway, still having made no photographs. Finally, as we turned a few switchbacks on the initial climb, we saw some interesting light on the cliffs across the canyon, pulled over, got our cameras and lenses and tripods and made some photographs. I’m not sure that any of them were exactly remarkable, but with this first “shoot” (priming the pump) our work was now underway.

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

Cliffs and Fog, Morning

May 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Zion Canyon cliffs in clearing fog — “Cliffs and Fog, Morning” — Cliffs of Zion Canyon emerge from morning fog

This is a somewhat different photograph of a scene that I previously shared. The earlier version featured a closer view of the pinnacle near the right of this frame – this one backs off a bit and shows more of the overall cliff face. We had arrived at Zion National Park the previous day, coming across Arizona in very rainy weather to enter this park in light rain in the afternoon. On the way over the Mount Carmel Highway to Springdale, where we would stay that night, we had photographed the wet high country sandstone as the rain came to an end.

On this morning the clouds from that rain storm had not quite left as we rode one of the very early shuttles into Zion Canyon with a plan to photograph further up the canyon. But as the shuttle entered the lower canyon I was intrigued – as I always am! – but mist and clouds swirling around the upper slopes of the canyon walls. Aside from the much more colorful red rock here, the scene reminded me a lot of what I frequently see in Yosemite Valley during stormy weather. The timing was just right in relation to the clouds and the light. As the sun came up behind my camera position, the clouds had cleared over the center of the valley allowing the morning light to shine under the mist swirling around the upper cliff face, so while the highest ridge was still darkened by the clouds, the lower face was increasingly lit by the morning light as the clouds rose and began to clear away.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: canyon

Cottonwood Tree, Sandstone Canyon Walls

Cottonwood, Fallen Monolith, and Cliff

Cliffs, Morning Light

Cliffs and Fog, Morning

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