Tag Archives: capitol reef

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

Tree and Sandstone Cliff

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Tree and Sandstone Cliff
A solitary tree against red rock sandstone cliff at Capitol Reef National Park.

This is yet another photograph where I’m pretty sure where I made it but willing to admit to a bit of uncertainty. My recollection, reinforced by examining the imagines just before and after it in my chronological record, is that I made it in a canyon at Capitol Reef National Park, and probably in a location that isn’t particularly hard to access. I’m always intrigued by the wild color contrasts in this part of the world, perhaps even more so having the largely gray Sierra Nevada as my home range!

I”ve been to Capitol Reef a few times now, though not yet enough to know the part the way I know places like Yosemite where I’ve probably spent something approaching two years of my life in total. One thing that fascinates me about Capitol Reef — among may fascination-worthy features — is the contrast between the relatively small front country section with its lovely campground and easy road access and the much larger and much more remote sections of the park that are not nearly so easy to get to.

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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

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

Southwest Sky

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Southwest Sky
Morning clouds above the landscape of Capitol Reef National Park

Southwest Sky. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning clouds above the landscape of Capitol Reef National Park

On this October morning we were up early, but not quite early enough — though it turned out fine in the end. We awoke before sunrise, with a plan to head down along the east side of Capitol Reef National Park along the Waterpocket Fold. We hoped to be a good distance down this route when the sun rose, but we got up later than expected. We were far from our goal when the dawn arrived.

Our location was, in some ways, not the spectacular sort of place that we had envisioned for sunrise. However, there were absolutely beautiful clouds to our north, and the dawn light’s color could probably make any subject look good. So our immediate goal became quickly finding any place that looked like it might have photographic potential — and to find it NOW! Within a few minutes we found a short side road, drove a short distance to a hilltop, parked, and piled out of the vehicle, more or less already in the act of setting up tripods and cameras. We had only a few moments on special light on the clouds before it began to fade to daytime light.

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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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 Canyon Walls

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Sandstone Canyon Walls
Detail of a fractured sandstone canyon walls at Capitol Reef National Park.

Sandstone Canyon Walls. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 20, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a fractured sandstone cliff in a canyon at Capitol Reef National Park.

Over several years and several visits I began to understand Capitol Reef National Park a bit more. (Though it is a big and varied place, and true knowledge of the place — as is the case with any such landscape — comes from longer experience than I yet have.) Understanding comes partly from experiencing a wider range of the park’s geography than that in the most conveniently located places. Visiting during different parts of the year and in varied conditions helps — a sunny spring morning is very different from a freezing late October morning. Finding a few personal spots that feel like familiar friends is part of the process.

The sandstone-walled canyons are all over this part of the Southwest. I distinctly recall the first one I visited, walking into it in the morning, wading up canyon in the shallow stream, winding through its twists and turns as the canyon deepened. More visits taught me that each canyon has is own personality — yet some general features are shared by most of them. Unlike most of my Sierra Nevada world, where one often feels open to the entire sky, in the canyons the world shrinks to what you can see between two twists in the course of the stream that created the canyon. Views of the sky are extremely limited, and your focus soon turns almost exclusively to things that are nearby. There is little wind and usually the quiet is broken only by the sound of water, perhaps some birds, and your own passage. The light bounces among red rock walls and diffuses as it gently arrives from far above.

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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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

Juniper and Sandstone Cliff

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Juniper and Sandstone Cliff
Tall sandstone cliffs dwarf Juniper trees growing among talus boulders.

Juniper and Sandstone Cliff. Capitan Reef National Park, Utah. October 20, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tall sandstone cliffs dwarf Juniper trees growing among talus boulders.

Back in the fall of 2014 I was fortunate enough to be able to work with a great deal of autonomy for a period of about six months. This allowed me to be on the road in the landscapes of southwestern Utah for three weeks. With a long unbroken period of work in the field I was able to spend time in many of my favorite places — Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (now under threat from the current administration), Capitol Reef National Park, the Dixie National Forest, and Zion National Park. At times I worked individually, on several occasions I joined up with other photographers, and at the end I met family members at Zion.

I joined my friend and fellow photographer David Hoffman for a few days in Capitol Reef. The Fruita area was our home base, but we explored further south along both sides of this park. On this evening after setting up camp we simply went a short distance down the road along the great sandstone walls along the west side of the park and photographed the golden hour light and on into dusk. This scene is at the base of one of these monumental sandstone cliffs, where large boulders that have broken off the face are piled against it at the bottom and a few hardy trees and bushes have taken root.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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