Tag Archives: cottonwood

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

Cottonwood Tree and Canyon Walls

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Cottonwood Tree and Canyon Walls
Cottonwood Tree and Canyon Walls

Cottonwood Tree and Canyon Walls. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. October 24, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Red sandstone canyon walls tower above a lone cottonwood tree with early fall colors

This tree is becoming my favorite (or maybe only second favorite…) tree in this part of Utah. It grows in the bottom of a canyon in a place that requires a bit of hiking — and a bit of driving — to access. It is perhaps not all that much better than hundreds or thousands of other trees in such places, but it happens to be one that I saw and photographed!

A group of photographers walked down this canyon on a beautiful October day when sunlight filtered down into the canyon from high above. We were in no hurry, and we frequently stopped to work a particular subject and often separated as each of us focused on his or her personal discoveries. This section of the canyon is one of those where you have route options — you could either walk down the bottom of the canyon in the creek bed (which I did on my walk back out) or you could take a slight shortcut up and across the higher ground on the inside of one of the bends in the canyon. For no particular reason that I can recall now, I decided to take the higher route in this spot and as a result I ended up with this view of the lone cottonwood tree tucked into the canyon at the base of this gigantic sandstone cliff, the intensity of the color of its autumn foliage increased by the soft, reflected canyon light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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

Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon

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Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon
Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon

Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon. Zion National Park, Utah. October 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A bright yellow autumn cottonwood tree in a valley below red rock cliffs, Kolob Canyon

I have visited these trees — and this tree — in Zion National Park’s Kolob Canyon area before. I’m familiar with this beautiful little valley that runs up toward the head of a canyon bounded by red rock cliffs, and shaded from the early morning sun. Each time I have visited it has been a bit later in the morning when direct light was still blocked, but when ambient light began to fill in the shadows a bit.

A creek runs up (or down, depending on your perspective!) this little canyon, and it is lined with vegetation, notably including cottonwood trees. Higher up there are conifers, whose green color stands out against the red of the Utah rock. Further along the canyon narrows, twists around turns and disappears from sight. Although the colors might have been even brighter few days before this visit, I like the way that the colors of the foreground tree contrast with the more skeletal shapes of the bare and nearly bare plants beyond.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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

Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff

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Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff
Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff

Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cottonwood trees with autumn foliage at the base of a patterned sandstone cliff.

I photographed these trees in early evening light, moments after the last bit of direct sun had left his sandstone wall. I was shooting along the Fremont River where it runs through Capitol Reef National Park, not far to the east of the Fruita area. This section of the river is lined by beautiful sandstone walls, with lots of beautiful trees growing int eh relatively moist surroundings of the stream.

This little section of the canyon was especially interesting to me. The transitional light first caught my attention, perhaps, as it changed from being lit by soft, warm sunlight to the cooler tones of canyon shade. The colorful autumn cottonwood trees are always interesting, but the bent shapes of this group was special, and because the trees didn’t grow too closely together the shapes were also more visible. The canyon wall itself is fascinating. The sandstone layer here is thick and consists of relatively smooth rock, against which the various patterns on its surface are exceptionally visible — horizontal lines that might be in the rock itself or remnants of long-ago flow patterns, and the beautiful vertical water patterns. Below this thick layer of solid red rock is a contrasting layer of much lighter rock, cut with angled strata.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs

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Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs
Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs

Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cottonwood trees with autumn leaves along the Fremont River at the base of red rock cliffs

This was a long day of photography, beginning before dawn with a drive to the east side of Capitol Reef National Park for dawn photograph and then down toward the Burr Trail to explore some highland locations a bit later. We returned to our camp in the middle of the day for lunch (which, if I recall correctly, may have been a pie from the little shop near the campground!), a bit of camp business, followed by heading back out again for late-day photography.

We didn’t get far. We again headed east — I don’t recall now what the plan, if any, actually was — but we soon were distracted by subjects nearby along the road passing through the park: cottonwood and box elder trees in fall colors, the red sandstone cliffs, jumbles of rocks fallen from the canyon walls, and the Fremont River flowing through the canyon. Shortly before sunset we simply pulled over, go out, and headed of in individual directions to photograph until the light failed. This scene includes a small group of very colorful cottonwood trees growing along the edge of the Fremont River at the base of the red rock cliffs.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.