Tag Archives: cracked

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: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Utah

Sand and Cracked Mud

December 18, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cracked dry mud curling atop a bed of red sand, illuminated by reflected canyon light, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Dried and cracked mud is one of those strange subjects that seems to be almost irresistible for landscape photographers. Often the concept seems more interesting that the photograph turns out to be, but that rarely stops me from giving it a try. The specific location is entirely unimportant, but I photographed this somewhere in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in Utah while exploring a canyon.

Pardon me while I become enthusiastic about… mud. ;-) These patterns are fairly common, forming where silt-laden water flowed during a rainstorm. Because here the sand is from Utah’s common red sandstone, everything in this images has some red quality to it. The silt itself is tinged pink, and the sand below, some of which ended up on top of the dry mud, is very red. In addition, because this specimen was deep down in a canyon, that beautiful southwest light that reflects off the upper canyon walls casts a lot of very warm colored light onto this little intimate landscape. In fact, without that wonderful light this scene would have little too offer and the coloration would probably be too subtle to work well.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Granite and Snow

October 16, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early autumn snowfall on ledges of a cracked granite wall near North Lake.

This was a cold photograph! After the 2011 early October sequence of surprise snow storms, I headed up to the North Lake area as soon as the road was (barely) passable, arriving to find nearly a foot of snow in some places. Needless to say, the series of storms had not been kind to the aspen color – many of the most colorful leaves had been blown down, others had turned black, and much of what remained was inaccessible or caked with snow.

I initially thought about taking advantage of the relatively small number of photographers who had shown up and photographing the classic view from near the outlet, but I decided that it would be more interesting to take advantage of the unusual snow conditions. With that in mind, I set out to walk the road alongside the lake. Next to this road the hillside rises and eventually becomes quite rocky, in places starting to seem almost like cliffs. In one of these areas I came across this bit of cracked and shattered granite, sparsely covered with lichen and with new snow resting on small ledges.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Wooden Door, Concrete Wall

June 24, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

A wooden door in a concrete wall in an alley along The Embarcadero, San Francisco.

I’ll keep this description short since the photograph was taken in a location and circumstances that I have already described more fully. While walking along the Embarcadero on the waterfront of San Francisco I came across some alleys that had been locked up in the past and this time found them open. So I wandered down the alleys toward the water and discovered some old industrial buildings with worn doorways and walls and decided to make some photographs.

Much of this area is undergoing renovation or else being reclaimed by firms that find the slightly old-fashioned and dilapidated buildings to be picturesque and perhaps a bit trendy. Side by side with modern companies and offices there are remnants of a much different and rougher past.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cracked

Cracked Mud, Canyon Light

Sand and Cracked Mud

Granite and Snow

Wooden Door, Concrete Wall

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