Tag Archives: creek

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

Canyon and Stream

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Canyon and Stream
Canyon and Stream

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

A small rock-filled stream wanders along the bottom of a deep Utah red rock canyon

Yet another bend in yet another Utah canyon! We had hiked a good distance down into the depths of this canyon, finally stopping (most of us, anyway) at a scenic bend with lots of interesting photographic subjects. We held up there to make photographs, to sit and talk, and to eat. A few of us went a bit farther and some went a good distance more, but soon we had all checked our watches and realized it was time to start back..

This spot is just below a narrow section of the canyon where the water flows through a narrow cleft and around a big curve. Here, below that section, it seems like the flow must slow a bit, since a few more trees manage to grow here and the bed of the creek held a lot of river rocks and silt. In the distance the canyon curves more toward the west, and this allows a bit more light down into the canyon, producing a bit of a glow ahead.

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

Seepage, Canyon Wall

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Seepage, Canyon Wall
Seepage, Canyon Wall

Seepage, Canyon Wall. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 24, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Water seeps across the patterned rocks of a Utah canyon

We began our day’s hike and photography in sage-covered flatlands, where we left our vehicles at the end of a gravel road and soon dropped into a small canyon. The canyon quickly deepened and cut into the flatlands and sandstone walls soon rose around us as we continued. Soon we reached a junction where a stream flowed and we followed the stream, walking in it, along side it, and occasionally leaving it to cross higher ground where the canyon curved. The deeper we traveled into the canyon, the more intimate the landscape became as high walls cut us off completely from the surrounding terrain and bends in the canyon limited our view ahead and behind.

In the area of this photograph the canyon was rock all the way to its bottom, where the small stream flowed along the bottom of the shallow v-shape and water from springs seeped down across the rock, supporting the growth of plants. The water left behind sediments that colored the rock and formed patterns against the curving cracks, seen here in the soft light filtering down from high above, reflecting blue from the open sky and red from the sandstone canyon walls.

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: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire

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Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire
Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire

Autumn Snow, Bear Creek Spire. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 6, 2007. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early season autumn snow below Bear Creek Spire, Eastern Sierra Nevada

This little lake might be familiar to a number of viewers who hike in the eastern Sierra, as it is not too far up a popular trail to other east side access points for backpackers and day hikers. I have been there quite a few times over the years, though rarely with the lake itself as the objective. There is one exception. I recall one pack trip quite a few years ago, when a friend and I had arrived at the trailhead quite late in the day. We wanted to get a head start on the next day’s hike, so we headed out and dusk and got just far enough up the trail to set up a crude camp (I was just using a bivy sack, if I recall correctly) after dark.

The story behind this photograph is a different one. As I often do in October, I headed to the eastern Sierra to photograph that annual fall aspen color show. My plans are usually quite general, and I prefer to sort of follow my hunches as I poke around in various east side locations looking for photographs. I had been working with a client who wanted a photograph of a peak that appears in this photograph, and when I saw the conditions (nice weather and new snow) it occurred to me that I might quickly find something that would work better for my client than the photos I had already proposed. So I drove up to the trailhead (which I often visit anyway), shouldered my camera pack, and headed to this quiet spot where the scene look at lot more like winter than early autumn!

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: Sierra Nevada

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

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Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek
Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek

Snow Flurries, Bishop Creek. Sierra Nevada, California. October 4, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light autumn snow falls on peaks above aspen groves along the South Fork of Bishop Creek

This is a photograph from a wonderful, short trip into the eastern Sierra about five years ago. I believe that I made two trips to the “east side” that fall to photograph aspens, and on this one (the first of the two) I had a couple of days of winter-like weather with clouds and snow. This could put a damper on photography… unless you share my fascination with “interesting” weather, in which case it seems like that best thing that could happen.

I came back from this trip with some very special photographs, mostly because I ran into conditions that were not quite so typical for Sierra autumn. The most typical Sierra day at this time of year starts cold but then becomes warm and sunny with the beautiful autumn light. I love those days, but I’ve seen enough of them to like some variety, too. And that’s what I got on this trip. On one morning it was so cloudy up high that I decided to drive down out of the range and shoot back up towards in the broken light of a stormy dawn. On this day I headed back up toward the high country and photographed aspen color against a backdrop of mountain peaks disappearing into snow showers.

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.