Tag Archives: escalante

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

Open Book

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Open Book
A sandstone cliff meets the bottom of a Utah red rock country wash.

Open Book. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sandstone cliff meets the bottom of a Utah red rock country wash.

My virtual journey back through Utah continues. Since opportunities to go into the field are limited right now I am instead digging back though tens of thousands of raw files in my archives. I have always recognized that I leave some photographs behind as I move on to the next thing — and sometimes I’m not just not yet ready to “see” how a photograph will work. For years I’ve made these return visits to the old files, most often with an end-of-the-year traverse of that year’s images before moving on. This time I’m starting back in 2012 and working my way forward slowly.

I made this photograph in the first slot canyon that I ever visited. You might wonder how I managed to get to 2012 without visiting this kind of terrain. It is a long story, but for some reasons I’ve explained elsewhere I simply didn’t get to Utah and the Southwest until about a decade ago. Shame on me! As we walked into this canyon I really had little idea of what to expect, but I was entranced. This bit of sandstone cliff wall sat immediately next to the sandy bottom of the wash, and the color of the diffused light warmed as it bounced down from above between the canyon walls.

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

Sunlight, Escalante River Canyon

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Sunlight, Escalante River Canyon
A beam of sunlight on trees and red rock in the canyon of the Escalante River.

Sunlight, Escalante River Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A beam of sunlight on trees and red rock in the canyon of the Escalante River.

On this trip eastward across Southern Utah we came across this lovely section of the Escalante River at just about the perfect moment. We had just made our obligatory stop at the Kiva Koffeehouse — perhaps the most improbably-located such place I’ve ever visited — and were back on the road, making the short descent to the crossing of this river before the road rises to along Calf Creek to pass along Hell’s Backbone. It was October, and the trees along the valley were just turning autumn colors, and clouds were sending beams of light across the landscape.

I’ve visited and photographed along the Escalante several times, generally walking down into the canyon and wandering slowly, my preferred mode. Yet driving though this section always seems magical, too, and every time I cross the river here I think of those other places I’ve visited along its route. Heck, I’m thinking of them again as I write this!

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Edges

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A conjunction of striated sandstone in a Utah canyon.

Edges. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A conjunction of striated sandstone in a Utah canyon.

I photographed this somewhere in Utah, almost certainly in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and I’m pretty sure I remember which little canyon I was walking through… but I can’t say that I recall the exact spot. We had driven to a rather out-of-the-way location, wandered up a shallow stream, and entered a lovely, quiet, light-filled canyon full of the usual twists and turns.

The canyon presented a veritable feast of photography — plants, reflections of sky and canyon walls in the water, sand, red rock walls, and more. Given the narrowness of the canyon, the subjects all belonged to the “intimate landscape” genre, and it was rare to have a view of anything more than a few yards away. And everywhere the star of the show was there light reflected down from above and bouncing off the sandstone canyon walls.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Aspen Groves, Evening

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Aspen Groves, Evening
Autumn aspen groves at dusk on Boulder Mountain.

Aspen Groves, Evening. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn aspen groves at dusk on Boulder Mountain.

With this photograph, I believe I’m coming to the end of the images that came from this October passage along Boulder Mountain back in 2012. It was the second time I visited this area, and like the first visit it was merely a drive through between two other locations. Unlike the first visit, which was in the springtime, I timed this one to coincide with fall colors. (As it turned out, I mis-estimated the date a bit and we arrived for the very tail-end of the colors. ) Like the other photographs of this autumn subject, it was made as the day came to an end.

The distant sky and clouds bring up a subject that always interests me. I’ve lived almost my entire life near the western edge of the North American continent, in a place where the ocean is little more than a half hour away and where the daily weather is affected by it. I’m always aware of this presence. And when I travel I’m equally aware of its absence. Often when I’m in places like the one in this photograph I look west at the end of the day — as this photograph does — and as I ponder how much land lies between me and the ocean I feel its absence.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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