Tag Archives: formations

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

Highlands, Autumn Light

Leave a comment
Highlands, Autumn Light
Highlands, Autumn Light

Highlands, Autumn Light. Zion National Park, Utah. October 28, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

High country of Zion National Park in evening light

On this visit to Zion National Park we did not stay in the usual place, the park boundary town of Springdale, with its hotels and restaurants. Instead we stayed at a place a bit more off the beaten path, up a quiet road quite a few miles away from this town, where we had a home to stay in for a few days.

In the past I have visited many of the more popular areas of the park, since I’m still new to Utah and its national parks and feeling my way into a better understanding of these places. By the time of this trip some elements of the experience were beginning to feel familiar, and we were beginning to look at places we had not visited before. This is one of those areas, and we headed up into it late in the day, when others mostly seemed to be heading down. We weren’t really quite certain what we would find, but we figured that we would at least get up high. On the return trip we came to an area of open terrain with peaks to one side as the sun was setting, and driving past this spot I was stopped short by the light. We stopped, I got out, and I made this photograph more or less from the roadside.

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

Red Rock Vista

Leave a comment
Red Rock Vista
Red Rock Vista

Red Rock Vista. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 23, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees and brush and red rock stretching toward the horizon

This was a day of travel and establishing a new “home base” with a different group of friends. It began at a national park campground, involved a bit of driving on paved and unpaved roads, and ended at a rustic “camp site” close to 50 miles out on a gravel track. We arrived and spent a bit of time settling in, getting our camp for the next few days organized, and later each of us spent a bit of time wandering the nearby hills and “tuning up” our vision for the coming photographic work.

That evening we wanted to photograph something, but at this late hour and following a somewhat busy day our goal had to be a bit modest. So we loaded ourselves into vehicles and drove back up the road a bit to a spot with impressive red rock hills and walked up onto the sandstone slabs. There was much to see and photograph, and the light varied between overcast and that nearly perfect light that shines through thin clouds late in the day. As we climbed higher into these hills I stopped at this spot to take in the long view across curved sandstone terrain toward the farther reaches of the valley, as early evening sun slanted across rocks and vegetation.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Red Rock Towers

Leave a comment
Red Rock Towers
Red Rock Towers

Red Rock Towers. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A band of red rock towers high on a ridge in the Amargosa Range, Death Valley National Park

This is another in what might be termed the “Unspectacular Death Valley” series. ;-) As I have mentioned before, most of the terrain of this park and of similar places does not consist of high contrast, intensely colorful scenery. In reality, the color palette of much of the park is quite subtle, consisting primarily of tans and grays, with dark shadows, some reddish rock, occasionally other colors of rock, and few brilliantly colorful plants. (An exception may occur during a short period in a spring that follows an unusually wet winter, when some areas my show profuse wildflower blooms. And, of course, when shooting in golden hour light almost any landscape can become much more intense.) Over time I have come to like being in this seemingly plain landscape, even in the middle of the day.

These formations, some red rock outcroppings just below a ridge at the head of a small valley, are in an area I have visited a number of times. I’ve looked up at them and wondered how I could photograph them. This time I got a bit of help from the weather. The overall light was softened a bit by clouds, and the same cloud system gave me a darker gray sky beyond the ridge rather than the more typical plain blue sky. All of this brings out the color of the red rocks—which feel like a small, far-west outpost of Utah!—and allow the subtle colors of the vegetation to be just a bit clearer.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Morning Light, Badlands Terrain

2 Comments
Morning Light, Badlands Terrain
Morning Light, Badlands Terrain

Morning Light, Badlands Terrain. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light on tortured badlands formations, Death Valley National Park

I made this photograph at a truly iconic location (arguably the iconic location) at Death Valley National Park back in early April. While I don’t always photograph icons, and I make a point of looking for other things when photographing in well-known areas, I’m not anti-icon. My relationship with them is complex, but when I’m with someone who has not seen them before or when I visit a new place for the first time or when unusual and spectacular conditions arise… I’ll be there with everyone else. (Though sometimes I’ll be there without everyone else, since sometimes I go to these places in less likely conditions or an unusual times.)

All of this is my introduction to saying that I made this photograph at the famous Zabriskie Point area of Death Valley. I have photographed here quite a few times over the years, and while I don’t always revisit the spot, when I do I always find something interesting to photograph. It could be special conditions (clouds, full moon, haze, etc.), but more often I like to seek out smaller component elements of this famous landscape and see if I can make photographs of them. This terrain certainly provides plenty of opportunities! It is a rugged place where gully-riddled ridges are stacked one above the other, and at the right times of the day the light can glance across these elements in beautiful ways. The light in this photograph came well after dawn, when the sun had risen enough to begin to light the features more thoroughly, but on a morning when its intensity was diminished just enough by high, thin clouds.

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.