Tag Archives: fractured

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Utah

Boulders and Fractured Cliff

Leave a comment
Boulders and Fractured Cliff
Huge boulders lie at the base of a fractured sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park

Boulders and Fractured Cliff. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 26, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Huge boulders lie at the base of a fractured sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park

The rugged sandstone landscape of Utah is among my very favorite, rivaling “my” Sierra Nevada. It certainly exceeds the Sierra when it comes to color, especially in autumn when the yellows and reds of fall colors are set off against the infinite variety of sandstone colors and textures and that beautiful blue sky. The iconic locations are well known — Zion, Bryce, Arches — but off the beaten track there are infinite other beauties to find in places like Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, a place that would certainly be one of our greatest national parks by now if not for politics. This photograph comes from Capitol Reef, a park that I’ve been getting to know for the past few years.

I’ve spent a lot of time there, and recently I’ve been looking forward to returning. However, now that I see the Utah politicians mounting a very serious special-interest attack on these great American lands, ranging from new monuments to some of the venerable places, I’m not going to give that state one bit of my business. Several major outdoor equipment manufacturers (Patagonia and Arcteryx as of this writing, with more to come) have dropped out of Utah’s major annual outdoor industry meet-up, and I think that a fine way to remind those Utah politicians that these lands matter — to all of us, but also to their constituents whose gas and food we buy and in whose motels we stay — is to take a No Utah vow until this changes. Perhaps I can get my sandstone fix in New Mexico? ;-)

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Fractured Cliff, Evening

Leave a comment
Fractured Cliff, Evening
A fractured sandstone cliff in evening light, Capitol Reef National Park

Fractured Cliff, Evening. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 26, 2012. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fractured sandstone cliff in evening light, Capitol Reef National Park

Late in the day we ended up in a canyon not far from the main centers of Capitol Reef National Park, including the main campground. We drove into this canyon after the sun had dropped low enough to leave only the soft, shadow light. We walked a ways up the canyon, moving very slowly and photographing along the way. Given the late hour and the early loss of light in the deep canyon, it wasn’t long before we decided to head back to the trailhead and call it a day.

We packed up and started to head out of the canyon. Soon the canyon widened near its mouth and it opened to the west. While the light had mostly left deep in the canyon where we had been earlier, here there was still a bit of a glow on the tall sandstone faces lining the mouth. Below these cliffs the terrains sloped upwards from the valley floor, and debris from the cliffs collected around their bases. Seeing this light, we immediately decided to pull over and unpack everything and make some photographs before the light faded. This photographs shows a wonderful section of the cliff face where outer layers of the rock have apparently fallen in geologically recent time, revealing the beautiful pink rock beneath.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Glaciated Terrain

Leave a comment
Glaciated Terrain
Trees in morning light on a glaciated dome, back by an immense fractured granite face, Yosemite National Park

Glaciated Terrain. Yosemite National Park, California. July 14, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Trees in morning light on a glaciated dome, back by an immense fractured granite face, Yosemite National Park

I’m often out before the first light and then again as the last sunlight turns to dusk. These are not the only times of day worth photographing, but they are times that often produce beautiful light and colors and effects, with warm light and dramatic shadows. Many times — even during the busiest times of the year — I have stood it some of the most impressive locations and witnesses the most astonishing light… almost alone. I don’t know whether to encourage everyone to get up early and stay out late or to perhaps just keep relatively quiet and enjoy the solitude! I sometimes wonder how different our ideas of the Sierra are, depending upon when we are out and about as more or more than where we go.

In a spot like this one, the arrival of morning light is a highly dynamic thing — not at all a static or even slow-moving event. For example, here the light is raking across the foreground granite slab the tilts down from left to right, at the angle of the light is only briefly ideal to light the trees without also lighting the granite. The whole transition from first light on tree tops to a bit too much on the granite might take little more than a minute.

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Fractured Stone, Desert Plants

Leave a comment
Fractured Stone, Desert Plants
Fractured Stone, Desert Plants

Fractured Stone, Desert Plants. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 21, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sparse desert plants grow among fractured sandstone slabs

Though the title of this photograph mentions plants, there are small and rather hard to see. In terrain like this that should probably not be surprising, since I made the photograph in a place that was very rocky and rugged. I had walked out a bit into the landscape to get a view into a nearby gully that marked the beginning of a much larger canyon when I looked down and noticed these patterned rocks.

Here the rocks are almost entirely in layers, or strata, as is typical in this part of the Southwest. We most easily notice the huge, think layers than make up cliffs like those found elsewhere in this national park. But there are also some very thin layers, and these rocks comprise on such layer that happened to be exposed at this particular spot. If I recall correctly, I first noticed this as I came to the edge of a drop-off and noticed that these were the rocks at its edge. They are apparently are hard enough to resist erosion a bit more than the underlying material. This also explains why, a moment later, I stepped back from this edge — the harder rocks actually extended out over the drop-off a bit where the underlying ground had eroded!

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.