Tag Archives: gold

Photographs: Arizona, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest

Evening Aspens, Kaibab Plateau

March 15, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn aspen trees at the end of a meadow on the Kaibab Plateau

Back in the early autumn of 2014 I headed off to southern Utah for some significant time photographing — first on my own in the area around Kanab and points a bit east of there, then up to Capitol Reef to meet a friend for a few days, then out into a relatively off-the-grid area south of Escalante to photograph with another group of photographers, with a quick stop after that in the town of Boulder, and then west to Zion to meet family members for a few days. Whew! On my first day in Utah I ended up at a motel in Kanab, where I settled in by late afternoon. I originally figured it would be too late for photography, but I found myself with a few hours late in the day and no plans made. I looked at a map and saw the road heading south toward the north rim of Grand Canyon (where I had never been before — it is a long story) and thought, “what the heck, I’ll go to Grand Canyon!”)

I headed out of Kanab with a very amorphous plan to follow the road south, perhaps getting to the rim by sunset if I was lucky. I crossed the valley and began the climb up to the Kaibab plateau where, to my surprise, I found late season aspens along mountain meadows that still had some color. In the dusk light I stopped — I couldn’t help myself! — and made a few photographs of these slender, tall, and straight trees against the backdrop of bare aspens and the conifer forest beyond. (I eventually did get to the rim… but it was already deep in dusk when I arrived.)

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

Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs

December 22, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with autumn leaves along the Fremont River at the base of red rock cliffs

This was a long day of photography, beginning before dawn with a drive to the east side of Capitol Reef National Park for dawn photograph and then down toward the Burr Trail to explore some highland locations a bit later. We returned to our camp in the middle of the day for lunch (which, if I recall correctly, may have been a pie from the little shop near the campground!), a bit of camp business, followed by heading back out again for late-day photography.

We didn’t get far. We again headed east — I don’t recall now what the plan, if any, actually was — but we soon were distracted by subjects nearby along the road passing through the park: cottonwood and box elder trees in fall colors, the red sandstone cliffs, jumbles of rocks fallen from the canyon walls, and the Fremont River flowing through the canyon. Shortly before sunset we simply pulled over, go out, and headed of in individual directions to photograph until the light failed. This scene includes a small group of very colorful cottonwood trees growing along the edge of the Fremont River at the base of the red rock cliffs.

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

Autumn Cottonwood, Red Rock Strata

November 29, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn cottonwood tree foliage backed by red rock strata

Yes, this is just a very colorful tree! We headed out early on this morning, not quite certain what we would photograph, but thinking that it would involve early morning light and not be too far from the Fruita campground at Capitol Reef National Park. We had some thoughts about perhaps photographing in a canyon, but since that is more of an activity for later, when the sun is higher, we did not start with that.

It was a cloudy morning, though initially — if my memory serves — it was the “interesting” sort of cloudiness that allows some sun to poke through the clouds and produce interesting and variable light. However, before long a large deck of high clouds moved in and killed that light. It was time to reevaluate our plans! Soft light can be fine light for some purposes. It may not always have the drama of early morning, low angle sunlit and broken clouds, but it can produce beautiful colors and bring light into what might otherwise be very dark shadows. We headed west from the Fruita district, eventually stopping for a variety of subjects, but this big, beautiful cottonwood tree standing against the slanting sandstone strata was hard to pass up.

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

Cottonwood Trees, Gulch

November 28, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees in full autumn color line a gulch as it passes between sandstone hills

I came upon this beautiful cottonwood-filled valley on a short drive I took out of Boulder, Utah while waiting for my late-afternoon check-in on my first day in a motel after a week of camping. As you can imagine, I was looking forward to this change in accommodations and the chance to get a shower and sleep in a real bed!

My drive took me a short distance out on the Burr Trail, which ends in Boulder. I’ve been over a good portion of this route (which is a road, despite the “trail” in its name) a few times in the past, using it to get to Boulder from a somewhat isolated area of Capitol Reef National Park. My goal on this little drive was a long, narrow sandstone canyon that is just a few miles out of town, but it turned out that the canyon was less interesting in the light I had to work with than this stretch of cottonwoods was. I came upon this site in a spot where the road descends through a sharp set of hairpin turns as it drops toward the valley. Along this section there are turnouts that provide open views into the valley and along its course as it winds into the distance. From this spot the valley was filled with more cottonwoods than I usually see around such a creek — typically they line up along its banks, but here the filled the valley between the red rocks from side to side.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: gold

Evening Aspens, Kaibab Plateau

Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs

Autumn Cottonwood, Red Rock Strata

Cottonwood Trees, Gulch

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