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

Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks

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Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks - Sunset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument
Sunset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument

Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks. Cedar Breaks National Monument, Utah. October 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument.

This was my first visit to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. On my previous trip though Utah we had driven past the roads leading to Cedar Breaks and – doing what one does while driving these days! – we looked it up on the iPhone, and it sounded quite interesting. The descriptions suggested a high elevation bowl with Bryce Canyon-like features that would be open to the west and sunset light. With this in mind, we decided to end our cross-Nevada drive with an overnight at Brian Head, the seasonally dormant ski area where rooms were both relatively inexpensive and quite nice! After checking in we drove on up the road to the National Monument.

The terrain is very interesting and very “not California” to this Sierra Nevada guy. On one side of the ridge is a gently rolling high terrain of alternative forest and meadows, just the sort of place to find lots of deer in the evening and an altogether quiet and peaceful sort of place. On the other side of the ridge, however, things are quite different. The mountain simply drops away to the west, with brightly colored and complex fluted canyons of red rock and soil. Far below and in the distance we could see large groves of aspen trees. A strong wind was blowing up the west-side canyons, but I managed to stabilize things enough to make a few photographs of this spectacular terrain in near-dusk light.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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

Sandstone Formations, Morning

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Sandstone Formations, Morning - Early morning light illuminates fins, towers, cliffs and ridges in Arches National Park, Utah
Early morning light illuminates fins, towers, cliffs and ridges in Arches National Park, Utah

Sandstone Formations, Morning. Arches National Park, Utah. April 7, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light illuminates fins, towers, cliffs and ridges in Arches National Park, Utah.

After the better part of a week photographing in Utah in early April, the day came to start the long drive back to California. But on the last morning I rose very early and made one last trip up from Moab into Arches National Park to photograph in the morning light. I started up on the ridge around the Windows area, looking for suitable sandstone formations to frame the setting full moon. (Still not sure whether or not the photographs of that subject are going to be share-able or not – we’ll see!) From there I headed back toward the Petrified Dunes area from which a panoramic view of many subjects is available – the towers and spires and arches up on the ridge near the Windows, the La Salle Mountains in the distance, and the huge sandstone formations down in the Wall Street area.

This photograph includes a more distant view of the latter area. Most often I think we view these features from close up, and look up at them from below. And when we are close to them we are more likely to consider one or perhaps a couple of them at once. However, from this elevated and more distant vantage point, the individual features and formations are seen more clearly as part of the larger landscape. From front to back there are first some isolated sandstone features standing alone and apart. Beyond them are the walls of the, well, Wall Street area, which are largely intact but have eroded away in some areas. Next there is a narrow canyon, in shadow in this photograph, and beyond that a wider and more solid wall running down from left to right. This one is thicker and there is a bit of a plateau on top where it appears that plants grow. Then there is yet another valley, another ridge, and the sequence continues on beyond the upper edge of the photograph.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.