Tag Archives: north

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

Sandstone Canyon Walls

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Sandstone Canyon Walls
Detail of a fractured sandstone canyon walls at Capitol Reef National Park.

Sandstone Canyon Walls. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 20, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a fractured sandstone cliff in a canyon at Capitol Reef National Park.

Over several years and several visits I began to understand Capitol Reef National Park a bit more. (Though it is a big and varied place, and true knowledge of the place — as is the case with any such landscape — comes from longer experience than I yet have.) Understanding comes partly from experiencing a wider range of the park’s geography than that in the most conveniently located places. Visiting during different parts of the year and in varied conditions helps — a sunny spring morning is very different from a freezing late October morning. Finding a few personal spots that feel like familiar friends is part of the process.

The sandstone-walled canyons are all over this part of the Southwest. I distinctly recall the first one I visited, walking into it in the morning, wading up canyon in the shallow stream, winding through its twists and turns as the canyon deepened. More visits taught me that each canyon has is own personality — yet some general features are shared by most of them. Unlike most of my Sierra Nevada world, where one often feels open to the entire sky, in the canyons the world shrinks to what you can see between two twists in the course of the stream that created the canyon. Views of the sky are extremely limited, and your focus soon turns almost exclusively to things that are nearby. There is little wind and usually the quiet is broken only by the sound of water, perhaps some birds, and your own passage. The light bounces among red rock walls and diffuses as it gently arrives from far above.

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

Juniper and Sandstone Cliff

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Juniper and Sandstone Cliff
Tall sandstone cliffs dwarf Juniper trees growing among talus boulders.

Juniper and Sandstone Cliff. Capitan Reef National Park, Utah. October 20, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tall sandstone cliffs dwarf Juniper trees growing among talus boulders.

Back in the fall of 2014 I was fortunate enough to be able to work with a great deal of autonomy for a period of about six months. This allowed me to be on the road in the landscapes of southwestern Utah for three weeks. With a long unbroken period of work in the field I was able to spend time in many of my favorite places — Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (now under threat from the current administration), Capitol Reef National Park, the Dixie National Forest, and Zion National Park. At times I worked individually, on several occasions I joined up with other photographers, and at the end I met family members at Zion.

I joined my friend and fellow photographer David Hoffman for a few days in Capitol Reef. The Fruita area was our home base, but we explored further south along both sides of this park. On this evening after setting up camp we simply went a short distance down the road along the great sandstone walls along the west side of the park and photographed the golden hour light and on into dusk. This scene is at the base of one of these monumental sandstone cliffs, where large boulders that have broken off the face are piled against it at the bottom and a few hardy trees and bushes have taken root.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastside Dawn

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Eastside Dawn
Dawn light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada near Long Valley

Eastside Dawn. Sierra Nevada, California. October 10, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada near Long Valley

I regard myself as a bit of a sunrise connoisseur, having arisen well before dawn on many, many mornings — almost every morning, actually — and often gone out to observe and photograph at first light. Trust me, I do understand how hard it is to get out of a warm bed (or warm sleeping bag) in darkness, dress, and head out into the still-dark world. But if you can start to make it a habit there is a good chance that you’ll become addicted — and what better kind of addiction is there than to need to see the first light?

I photographed this on an autumn morning when I headed out into the valley to the east of the escarpment of the Sierra. It was, as it usually is in mid-October, very cold when we arrived. But it was also very quiet and still, and steam was rising from nearby springs and creeks as the sky began to listen and the first light touched the peaks of the Sierra. It worked its way down the face of the range, across fluted alpine faces, into deep mountain valleys, and eventually to the rounded, tree-covered hills at the foot of the range.

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

Basalt Columns and Lichen

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Basalt Columns and Lichen
“Basalt Columns and Lichen” — Yellow lichen growing on the basalt columns of Devils Postpile National Monument

This is one of several photographs I made of the Postpile on this autumn morning, and every time I post one more I get to tell a bit of a story on myself. Landscape photographers often get up very early, sometimes many hours before sunrise. On this morning we had plans to do just that, and if we had gotten up on time we would likely have gone of to photograph aspens somewhere. But we overslept! It had been a long week, the drive to the east side of the range the evening before had been a long one, and we had arrived late. So rather than waking up hours before sunrise, it was probably more like an hour after sunrise.

We were initially a bit disappointed at losing a sunrise, but we decided to just take it easy, and soon we sat down to a nice civilized breakfast — also something of an anomaly for early morning photographers. Eventually we decided to wander out and just go up to Devils Postpile, which wasn’t far away. Arriving well after the supposed good light, I was going to just leave my camera equipment in the car, but Patty persuaded me to take it. And was I glad I did. Here the sun rises behind the face of the postpile, which was still in shadow, though receiving some reflected light from behind us and from the blue sky. I had a short time to work in this lovely soft light before the sun finally peeked over the top and I found myself photographing straight into its light.