Tag Archives: park

Photographer David Hoffman

November 22, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photographer David Hoffman works the late afternoon canyon light at Capitol Reef National Park

Capitol Reef National Park is, of course, a spectacular place to make photographs, with a wide variety of potential subjects ranging from the obvious icons to things that are possibly not as immediately obvious. I’ve had the good fortune to photograph there on perhaps four occasions now. Each time I visit I discover new aspects of the park that I had not previously known. My first visit was largely to the popular and accessible tourist areas near the Fruita district. A second visit took me to another side of the park over gravel roads. A third visit went beyond those roads to investigate some less known areas that required some advance knowledge and hiking.

The fourth visit was a bit different from each of the others. After photographing alone elsewhere in Utah, and before meeting some other photographers to “work” a more remote area, Dave and I met up for a few days in Capitol Reef. Since it was his first visit to the place, we combined photography of some accessible areas with visits to a few of the areas that are a bit more off the beaten track, and we visited some of the familiar areas at odd times when few others were there. Here, Dave is photographing the rocks and walls of one of the many canyons in the park.

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

Capitol Reef — Four Photographs

November 21, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Continuing with this week’s experiment in releasing multiple photographs in a single post, this set includes four photographs from Utah’s Capitol Reef National Park.

Hills and sandstone cliffs above the Fruita District in evening light, Capitol Reef National Park

On our first evening in Capitol Reef, where we stated at the campground at Fruita, we had this beautiful though momentary spectacular light late in the day, as the lowering sun managed to shine through openings in clouds to the west.

A gully begins to cut into the red rock surface of desert terrain

This was a tricky morning for photography. At dawn there was some beautiful light making its way through breaks in a developing cloud cover. However, shortly after dawn those clouds increased and began to turn the morning gray. Shooting can be a challenge in such light, though it works better for some subjects than others — it can help when the soft, filtered light fills in the shadows, and sometimes the subdued light can enhance the saturation of some colors. This small canyon is west of the main areas of Capitol Reef, where it cuts deeply into the tilting plateau areas.

We spent an evening exploring some of the washes and canyons along the west side of Capitol Reef National Park, and by the time we got deep into this canyon the light was coming from low in the sky, creating conditions of very soft light in the bottom of the canyon. Here a small tree stands in front of rocks with interesting shapes and hollows.

Brilliant yellow autumn cottonwood tree foliage against a red earth hill and gully

This photograph was also made on the cloudy morning mentioned above. When we first realized that we had lost the sun, we started out by heading straight to a nearby grove of cottonwood trees, whose colors can stand out nicely in such light. (In some ways, the colors can look better in this light, as the still glow but they don’t pick up the white highlights of direct sun.) The color palette here is quite varied, though not unexpected for this area — with the dark shape of the tree trunks, the bright yellow leaves, a few green leaves at the bottom of the trees, the dusty greens of the smaller plants, and the red/pink coloration of the gully.

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

Zion Canyon Trees — Three Photographs

November 20, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Not wanting to string this out too long, I’m grouping some photographs together in single posts. This set includes three from Zion Canyon, near the road’s end and the beginning of the route into the Narrows. (My hiking on this visit was largely limited to this short walk, as I had messed up my knee a few days earlier.)

I find the juxtaposition of canyon trees, especially when the foliage is taking on fall colors, and the sandstone cliff walls to be irresistible. Here the trees are mostly cottonwoods — including some very large and old specimens — and perhaps a few box elders. The coloration of the sandstone in this part of the world varies, sometimes in obvious ways (such as the contrasting red and white layers higher in the park) and sometimes more subtly. Here the contrast is subtle, with some of these rocks picking up an almost purple quality, which is then further modified by the color of light reflecting down from canyon walls high above.

And old cottonwood tree towers over streamside autumn foliage deep in a sandstone canyon

This giant and magnificent tree stands near a trail junction in a curve of the canyon, from some angle forming an impressive centerpiece of this amphitheater-like location.

Box elder trees with autumn foliage along the base of a sandstone cliff

The box elder trees provide much the same fall color as the aspens, but they have a more delicate form, with thinner branches that seem to more likely bend and drop toward the ground.

Autumn color along a canyon stream at the base of sandstone cliffs

These colorful trees are just a few of many that grow along the edges of the Virgin River as it flows right along the base of this sandstone cliff at the bottom of the canyon.

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

First Light, Capitol Reef

November 19, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Before dawn we drove across Capitol Reef National Park to the east, with a plan to head down the rural road that goes south on the park’s east side. We were hoping for interesting dawn light, but we weren’t quite ready for it when it arrived just after we exited the park and arrived at our intersection. The sun wasn’t up yet, but we could see a light show about to develop, with interesting light likely to strike the high ridge to the west and fantastic clouds appearing in the sky.

We quickly found a spot with an open view on much of the surrounding terrain, left the main “road,” grabbed camera gear and headed off to photograph. Within moment the first real light hit these domes and ridges to our west and turned the sky slightly pink. The formations were a good distance away, so I worked quickly with a long lens — and this light diminished within moments.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: park

Photographer David Hoffman

Capitol Reef — Four Photographs

Zion Canyon Trees — Three Photographs

First Light, Capitol Reef

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