Tag Archives: park

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

Sandstone Patterns

July 3, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Complex patterns in sandstone formations at Zion National Park

I’m certainly no geologist, but that doesn’t keep me from being somewhat amazed by the fantastical and convoluted shapes and conjunctions in this little detail of cross-bedded sandstone photographed in the Zion National Park high country. As I understand it, these rocks originated in sand that was laid down, perhaps as dunes, in the distant past. For a variety of reasons, layers that originally tilted one direction ended up butted up against or nudging into layers tilting in radically different directions. My untrained eyes count a number of such layers in this small bit of rock. Overlaid on this are eroding flakes, cracks, bits of vegetation, lichen, and more – and all of it on this intensely colorful Southwest rock.

I am not certain precisely where this bit of geology was photographed, beyond recalling that it was along the Mount Carmel Highway through Zion National Park and that the photograph was made in shaded and diffused light. I am not only intrigued by the disjunct lines and angles of the underlying rock here, but also by odd features such as the big curve running across the middle of the frame and the subtle differences in the coloration of the rock – in places it is quite pink, verging on redness, while in others it is almost somewhat purple.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Abandoned Buildings, Leadfield

June 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Abandoned buildings at the site of the Leadfield mines, Death Valley National Park

In a way there is really nothing that special about Leadfield. It is one of many, many abandoned outposts and mining sites found all over California and, for that matter, all over the West. These sites remain, though precariously in some cases, as a reminder of a number of things: history that is not all that distant, the people who must have been willing to come to such places and attempt to scratch out a living by mining, the human capacities for misleading others and for falling victim to those who would mislead, and the temporal nature of things that might seem permanent at the time.

I’m no historian, but I can share a few facts about this particular spot. In the 1920s the town – with some semi-permanent buildings and reportedly many tents – came into existence and died again in the span of less than a single year. Although the reports of ore in the area and situation that might allow it to be successfully mined were wild exaggerations or downright lies, a road was built into this rugged area, work was started on a mill, and today there is still plenty of evidence of mines all around the area. I made this photograph from the tailings pile at the entrance to what I think may be the main mine shaft, looking out over the site in what I imagine might be the direction that a person working that mine might have looked. I wonder it these people took as much notice as I did of the tiny and inconsequential appearance of the human landscape against the vast and rugged natural landscape beyond?

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

Layered Sandstone and Red Leaves

June 27, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The red autumn leaves of a small tree contrast with the angles and layers of a curving sandstone slot canyon, Zion National Park

One of the most intriguing things about slot canyons – among many intriguing things – is the surprising variety of things to be seen as you progress through them. While the basic idea might seem somewhat consistent – e.g. narrow canyon with tall walls and water in the bottom – the details of the canyons seem amazing diverse and they change from moment to moment and bend to bend. This first really made sense to me in a canyon in the Escalante area where we entered by walking down a very wide and flat wash. Gradually a low sandstone “curb” began to appear along the sides of the wash and almost before I knew it this had grown to become a wall. Shortly the bottom of the canyon narrowed so much that we had to rise out of it and walk along side until we got to a point where we could again drop down into it, and it was now deep enough to cut off much of the direct light from overhead.

The slot in this photograph is in Zion National Park, and to be honest I not entirely certain where it was outside of a sort of general area. As we walked through it – and it was not a long canyon – it twisted along the base of a cliff wall and at this spot there was almost no visible vegetation except for the red leaves of one small autumn tree poking out from behind the thickly striated and twisted rock of the canyon side walls.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Spring Trees, Waterfall Mist

June 25, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

There are at least two stories behind this photograph. The first involves a family tradition that I started when I began taking my kids to The Valley quite a few years ago when they were small. Each spring we would take a “waterfall trip” as close as possible to the time of peak runoff – sometimes going up to the Valley and back in a single day. As part of this event, it was also my tradition that we would “say hello to summer” in the Sierra by making the first stop at Bridal Veil falls, then hiking as close to the base of the fall as possible, in order to stand in the tremendous wind-blown clouds of spray, usually getting thoroughly soaked. This year we were there without our kids, who are now “all growed up” and off living their own lives, but I still had to make a ritual visit to the spray at the base of this fall. Yes, I got soaked. :-)

The second story might actually be a continuation of the first. Sometimes I go to experience something rather than to photograph it. That was my intention when we walked to the fall this time, so I left my “big camera” gear behind. But as we rounded a corner on the trail and I looked up into the morning light from the sun that had just cleared the top of the cliff, I saw this wonderful silhouetted maple tree standing in mist-filled air with the still-shaded waterfall beyond. But I did not have my “big camera” nor did I have a tripod — I had my small Fujifilm X-E1, but with the wrong lens for this shot. I turned to my wife, who also had an X-E1 but usually attaches a 60mm macro lens (she is passionate about photographing small things!) and asked if I could borrow her camera/lens to try to squeeze off a couple of shots. She agreed, and I made two exposures on her camera, shooting handheld in the spray and wind.

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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

Sandstone Patterns

Abandoned Buildings, Leadfield

Layered Sandstone and Red Leaves

Spring Trees, Waterfall Mist

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