Tag Archives: park

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

Autumn Trees, Slot Canyon

December 7, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A tree in autumn foliage grows in the pink-sand bottom of a slot canyon, Zion National Park

This little slot canyon and the wider sections above and below were a productive place for photography when I was there during the latter part of October. Dropping down into one of the small washes we saw while driving along through the area, we first were attracted by the bright foliage of some red maples – hard to resist! Once we reached the creek bed, however, it was equally hard to resist walking along the sandy bed and seeing what else we could find. Soon the canyon narrowed and the rock walls became closer together and we were in a short section of slot canyon.

The light in these places is almost always soft since it is rare for direct sunlight to get to the bottom of such canyons, especially at this time of the year and in canyons that are much deeper than they are wide. I think that because I was near the point where the canyon narrowed there was still enough light to support the growth of this tree.

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

Base of the Organ, Morning

December 3, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn foliage begins to change along the base of the Organ and on the slopes of the Great White Throne, Zion Canyon

During three visits to Zion National Park and Zion Canyon during the past year, the area around “Big Bend” in the canyon has become a bit of a fixation for me. There is a lot to see and photograph here, and the lighting changes a lot during the course of the day. The bend in the canyon creates a sort of closed-in effect, and it is possible to focus both on the very small features and on the very large, including the canyon walls and more distant examples of vegetation climbing up the cliff walls.

Two major features make an appearance in this photograph. The near, darker columns are the base of a feature called “The Organ” that sits near the apex of the horseshoe bend that the canyon makes here as the Virgin River goes downstream. Beyond that are the huge walls of “The Great White Throne,” a towering feature in this portion of the canyon whose color is lighter than that of some of the other reddish rock cliffs nearby. I made this photograph fairly early in the morning before any direct sunlight had begun to affect the scene and when a certain amount of haze was still in the air. The foliage at the base of The Organ is just beginning to show the tiniest bit of autumn color, but higher on the cliffs of The Great White Throne there are trees that are well along on this transition.

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

Oak Branch and Layered Sandstone After Rain

December 1, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Branch and autumn leaves of a gambel oak drape over layered sandstone after rain, Zion National Park

This photograph was made on the afternoon of the day we arrived in the Zion National Park area, after driving across Arizona and Utah from Moab through some substantial rain. The storm was moving from west-to-east as we drove the opposite direction, and we drove through its core in Arizona. By the time we arrived in Zion and drove over the Mount Carmel Highway, we mostly saw the aftermath of the rain, though a few sprinkles remained here and there – and they occasionally interrupted the photography.

The previous rain and the continuing showers enhance and saturate the colors of the rock and the vegetation and bring to life small streams and rivulets. Here the branch of an overhanging gambel oak tree, just beginning its change to autumn colors, intrudes into the upper corner of the frame and contrasts with the deep red-brown colors of the damp sandstone. Rock angle is everything in this terrain, and here the rock is at an angle that allows its layers to be stripped away gradually, revealing the underlying striations and creating interesting and complex patterns. Because this rock is down in a wash, wet sand sits on many of the small ledges.

Photographs: Arizona, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Approaching Storm, Monument Valley

November 30, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A storm front approaches the iconic towers of Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park

Considering that we only passed through Monument Valley on a drive between two other locations and that we happened to arrive when a storm front was passing through, I have to consider myself lucky to have made any photographs of the location at all on this visit. We were on the long drive between Moab and Springdale, so we unfortunately could not afford to hang around long waiting for idea conditions – so I went ahead and shot in the “weather.”

Quite a few of the photographs were made in actual rain – as in, it was raining where I was shooting, or I was shooting into or through curtains for rain. However, the nature of this storm was that a line of weather would come through, there would be a bit of clearing, and then the next squall line would arrive. So between the bouts of rain there were some moments of sunshine, and the sunshine not only dried things out a bit but it also made the clouds more visible Here a very large cell was building over some of the iconic Monument Valley formations. I chose the vertical format and only included a bit of the solid ground so as to emphasize the size and height of the clouds.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: park

Autumn Trees, Slot Canyon

Base of the Organ, Morning

Oak Branch and Layered Sandstone After Rain

Approaching Storm, Monument Valley

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