Tag Archives: print

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Northern California

Mountains, Lake, Peninsula

Leave a comment
Mountains, Lake, Peninsula
Mountains, Lake, Peninsula

Mountains, Lake, Peninsula. San Luis Reservoir, California. November 21, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A peninsula at San Luis Reservoir, with distant hills and autumn clouds

I often pass this location on my way to and from other places — the Sierra, Southern California, the deserts, the Southwest, bird photography locations — but I almost never stop, despite the fact that this can be a place of huge spaces and beautiful light and atmosphere. The reasons for passing it by are perhaps many: I’ve been by it many times over a period of many decades, it isn’t easy to find a place to pull over and stop, it is a manmade reservoir, and I’m usually more focused on getting to or coming back from one of those other places.

Recently I made my first trip of the season out to the migratory bird areas of the Central Valley where I like to do a lot of photography in the late-fall through winter months. This visit was perhaps a bit early for real bird photography, but it gave me a chance to get back to that area that I enjoy so much… and it was a foggy day! (The fog and hazy atmosphere of the Central Valley are major attractions for me.) The bird photography out there was merely OK on this visit and, as planned, I only stayed there for the morning before returning home. As I climbed past the huge earthen dam of this reservoir I was struck by the hazy sunlight on brown hills and the brilliantly bright clouds to the south across the expanse of the water. At first I kept going, but I soon came to my senses, found a place to turn around, and headed back to an overlook where I made a few photographs of this landscape.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.

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

Tall Cottonwood, Sandstone Canyon

Leave a comment
Tall Cottonwood, Sandstone Canyon
Tall Cottonwood, Sandstone Canyon

Tall Cottonwood, Sandstone Canyon. Zion National Park, Utah. October 29, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old cottonwood tree towers about streamside trees at the bottom of gigantic sandstone cliffs.

This is a well-known and heavily traveled location in Zion Canyon along the Virgin River in Zion National Park — yet a place that I’m unable to resist visiting when I’m in Zion NP. It probably isn’t necessary for me to name the spot, since most anyone who has been there likely recognizes it.

Here there is a bend in the path of the Virgin River, which flows along the base of a very tall section of the canyon, tight against the outside of the bend where the river continues to work on carving the sandstone deeper. Trees grow along the creek at the base of the red rock wall, and the curve of the canyon creates a feeling that might be described as being almost cathedral-like. The light is often subdued, at least during the seasons when I have visited, since the canyon walls are so high that the sun only rises above them for a short time each day. In the particular spot where I made the photograph, one massive old cottonwood tree towers above the rest.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.

Photographs: Photographers

Working the Red Rock Landscape

Leave a comment
Working the Red Rock Landscape
P”Working the Red Rock Landscape” — Photographers at work in Utah’s red rock country

A group of us assembled in the outback of southern Utah in October for a few days of landscape photography — and I was perhaps the odd man out as the person least familiar with Utah subjects. Not that I haven’t shot there before… I’ve actually spent perhaps a month and a half photographing in the state in the past few years, all told, and I’m becoming more and more familiar with the visual quality and the rhythms of the place. However, the others were mostly from the Southwest, and they have the same sorts of instincts for this land that I have for the Sierra.

We spent a few days in this red rock landscape of domes, hills, gulches, and canyons. On this evening we went to a location where red sandstone hills rise above the flatlands and stretch into the distance, and are filled with a seemingly infinite variety of textures and shapes and plant life. Here we stopped to photograph an old cottonwood snag in the middle of an expanse of sandstone.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (Click the title to see the full article and to comment if you are viewing it on the home page.)

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Photographers

Photographer David Hoffman

Leave a comment

Photographer David Hoffman
Photographer David Hoffman

Photographer David Hoffman. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 21, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.