Tag Archives: red

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

Juniper, Boulder, Cliff

January 12, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small juniper tree grows next to a sandstone boulder at the bottom of a cliff, Capitol Reef National Park

I’m digging back into the October Utah photographs yet again for this one. It comes from Capitol Reef National Park, where I spent about three days out of a longer visit to Utah. I started in far southwest Utah, wandered a bit in the Vermillion Cliffs area, followed a back road north to highway 12, then headed over Boulder Mountain to the Park, where I met a friend and got a campsite for a few days.

I’m gradually pushing out the boundaries of my knowledge of this park, and part of that growth on this trip involved shooting in some tricky light. On this late afternoon, between some other subjects, we ended up in a well-traveled canyon as the tall canyon walls and some cloudiness softened the light. After reaching our furthest point in the canyon we turned around and started back, and as we passed back through one twisting section we saw several interesting photographic possibilities, stopped, and spent a bit of time looking and photographing. This small juniper tree stood in front of an old red rock boulder, and the green of the tree and red of the rock complemented one another. I was also fascinated by the complex, angled, and sometimes-curving patterns on the vertical cliff wall in the background.

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

Cottonwood Tree and Canyon Walls

December 30, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

This tree is becoming my favorite (or maybe only second favorite…) tree in this part of Utah. It grows in the bottom of a canyon in a place that requires a bit of hiking — and a bit of driving — to access. It is perhaps not all that much better than hundreds or thousands of other trees in such places, but it happens to be one that I saw and photographed!

A group of photographers walked down this canyon on a beautiful October day when sunlight filtered down into the canyon from high above. We were in no hurry, and we frequently stopped to work a particular subject and often separated as each of us focused on his or her personal discoveries. This section of the canyon is one of those where you have route options — you could either walk down the bottom of the canyon in the creek bed (which I did on my walk back out) or you could take a slight shortcut up and across the higher ground on the inside of one of the bends in the canyon. For no particular reason that I can recall now, I decided to take the higher route in this spot and as a result I ended up with this view of the lone cottonwood tree tucked into the canyon at the base of this gigantic sandstone cliff, the intensity of the color of its autumn foliage increased by the soft, reflected canyon light.

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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

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

Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon

December 25, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A bright yellow autumn cottonwood tree in a valley below red rock cliffs, Kolob Canyon

I have visited these trees — and this tree — in Zion National Park’s Kolob Canyon area before. I’m familiar with this beautiful little valley that runs up toward the head of a canyon bounded by red rock cliffs, and shaded from the early morning sun. Each time I have visited it has been a bit later in the morning when direct light was still blocked, but when ambient light began to fill in the shadows a bit.

A creek runs up (or down, depending on your perspective!) this little canyon, and it is lined with vegetation, notably including cottonwood trees. Higher up there are conifers, whose green color stands out against the red of the Utah rock. Further along the canyon narrows, twists around turns and disappears from sight. Although the colors might have been even brighter few days before this visit, I like the way that the colors of the foreground tree contrast with the more skeletal shapes of the bare and nearly bare plants beyond.

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

Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff

December 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with autumn foliage at the base of a patterned sandstone cliff.

I photographed these trees in early evening light, moments after the last bit of direct sun had left his sandstone wall. I was shooting along the Fremont River where it runs through Capitol Reef National Park, not far to the east of the Fruita area. This section of the river is lined by beautiful sandstone walls, with lots of beautiful trees growing int eh relatively moist surroundings of the stream.

This little section of the canyon was especially interesting to me. The transitional light first caught my attention, perhaps, as it changed from being lit by soft, warm sunlight to the cooler tones of canyon shade. The colorful autumn cottonwood trees are always interesting, but the bent shapes of this group was special, and because the trees didn’t grow too closely together the shapes were also more visible. The canyon wall itself is fascinating. The sandstone layer here is thick and consists of relatively smooth rock, against which the various patterns on its surface are exceptionally visible — horizontal lines that might be in the rock itself or remnants of long-ago flow patterns, and the beautiful vertical water patterns. Below this thick layer of solid red rock is a contrasting layer of much lighter rock, cut with angled strata.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: red

Juniper, Boulder, Cliff

Cottonwood Tree and Canyon Walls

Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon

Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff

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