Tag Archives: reflected

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest

Slot Canyon Detail

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Slot Canyon Detail
“Slot Canyon Detail” — Details of the wall of a Utah slot canyon, illuminated by reflected light.

There is a lot I could write about this photograph, the circumstances of making it, and how it ended up here today. First off, it is an older photograph, made years ago. I periodically revisit my old raw file archives, and I always discover photographs that I left behind. In this case, someone else’s photograph from the Southwest triggered me to review my older work from Utah, much of which is over a decade old. So far, I’ve rediscovered about twenty interesting Utah images from that period. Stay tuned!

The photograph came from a productive expedition to Utah during the autumn of 2014. I started out traveling and photographing solo, but eventually joined up with others as I worked in the southern part of the state for weeks. Early on that trip I almost randomly ended up at this location. I drove down a dirt road that looked interesting, found a place to park, and started walking down a shallow stream bed. The route entered a canyon that soon narrowed and turned into a slot canyon. It was only later that I discovered that I had been in a bit of a special place.

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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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Light and Dark

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Light and Dark, a narrow Death Valley canyon.
“Light and Dark” — A canyon wall lit by reflected sunlight is seen through a dark section of canyon narrows, Death Valley.

Having photographed in the red rock canyons of Utah, I suspect that I have a bias toward that sort of beautiful, warm-toned landscape. In Death Valley I often look for, and enjoy finding, canyons with similar smooth surfaces… though that Utah red rock isn’t something you’ll see very much here. The narrow canyon in this photograph is perhaps more typical of the Death Valley landscape, with much rougher and more angular rocks.

I have written frequently about how wonderful canyon light is and how much it contrasts with the harsh and brilliant light of the desert landscape outside the canyons. In the deepest and narrowest sections the shadowed light becomes quite blue since the blue of the sky that is the main source of illumination. In this photograph we see the contrast between those blue foreground shadows and the warmer colors of the more distant canyon wall that is more open to the light.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Canyon Light

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Canyon Light, Death Valley National Park
“Canyon Light” — Direct light, reflected light, and deep shadows as a canyon winds through desert mountains, Death Valley.

We love fantastically narrow and twisty slot canyons, but those are more of the exception to the rule. You can find those in Death Valley, but more likely you’ll find a scene like this one, at least in canyons that run through steep, rocky mountain ranges, like this one on the east side of the valley. Through much of its length it is more than wide enough that a vehicle could pass, if they were allowed here. Note also the very rugged and broken rock formations — this is not your smooth-walled Utah red rock canyon!

At this spot the canyon takes a couple of very sharp bends around the tall face to the right. When the trend of the canyon lines up the right way, very little direct sunlight penetrates all the way down. Instead the canyon bottom is often in shade, but that shade is filled with soft, reflected light that has bounced between the canyon walls. When I hike these canyons I always look forward to passing through these spots.

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

4 responses to “Canyon Light”

  1. Charlie Colladay Avatar
    Charlie Colladay

    Love this shot! The longer I look at it the more I like it. Forgive me for being such a pendant, but I am so moved by the intricacies of the light in this photo.

    Nice, tight composition of three separate layers: the far layer in direct sunlight; the middle, golden layer and the “giant’s foot” in the foreground. At first glance my eye was drawn to the well defined textural striations of the foreground in a seemingly softer, bluer, open shade type light. But no! It’s actually strongly directional (from the left, reflected by ?) which makes the vertical striations really pop. The far layer is being illuminated by the sun’s direct rays coming from the right, which is how we know the foreground light from the left is reflected (assuming no auxiliary lighting). The middle golden layer is the real mystery. The bright gold color and intensity of the light is greater at the left edge and gradually falls off into open shade light at the far right. The reflected light source must be something close by and behind the “giant’s foot” that is strongly reflecting the sun’s rays. It’s almost like the photographer laid out a large gold colored tarp to act as a reflector. But I doubt that. More likely it’s a warm colored rock formation that is serving as the reflector. Beautiful.

    Whatever the case…this is an amazing photo! I love it when a photo strikes you at first and then even more so as your eye roams around and you try to figure out why you like it so much. In the final analysis, it’s no surprise how often it comes down to the “Light” and we are then reminded that the Greek root of “photography” is “light drawing”.

    Nice work Dan!

    Charlie Colladay

    Reply
    1. G Dan Mitchell Avatar
      G Dan Mitchell

      Thanks Charlie,

      YOu certainly have an eye for light!

      The combination of layers and light is pretty much what this photograph is “about.” As you surmised, there are three kinds of ight (at least) at work in the photograph. OK, maybe four.

      There is the direct sunlight on the far canyon wall. Then there is the light reflected from a(n out of sight) reddish section of cliff that illuminates the middle face. The foreground light is coming from behind and above my camera position — a combination of more reflected light and light from the open sky. The forth kind of light? The deeper shadows with the more blue tones.

      One of the things I love about these canyons is precisely that variety of lighting, and especially the way that the light picks up colors from the sky and from whatever surface reflects it.

      Dan

      Reply
  2. Greg Avatar
    Greg

    Dan:

    It reminds me of Dedeckera Canyon over at the Eureka Dunes.

    Reply
    1. G Dan Mitchell Avatar
      G Dan Mitchell

      Thanks for sharing that. I’ve been to Eureka several times, but I have never investigated that canyon.

      Dan

      Reply

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Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Dawn Reflections, Mono Lake

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Dawn Reflections, Mono Lake
Colorful dawn light reflected on the surface of Mono Lake.

Dawn Reflections, Mono Lake. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful dawn light reflected on the surface of Mono Lake.

On this morning I had a particular scene in mind to photograph at Mono Lake, so I was at that location before sunrise. I worked that subject until just before the sun actually rose, as planned, and then I turned to something different — the surface of the huge lake itself, slightly disturbed by morning breezes, with waterfowl here and there, as the sun was just about to top a mountain range fare to the east. I angled the camera downwards to keep the sky out of the frame, including just a bit of the distant mountains many miles away beyond the far shore.

On a clear morning like this one, the most intense sky color comes before sunrise, after which the brilliant sun washes out the colors that are visible earlier. To make this photograph I aimed the camera directly toward the point on the horizon where the sun would rise, so the very brightest portion of the colorful sky was strongly reflected on the lake’s surface.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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