Tag Archives: ridge

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

Sandstone Formations, Morning

June 4, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early morning light illuminates fins, towers, cliffs and ridges in Arches National Park, Utah.

After the better part of a week photographing in Utah in early April, the day came to start the long drive back to California. But on the last morning I rose very early and made one last trip up from Moab into Arches National Park to photograph in the morning light. I started up on the ridge around the Windows area, looking for suitable sandstone formations to frame the setting full moon. (Still not sure whether or not the photographs of that subject are going to be share-able or not – we’ll see!) From there I headed back toward the Petrified Dunes area from which a panoramic view of many subjects is available – the towers and spires and arches up on the ridge near the Windows, the La Salle Mountains in the distance, and the huge sandstone formations down in the Wall Street area.

This photograph includes a more distant view of the latter area. Most often I think we view these features from close up, and look up at them from below. And when we are close to them we are more likely to consider one or perhaps a couple of them at once. However, from this elevated and more distant vantage point, the individual features and formations are seen more clearly as part of the larger landscape. From front to back there are first some isolated sandstone features standing alone and apart. Beyond them are the walls of the, well, Wall Street area, which are largely intact but have eroded away in some areas. Next there is a narrow canyon, in shadow in this photograph, and beyond that a wider and more solid wall running down from left to right. This one is thicker and there is a bit of a plateau on top where it appears that plants grow. Then there is yet another valley, another ridge, and the sequence continues on beyond the upper edge of the photograph.

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

Sandstone Towers, Early Evening

May 21, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening back-light on sandstone towers and desert terrain, Arches National Park.

I made this photograph within minutes of entering Arches National Park for the very first time. I have written before that this was my very first time photographing in Utah – yes, embarrassing, but true! The downside of this is that I now really wish that I had taken the time to travel here much earlier. But the upside is that I had the rare experience of encountering a completely new and, for me, unanticipated landscape for the first time.

Before departing for Utah – where we visited a veritable smorgasbord of locations – I had done almost no research beyond figuring out where the nearest lodging was. In fact, even once we were in the state I was still figuring out how to get from one location to another. There are perhaps several reasons for this approach, but one was that I do not necessarily want to go to a new place with overly strong ideas about what I should photograph nor about how I should photograph it. I prefer to get there, look around, try to get the “feeling” of the place, and begin making the photographs that I see. We arrived in Moab late in the day and checked into a motel. There was still some light left so we figured we should go somewhere… and Arches is very close! So the decision was made, and off we went. By the time we reached the Park Avenue area not far from the entrance I was stunned by what I was seeking. (It helped that we arrived at the beginning of “golden hour,” but I digress…) There were huge sandstone walls, thin fins of rock, tall towers, some with boulders perched on top – this seemed about as close to an “impossible landscape” as any I have seen. Frankly, it was overwhelming. We passed Park Avenue and drove ahead a bit to where the view opened up to this astonishing panorama, at which point we pulled out and I began making photographs, including this one that includes towers and fins backlit by the late afternoon light under thin clouds.

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

Red Rock, Capitol Reef

May 20, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Red rock sandstone formations, Capitol Reef National Park, Utah.

I’m afraid that our time in Capitol Reef National Park during our early April visit to Utah was extremely limited – essentially we just passed through on highway 12 on the day we travelled from Zion (where we had spent several days) to Moab. I wish I could have had some real time to explore this area, but at least I got a glimpse of it – enough that I know to put in on my list of places to revisit when I have more time on a future trip.

As we passed through Capitol Reef, aside from viewing things from the car, we made two stops. One was in the Fruita district area to see some petroglyphs and the other was this viewpoint along the highway, from which there was an impressive panorama of the beautiful red rock country. Although this was perhaps not the ideal time of day for photography, the weather gods cooperated enough to give me a bit of high, thin overcast to soften the light and to place these beautiful layered clouds above and beyond the sandstone ridge.

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

Eroded Formations, Bryce Canyon

May 18, 2012 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Wildly eroded sandstone formations in morning light at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah.

During our early-April week-long visit to Utah, I discovered several things. For one, Utah is an amazing place to do photography. I just wish I had gone there much sooner – but now I’ll certainly have to return. For another, it is a big place and no one-week visit could possibly do it justice. Our main focus was on Zion during the first part of the trip, and then the area around Moab, including Arches and Canyonlands, for the second part. This meant that in between we unfortunately had to pass by some beautiful places with barely time to look at all. (Though we did get a chance to see a handful of such places enough that we know we want to return to them.)

One of the places that we only visited very briefly was Bryce Canyon. In a state full of visual superlatives, this is yet another almost unbelievable location with its high central area dropping off to lowlands by means of the famous rugged cliffs. We were in the park literally on a few hours and during more or less the middle of the day. Fortunately, there were some high clouds – and this was enough to soften the potentially harsh midday sun a bit. One thing I’ve come to look for when shooting in terrain like this – steep towers separated by narrow gullies – is the light the is reflected from the sunlit side of the towers into the shaded portions. It can produce a wonderfully colorful glow. To get this, it is necessary to shoot a bit later, when the sun is high enough to shine down into these gullies. It is also a good idea to shoot into the sun, with the subjects back-lit, as I did here.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: ridge

Sandstone Formations, Morning

Sandstone Towers, Early Evening

Red Rock, Capitol Reef

Eroded Formations, Bryce Canyon

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