Tag Archives: river

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

Autumn, Red Rock Country

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Autumn, Red Rock Country
Autumn colors appear in red rock country, Capitol Reef National Park.

Autumn, Red Rock Country. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn colors appear in red rock country, Capitol Reef National Park.

As best as I can recall — it was eight years ago! — I must have stopped alongside the road through Capitol Reef National Park to make this photograph, probably not far from the Fruita park facilities and campground. The photograph is looking more or less north along the front of the tall red rock formations that face to the west here.

This is a different view of this landscape than that presented in my recent photographs from the deep within the canyons. This is more about the grand, open landscape of this area, with long lines of stratified red-rock formations, great expanses of broad valleys, trees and brush, streams and rivers, and immense sky.

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 and Amazon.

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

Autumn in the Canyon

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Autumn in the Canyon
A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage deep in the canyon of the Escalante River.

Autumn in the Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A cottonwood tree with autumn foliage deep in the canyon of the Escalante River.

In my previous post I mentioned something about the experience of wandering down canyons such as this one, in particular the seductive nature of the continuous pattern of “next bend,” straight section, and the next “next bend” — and the difficulty of resisting the lure of exploring just one more twist of the canyon. On this. day I ran into that temptation as your pre-set turn-around time arrived… and passed… and we continued through a couple more of these bends.

This was one of the earlier bends, a point where we came back down to the stream after passing over some higher ground in a straight section. Here we had to wade to cross the stream since the route now followed the opposite bank. After crossing I climbed up a bit to place this colorful cottonwood tree in a composition that included the canyon beyond, and as I photographed a string of horses forded the stream.

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 and Amazon.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Canyon Wall and Reflections

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Canyon Wall and Reflections
A vertical canyon wall is reflected in the Utah canyon stream.

Canyon Wall and Reflections. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A vertical canyon wall is reflected in the Utah canyon stream.

A small group of photographers spent a couple days exploring this canyon, walking in from its wide mouth and soon being surrounded by tall sandstone cliffs and cut off from the outside world. On the first day it was quite cold and we faced the challenge of wind — which created some big challenges when photographing in the shadowed depths of the canyon. We had some success, but a few days later we decided to return and try for a day with less wind.

In this canyon I recognized a lesson that I suppose I already knew subconsciously. As we worked out way downstream we were balancing the distance we could travel against the amount of time we spend on each subject and calculating our necessary turn-around time if we were to exit the canyon in daylight. But it is hard to stop exploring such a place, and more that once we would round a bend, see another section of canyon come into view, and say, “just this one more section.” Then we’d reach the next bend, feel the need to explore it, catch a glimpse of what was around the next bend and, well, you get the idea. If I recall correctly, this was the final bend at which we realized that we had to reverse course. It was a lovely spot, extremely still and quiet, with the small stream flowing gently past the bottom of a very large and rugged cliff in deep shadows.

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Escalante River Canyon Bend

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Escalante River Canyon Bend
The Escalante River rounds a bend as it descends.

Escalante River Canyon Bend. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Escalante River rounds a bend as it descends.

If this photograph looks familiar, that may be because it is the landscape orientation presentation of a scene I shared a few weeks ago. The Escalante River and the remarkable national monument (which we hope is soon restored to its original boundaries) through which it flows are beautiful. This beauty takes many forms — the quiet of a river bend deep in the canyon, the dry and almost. barren uplands from which the canyon is invisible, and a few grand and open scenes like this one.

Much of the canyon is difficult to access, and walking to and through it is ideal. But on this day we were driving between Escalante and Boulder, and when we crossed the river here clouds were breaking up the sun and alternating bands of light and shadow were moving across the early autumn landscape.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.