Tag Archives: river

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Utah

Cliff, Green River Overlook

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Cliff, Green River Overlook - The canyon of the Green River beyond a band of sandstone cliffs, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
The canyon of the Green River beyond a band of sandstone cliffs, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Cliff, Green River Overlook. Canyonlands National Park, Utah. April 6, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The canyon of the Green River beyond a band of sandstone cliffs, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

I was in this spot primarily to photograph the late afternoon and evening light on the canyons, cliffs, plateaus, and mesas around the Green River. (I’ve recently posted a couple of other photographs of that subject.) One of the many striking aspects of the geology in this park is the sudden cliffs that drop from the edges of large flat areas. The upper portion of Canyonlands park, called the “Island in the Sky” is such a place. It is a large and relatively flat plateau, and if you disregard the more distant surroundings it seems like a prairie or perhaps a high desert grassland. But when you venture to its edges you most often find, on at least three of its sides, that there is a sudden drop off where the river systems below have eroded the surrounding terrain up to the edges of giant sandstone strata. I’m not an expert on the area, but one thing I read pointed out, if I recall correctly, that there is an upper plateau (the island in the sky), a 1000 foot drop, another plateau marked by the White Rim, and then another sudden drop into the depths of the surrounding river canyons.

So this bit of vertical sandstone is the upper portion of part of that first 1000-foot drop-off, in this case with the White Rim plateau and then some additional canyons beyond. Shooting late in the day, I was pointing the camera almost straight into the light – something that I often like to do. This allowed me to capture the faint shadow in the atmospheric haze formed as the light passed between two buttes at the upper edge of the frame. It also created a bit of a challenge in retaining detail in the fully shaded dark-colored cliff face! I was able to capture this in a single exposure that tested the dynamic range of my camera, and then bring back a bit of the cliff detail in post. Now, if I had just had someone stand, or better yet, dance on that cliff edge… Any volunteers for my next visit? ;-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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

White Rim, Evening

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White Rim, Evening - Evening light on the white rim landscape of the Stillwater Canyon area of the Green River, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.
Evening light on the white rim landscape of the Stillwater Canyon area of the Green River, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

White Rim, Evening. Canyonlands National Park, Utah. April 6, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the white rim landscape of the Stillwater Canyon area of the Green River, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

This was an evening of very special light in the Canyonlands, or so it seemed to me. I love soft, hazy conditions and perhaps prefer them to super clear and sharp conditions in many cases. So I had not been at all disappointed earlier in the day to see that the rugged canyons below the “island in the sky” section of Canyonlands were obscured by dust that had been stirred up by very windy conditions. We visited this spot earlier in the day and I identified it as one of several places I thought I might want to photograph at the end of the day, even though the atmosphere looked almost “murky” during the earlier visit. I knew that the edges of the upper cliffs of canyons, for example along the White Rim, could well be nicely lit in the evening light. So as we wandered around other nearby areas, looking for other shooting prospects, I became more and more certain that this is where I wanted to end up.

When we came back here a bit before actual sunset, it was cold and rather windy. The wind had been an issue though out my photography here and at Arches, and I was getting used to timing my shots for the lulls between gusts. I put on warm clothes and wandered out to the edge of the cliffs, where I found a small number of other photographers as well. Earlier I had not only decided on shooting here, but I had also scoped out a couple of likely compositions. One (which I posted earlier) was a horizontal composition that included the bottom of the canyon that would be out of this picture and to the right – a deep canyon that was carved by the Green River and its tributaries. The other was this vertical composition, that angled across the tops of a row of flat areas along the White Rim where canyons alternated with the flat surfaces above with more distant mesas and more mountains beyond. The atmosphere did something that it can often do when the air is hazy – it gradually changed from having a low contrast and filmy appearance with lots of golden tones and began to become more transparent as the light lowered and came in at a lower and lower angle. Here, very close to when the sun dipped below the horizon, the very low angle light strikes the west-facing cliffs and skims across the tops of the low hills in the foreground and on top of the mesa-like formations beyond.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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

The Watchman and the Virgin River, Morning

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The Watchman and the Virgin River, Morning - The virgin River curves towards the Watchman in early morning light, Zion National Park, Utah.
The virgin River curves towards the Watchman in early morning light, Zion National Park, Utah.

The Watchman and the Virgin River, Morning. Zion National Park, Utah. April 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The virgin River curves towards the Watchman in early morning light, Zion National Park, Utah.

The peak in the upper portion of this photograph, The Watchman, with the curve of the Virgin River in the foreground is, as I understand it, one of the iconic photographic subjects of Zion National Park – perhaps being roughly equivalent to a photograph of Yosemite’s Half Dome from the Sentinel Bridge in The Valley. The funny thing, though, is that while I had seen this view of this subject many times in the photographs of others, I actually had no idea where it was or that I would see it when I visited Zion National Park earlier this month. I had somewhat intentionally avoided doing any real research about the places I would photograph, preferring instead to just confront them for what they are, unaffected as much as possible by previous notions about what I “should” photograph.

So, as we rode the shuttle bus into the park from the town of Springdale in the afternoon and crossed a bridge over the Virgin River before heading up into the canyon, I looked to my right and thought, “Oh, it is that view!” I have heard the stories and have seen the pictures of hordes of photographers lined up on this bridge, specifically to shoot this scene with fall colors and at sunset. (You can see a couple of examples by photographer and friend Gary Crabbe here.) I generally don’t seek out the icons, though I most certainly will photograph them if a) I haven’t photographed them before and/or b) there is something unusual or different about the conditions when I’m there. Although I did not stop and get off the bus to photograph the scene on that first evening, in the back of my mind I considered stopping if it looked interesting the next morning. And, in fact, as we took the shuttle back into the park very early the next morning – starting before sunrise, actually – it seemed like it might be worth hopping off after the bridge and taking a look. I was more encourage when we got there, both by the interesting soft dawn light and the lack of any other photographers on the bridge. So, there you go – I now have a photograph of the Watchman and the Virgin River, too! :-)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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

Turks Head, Green River

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Turks Head, Green River - The green river curves around Turks Head and through deep canyons in hazy evening light, Canyonlands National Park, Utah
The green river curves around Turks Head and through deep canyons in hazy evening light, Canyonlands National Park, Utah

Turks Head, Green River. Canyonlands National Park, Utah. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The green river curves around Turks Head and through deep canyons in hazy evening light, Canyonlands National Park, Utah.

I made several photographs Canyonlands National Park’s Green River Overlook on this beautiful early April evening. The upper portion of this area of the park is a high, flat area at about 6000′ of elevation that tends to drop off steeply, especially on the east, south, and west sides which lead to the canyons of the Colorado and Green Rivers just above their confluence. Below this upper plateau there is a second plateau at the level of the White Rim about 1000′ lower, with yet another drop-off into the bottoms of the river canyons and their tributaries.

This photograph is looking roughly southwest into the canyon of the Green River, which is barely visible between the foreground White Rim area and the solitary butte of “Turks Head” just beyond. (At least I hope it is Turks Head! That looks to be the only feature in this area that would fit that description, but I’m now to this geography.) At this early evening time the light was slanting nearly horizontally across the scene from the right and hitting a few of the west-facing slopes and glancing along the top of the White Rim. Haze filled the air, softening the light, muting the colors of the scene, and accentuating the grand scale of this landscape.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.