Tag Archives: road

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

Utah Backroad

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Utah Backroad
“Utah Backroad” — A Utah backroad ascends into a steep canyon at Capitol Reef National Park.

This track turns off from another gravel backcountry road and then winds its way into the high sandstone mountains of Capitol Reef National Park. There are roads like this all over Utah, and they lead to some incredible country. This one is in a national park, but many are not — yet they traverse country that would be worthy of such a designation. Fortunately the rough (sometimes very rough) routes minimize tourist impact.

This one rises in a huge Utah feature called the Waterpocket Fold, a long line of rising strata that form a valley and adjacent mountains. The scene has most of the typical Utah backcountry features — a large butte, dry flatland, sandstone towers, and even some nearby canyons.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees, Pond, and Morning Mist

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Trees, Pond, and Morning Mist
“Trees, Pond, and Morning Mist” — Late-Summer morning mist rises from a subalpine pond surrounded by dense forest.

I have driven past this lake for years — decades actually — but I’ve only stopped a few times and hardly ever tried to photograph it. Until this year. Earlier this summer I was there on a morning after rain, and the little basin was full of luminous fog. On this mid-September visit the weather was wet, foo, and I had to stop and photograph when I saw more fog.

There is a sort of classic view of this feature, and I did make some photographs from that perspective. But then I decided to wander along the side of the pond, reaching its end and then walking back through forest. From that perspective, the view through the trees caught my attention, so I positioned myself behind a few backlit shoreline trees to make this photograph.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Agriculture, Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Portugal, Photographs: Travel

Orchard and Vineyards

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Orchard and Vineyards
“Orchard and Vineyards” — Lush hill country, filled with vineyards and orchards, between Sabrosa and Alijo, Portugal.

One of the days of our Douro Valley walk in Portugal included a section between Sabrosa and Alijo. Between them we descended into this lovely valley full of vineyards and olive groves. We followed turn-by-turn directions from the walk’s organizers, and because of this I did not always track our precise location. That’s my long way of saying that I think this is the valley of the Rio Pinhão, though I’ve so far been unsuccessful in this spot on maps.

Regardless, it was a beautiful area. We came down a steep hill from the heights of Sabrosa, passing around and through vineyards. We reached the bottom of the valley, followed a road for a short distance, crossed a bridge and began the climb up the other side of the valley, a walk that would eventually bring us to our accommodations in the town of Alijo.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Abstract, Photographs: Imaginary Landscapes, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Morning Forest

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Morning Forest
“Morning Forest” — An “imaginary landscape” photograph of a foggy morning forest scene, using in-camera motion bur.

From time to time I experiment with ways to portray the landscape in a more abstract fashion. I often refer to these photographs as “imaginary landscapes.” While the line between “real” and “imaginary” can be pretty fuzzy in photography, these photographs make no pretense of portraying the objective facts of the scene. (To be clear, no photograph is fully objective, but I digress…)

In this case I used intentional (or perhaps unintentional — you decide) techniques to blur the details of the scene, leaving the biggest elements intact but leaving a lot to the imagination. The original scene is the edge of the forest next to a small lake on a foggy morning.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.