Tag Archives: rock

Photographs: Arizona, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest

Sandstone Dome, Darkening Sky

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Sandstone Dome, Darkening Sky
“Sandstone Dome, Darkening Sky” — Sunlight on a sandstone dome against a backdrop of building monsoon clouds, Northern Arizona.

Working on this photograph from Arizona, it occurred to me that my relationship with the state is a bit like my relationship to Utah was up until about a decade ago. (I had foolishly avoided photographing Utah, for reasons that I’ve explained elsewhere.) Aside from work-related travel to Arizona for conferences years ago, I’ve photographed there only twice — and each time for less than (!) a single day. On this visit I photographed as we drove straight through the northern part of the state between the Moab area and Zion National Park. (The other visit was a spontaneous drive from Kanab to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon one afternoon — it resulted in a 15-20 minute visit to the rim as darkness fell. Then I turned around and drove back to Kanab. Seriously.)

As I continued my pandemic project of revisiting raw files from prior years this week, I came upon the photographs from that one-day drive across the northern part of the state. I’m struck now by what a remarkable landscape it is and by how much of it I missed. It was a spectacular day, with thunderstorms sweeping across the landscape, interspersed with clearing skies. Although I’m no longer certain precisely where I made this photograph, its sunlit dome and darkening sky is emblematic of that day.

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

Red Rock Detail

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Red Rock Detail
A section of sandstone cliff, Arches National Park.

Red Rock Detail. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A section of sandstone cliff, Arches National Park.

There is a story about my first visit to Arches National Park that we like to recount. (Perhaps you have heard it?) It derives from a habit of mine of not doing too much research before visiting a new location — I prefer to let some things remain a mystery so that I can have the joy of “discovering” the place for myself. That was the case on our first visit to Arches. I really didn’t know anything more than that there were (duh!) some archest there and that it was a national park. We arrived in Moab in the early afternoon, and finding ourselves with more time that day than expected we decided to make a quick first visit. A reliable source reports that I pretty much lost my composure upon “discovering” this collection of towers, arches, cliffs, and more.

This photograph comes from our second visit, a few years later and during a different season. By now we knew a bit more about what to expect, and I arranged to be in a particular spot early in the morning with the prospect of photographing dawn light on sandstone features. I made quite a few photographs that morning, but this one is an example of my interest in using long lenses to photograph small details of the 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.

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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

Juniper, Sandstone Cliff

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Juniper, Sandstone Cliff
An old juniper tree growing at the base of a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park.

Juniper, Sandstone Cliff. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old juniper tree growing at the base of a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park.

As I recall it now, quite a few years later, this tree stands on a rise at the base of a large section of sandstone cliff in a place where a canyon makes a sharp bend. It is not a particularly remote or obscure spot, but the cliff is remarkable in terms of the late-day lighting and the patterns on the surface of the rock. The lighting was special — and challenging! — because the section of the canyon is aligned such that little direct light gets there. This means that much of the light is either from the very blue sky or reflected from very red cliffs, creating some almost otherworldly color effects.

My recollection is also that I found it a little complicated to get the compositions I was looking for here. I remember it as one of those places that is remarkable but which doesn’t necessarily present easy photographs. My archive of raw files supports this — I see a variety of different attempts at the subject, and each of them grappled with issues of juxtaposition and with objects that interfered with the composition. In fact, this version of the scene works because I found a different approach to cropping it that managed to eliminate one of this distractions.

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

Red Rock Face

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Red Rock Face
Detail of a sandstone face, Capitol Reef National Park.

Red Rock Face. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a sandstone face, Capitol Reef National Park.

Many times when I have photographed in red rock country I find myself looking for other subjects that work with the sandstone to produce compositions — juxtapositions of features, trees, a bit of sky or clouds, water, light and shadow, and all of the other things that are part of the experience of this Southern Utah landscape. But at times it strikes me that the rock itself can be the entire subject. This is one of those photographs.

These masses of sandstone are remarkable on their own. They may first seem somewhat undifferentiated, but a closer look in the right light — in my view, the shaded light in canyons is ideal — reveals remarkable variations and detail. The color of the rock varies greatly depending upon time of day and, especially, the color of reflected light bouncing between anyone walls. Cracks and imperfections mark the rock even on the smoothest sections. And an infinite variety of markings combine on the surface — internal irregularities, color differences where the surface has been disturbed, and everywhere vertical lines formed by seeping and flowing water.

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.

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