Tag Archives: rock

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

Edges

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A conjunction of striated sandstone in a Utah canyon.

Edges. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A conjunction of striated sandstone in a Utah canyon.

I photographed this somewhere in Utah, almost certainly in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and I’m pretty sure I remember which little canyon I was walking through… but I can’t say that I recall the exact spot. We had driven to a rather out-of-the-way location, wandered up a shallow stream, and entered a lovely, quiet, light-filled canyon full of the usual twists and turns.

The canyon presented a veritable feast of photography — plants, reflections of sky and canyon walls in the water, sand, red rock walls, and more. Given the narrowness of the canyon, the subjects all belonged to the “intimate landscape” genre, and it was rare to have a view of anything more than a few yards away. And everywhere the star of the show was there light reflected down from above and bouncing off the sandstone canyon walls.

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

Sandstone Landscape

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Sandstone Landscape
The sandstone landscape of Arches National Park in hazy morning light.

Sandstone Landscape. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The sandstone landscape of Arches National Park in hazy morning light.

There aren’t really any obvious landscape icons in this photograph, but it felt to me like it captured something characteristic of the broader landscape of Arches National Park. Made on a hazy October morning, there were some rather impressive towers behind me as I made the photograph, but much of what was in front was muted by the haze. There is one of the ubiquitous fins, some sunlit foreground dry grass and brush, a plateau covered with rounded sandstone formations, and in the distance a landscape that includes the canyon of the Colorado River.

I am particularly intrigued by landscapes such as that seen just beyond the fin, where low, rounded sandstone formations cover the ground. From a distance they are not very imposing, but up close such places are full of things to sustain the interest if you can take the time to wander in such intimate landscapes.

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: 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.

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.