Tag Archives: rock

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Colorful Rocks, Lichen

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Colorful Rocks, Lichen
A shadowed rock face with red lichen

Colorful Rocks, Lichen. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A shadowed rock face with red lichen

This photograph looks at some details that might be easy to overlook. The rock face was located along a trail we walked on our way to our base camp for nearly a week of Sierra Nevada backcountry photography, and we ended up camping perhaps a half mile from this spot. Most of my focus was on higher terrain, but later during our visit I found the time to walk down-canyon to this spot and photograph this wall.

Several things were striking about this feature. From a personal perspective, I was surprised that I had completely ignore such an interesting source of intimate landscapes when I walked past it the first time. Now, as I revisited it, I realized that the light here was quite special, with some reflections from bright, high peaks across the valley, and additional light coming from the blue sky, with both sources filling in soft light. Here and there small plants found a foothold in cracks, and colorful lichens, ranging from intense reds and oranges through bright greens and yellows grew on the face.

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

Slot Canyon

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Slot Canyon
The narrow confines of a Utah slot canyon

Slot Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The narrow confines of a Utah slot canyon.

Utah’s red rock and canyon country is not my native landscape, though I could see how it could be in another life. I somehow managed to live through decades of my life mostly unaware of its magic. (I have explained previously that this may be partially the result of long childhood road trips from California to the Midwest — they nearly always passed through far less scenic parts of Utah.) I had seen photographs, and eventually I started listening more carefully to the stories my friends told. Finally, less than a decade ago, I made my first visit, a long trip on which we visited Cedar Breaks, Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, and Arches. I was completely taken by this landscape and spent many weeks there over the next few years. (I haven’t been back recently, in protest against the state’s promotion of and surrender to the administration’s attack on our American public lands in the state.)

This photograph came from one of those later visits. This time, about four years ago, I had several weeks of time to travel around the state and explore. Part of that exploration was done entirely alone, but later I joined up with some other photographer friends… and I concluded the trip by meeting up with family at Zion. The photograph comes from that early, solo portion. I had heard the names of some places that weren’t far from where I was staying, so I decided to investigate. I frequently — and intentionally — don’t over-research locations, since I prefer to discover them on my own. So I figured out the minimal information about which gravel road to take, and I drove there and headed out. Before long I came to a turn-out at a spot that provided access to a beautiful wash, so I stopped and started hiking. Soon the canyon narrowed and before long I was in this beautiful slot canyon, still wet from recent rain. This spot was special — a place where the transition from open wash to narrow slot canyon was very apparent.

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.

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

Sandstone and Canyon Mud

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Sandstone and Canyon Mud
Cracked mud at the bottom of a narrow Utah sandstone slot canyon

Sandstone and Canyon Mud. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cracked mud at the bottom of a narrow Utah sandstone slot canyon

For various reasons I found myself looking back into my archives of older photographs this week. In one case someone asked about a particular subject and I thought that I could find the answer in the form of a photograph. In another I wanted to use an older image to illustrate a point. Sometimes when I go back to the old raw image files one thing leads to another and I’m off on an exploration of forgotten work. And, quite often, as I do this I “rediscover” photographs that I had originally left behind for one reason or another.

This week’s dive into the past took me back about four years to a wonderful trip to the Southwest. I had several weeks to wander. I started in the Kanab area, worked my way up to Capitol Reef to meet a photographer friend, then joined with a group of photographer/friends to spend several days camping and photographing in a remote area. I emerged from that backcountry trip to spend a night in a wonderful lodge in Boulder — what a shock that was! — and then headed west to join my family in the Zion area. I made this photograph early on the trip. I decided to explore a new area which I knew to hold some well-known features. I drove into the area, found a place to park at a likely looking trailhead, shouldered my pack and headed into a large wash, eventually entering a section of beautiful slot canyon terrain, with much from recent rains still covering parts of the canyon floor.

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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Point Sur, Sunlit Ocean

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Point Sur, Sunlit Ocean
“Point Sur, Sunlit Ocean” — Point Sur is silhouetted against the brilliantly bright sunlit ocean

Point Sur is one of the most striking landmarks along the rugged Big Sur coastline south of Monterey, California. There is plenty of striking and remarkable seascape and landscape here, but this feature is pretty much unique. It consists of a rocky, rounded hill right at the edge of the ocean, and it is (barely) connected to the mainland by a narrow, sandy peninsula. (I often wonder how many times the peninsula has been overridden by tsunami waves over the millennia.)

The spot also has a long human history. Over a century ago a lighthouse was established on Point Sur, and since it was so isolated — there was no Pacific Coast Highway back then — the residents had to be essentially self-reliant. The lighthouse workers were let go decades ago when automated lights replaced the old lighthouses, but the place is still there and much of it has been restored. I am in the area often, but the view changes a lot, and this time I photographed it from hills to the north as giant waves approached the coast and the brilliant sun glinted on the surface of the Pacific Ocean

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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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