Tag Archives: rock

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

Desert Wash and Mesa

March 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sandstone formations and mesa tower beyond a desert wash, Capitol Reef National Park

It has been a while since I’ve posted more of the late 2012 Utah photographs I made during fall visits, but there are more. Actually, there are quite a few more! The time I spent in that state in 2012 was photographically very productive, and I look forward to returning before too long.

I think I might categorize this as one of those “you can find a photograph almost anywhere if you keep your eyes open” photographs, since it was made it a location that is probably not regarded as being as special as some others nearby. Driving from Torrey, Utah toward Capitol Reef National Park, there is quite a bit to see. Off to the right in places there are deep and rugged canyons with lots of trees among the red rocks. To the left runs a large series of red rock cliffs that lead up toward the park. As we drove on this afternoon, the light was softened a bit by clouds and there was a kind of glow on the red rock terrain. So we simply pulled off to the side of the road as we crossed this wash and I composed a photo looking back past the foreground plants and across the wash toward the rising cliffs beyond.

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

Canyon Bottom, Red Rock, and Trees

March 10, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Red rock sandstone terrain, trees, and brush line a canyon bottom in the high country of Zion National Park

Yes, I’m still working that vein of October 2012 Utah photographs! This one came from a productive day, though it wasn’t an easy one, during which we spent a lot of time along the Mount Carmel Highway that passes through the high country of the park, looking for fall color and juxtapositions of light and rock and trees.

This rough terrain varies in its susceptibility to being photographed as the light changes. Areas that might be muted while in shadow can become highlighted and separated from background terrain when the sun strikes them. On the other hand, certain subjects such as fall foliage may be almost impossible to photograph in direct light, but when they fall into shadows the soft and diffuse light can change them. This photograph combines the shadows and the direct light, with the sun lighting a few trees, especially those at the top of the foreground red rock, and letting them stand out against the background terrain that is in the shadows.

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

Utah Juniper, Sandstone Cliff

March 1, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A single Utah juniper tree in front of a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park

Shooting in this area of Capitol Reef National Park was a bit of a late-day whim. There had a been a bit of a slowing down of the photography earlier that day, and we almost felt a bit obligated to get out and do more photography in the evening. Hey, it happens! Feeling a bit less than inspired and with no specific goal in mind, we headed over to Capitol Reef and looked around, at first perhaps without a lot of enthusiasm. If you are a typical photographer, you have probably had such a day – the light doesn’t seem great, there are unfixable challenges with the location, and you just aren’t “seeing” it.

Eventually I thought it would at least be worthwhile to head up into a nearby canyon that I had visited before. We got out and prepared to walk up the canyon a ways. Before we did so, I saws this tree at the top of gravel hill at the base of the vertical sandstone cliffs and recalled that I had been interested in it when I have visited this spot once before. By now it was pretty late in the day, and the light shining through the thin overcast was bouncing off of canyon walls behind me and gently reflecting towards the wall behind this tree.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Tree and Granite Wall

February 26, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A single tree grows against the face of a granite wall, Yosemite National Park, California

I’m well acquainted with this tree, though there is always more to learn about such things. It is next to a Yosemite road that I drive regularly, and near a location that I frequently stop to photograph in all seasons. Most often I’m not photographing this tree, but some other nearby subjects – but I always end up looking at the tree and considering its situation.

The tree grows very close to an impressively steep cascade of water, but it is not quite within the watercourse itself. Off to one side, it grows almost perfectly straight against the face of a very large chunk of granite that must have long ago fallen from the steep terrain above. While its trunk and branches, like those of many similar Sierra trees, can almost seem closer to rock than to a living thing, the green at the end of the thinner, darkened branches softens its appearance. And there is a bit more to the rock behind the tree if you look closely. There is a complex and varied pattern of lichen across its surface and in places it is broken up by cracks, such as the curving one at upper right whose curve seems to be faintly completed just to the right of the tree trunk.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: rock

Desert Wash and Mesa

Canyon Bottom, Red Rock, and Trees

Utah Juniper, Sandstone Cliff

Tree and Granite Wall

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.