Tag Archives: sandstone

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

Escalante River Canyon Bend

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Escalante River Canyon Bend
The Escalante River rounds a bend as it descends.

Escalante River Canyon Bend. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Escalante River rounds a bend as it descends.

If this photograph looks familiar, that may be because it is the landscape orientation presentation of a scene I shared a few weeks ago. The Escalante River and the remarkable national monument (which we hope is soon restored to its original boundaries) through which it flows are beautiful. This beauty takes many forms — the quiet of a river bend deep in the canyon, the dry and almost. barren uplands from which the canyon is invisible, and a few grand and open scenes like this one.

Much of the canyon is difficult to access, and walking to and through it is ideal. But on this day we were driving between Escalante and Boulder, and when we crossed the river here clouds were breaking up the sun and alternating bands of light and shadow were moving across the early autumn 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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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Wall

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Canyon Wall
Broken boulders and strata at the base of a slot canyon wall.

Canyon Wall. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Broken boulders and strata at the base of a slot canyon wall.

These canyons are simply full of fascinating details. Unlike much of my familiar Sierra Nevada landscape, where vistas can often go on for many miles, here the size of your world is much smaller. It is constricted to the width of the canyon, the distance to the upper rims (plus some sky), and upstream and downstream to only the next bends. So you are almost forced to focus on smaller details, of which there are many.

Here my attention was drawn to the rocks. I’m no geologist, and I only know enough to speculate about these things. But a close look at the rocks in this scene show material that was created in layers. Near the upper right corner, if you look closely, you can spot a place where there is a striking convergence of angles in the strata. And although this material was laid down in horizontal layers, over time it has been pushed and stretched and lifted until the formerly horizontal now angles up distinctly to the left. There is also an interesting almost vertical fracture between the more solid (and darker) rock on the right, and the lighter color of the broken rocks stacked up on the left.

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

Light on Red Rock

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Light on Red Rock
Sandstone formations in sunlight, Arches National Park.

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

Sandstone formations in sunlight, Arches National Park.

As I have waded through my 2012 archive of raw images from Utah, made during two autumn trips to the southern part of the state that lasted nearly a full month in total, I am again reminded to the incredibly diverse ways in which the ubiquitous sandstone can be seen. Sometimes, in stark light, the colors are not that striking. In the depths of canyons they can be unbelievably intense. In dawn and sunset light they can become so saturated as to be nearly unbelievable. In shade they can be tinged with blue. And on it goes…

I made this photograph in “normal” daytime light, in a place where the sun beats down without obstruction. I don’t recall for sure now, but judging by the reasonable light levels of the highlights, it may have been a bit overcast. In this location the rock tends to organize into “fins” and fin-like formations, with long walls that are tall and parallel to one another. The nearly overhead light created shadows on the side of the rocks facing me, but each face was also subtly lit by reflections.

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.

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

Dormant Plant, Fractured Rock

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Dormant Plant, Fractured Rock
A nearly dormant plant grows on a fractured boulder against a cliff wall in a Utah slot canyon.

Dormant Plant, Fractured Rock. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A nearly dormant plant grows on a fractured boulder against a cliff wall in a Utah slot canyon.

To my way of thinking, slot canyons bring several primary associations. The narrow, twisting vertical walls are near the top of the list. The unusual surfaces of the wash floor are another: sand, mud, rocks. Above all (literally and figuratively) is the light entering far above and then bouncing back and forth among the canyon walls as it descends, picking up the colors of the rock and becoming softer and softer.

There are other associations, too, and although they might not be quite so immediately apparent, once you see them they are everywhere. Almost everything here is, of course, affected by water. The canyons were cut by it and the process continues. When the water periodically moves cataclysmically, rocks and boulders are redistributed downstream and mixed together with material from many different sources. As the water continues to eat into rock it undermines the higher structures, and gravity brings down rock from younger state. All the while the moving water grinds away and polishes the lower reaches of the canyon.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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