Tag Archives: sandstone

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

Slot Canyon

Image January 3, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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

Sandstone and Canyon Mud

Image December 31, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

Juniper and Striped Sandstone

July 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A vertically striped sandstone cliff behind a juniper tree

My recollection is that we had driven into this deep canyon at Capitol Reef late in the day, and that we stopped to photograph as we began to head back out of the canyon not long before sunset. Because of the late hour, although it was still daytime, the light was blocked here by the very tall walls of this narrow canyon.

We stopped here largely because of the remarkable vertical stains on the smooth sandstone walls. In many places this layer of sandstone is almost monolithic, but here the staining produced sharp vertical lines and broke up the otherwise solid features of the rock. Near the base of the cliff a few boulders stood, and on the higher areas right next to the cliff a few trees managed to grow.

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

Sandstone Canyon Walls

June 28, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Detail of a fractured sandstone cliff in a canyon at Capitol Reef National Park.

Over several years and several visits I began to understand Capitol Reef National Park a bit more. (Though it is a big and varied place, and true knowledge of the place — as is the case with any such landscape — comes from longer experience than I yet have.) Understanding comes partly from experiencing a wider range of the park’s geography than that in the most conveniently located places. Visiting during different parts of the year and in varied conditions helps — a sunny spring morning is very different from a freezing late October morning. Finding a few personal spots that feel like familiar friends is part of the process.

The sandstone-walled canyons are all over this part of the Southwest. I distinctly recall the first one I visited, walking into it in the morning, wading up canyon in the shallow stream, winding through its twists and turns as the canyon deepened. More visits taught me that each canyon has is own personality — yet some general features are shared by most of them. Unlike most of my Sierra Nevada world, where one often feels open to the entire sky, in the canyons the world shrinks to what you can see between two twists in the course of the stream that created the canyon. Views of the sky are extremely limited, and your focus soon turns almost exclusively to things that are nearby. There is little wind and usually the quiet is broken only by the sound of water, perhaps some birds, and your own passage. The light bounces among red rock walls and diffuses as it gently arrives from far above.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sandstone

Slot Canyon

Sandstone and Canyon Mud

Juniper and Striped Sandstone

Sandstone Canyon Walls

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