Tag Archives: sandstone

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

Canyon and Stream

April 3, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A small rock-filled stream wanders along the bottom of a deep Utah red rock canyon

Yet another bend in yet another Utah canyon! We had hiked a good distance down into the depths of this canyon, finally stopping (most of us, anyway) at a scenic bend with lots of interesting photographic subjects. We held up there to make photographs, to sit and talk, and to eat. A few of us went a bit farther and some went a good distance more, but soon we had all checked our watches and realized it was time to start back..

This spot is just below a narrow section of the canyon where the water flows through a narrow cleft and around a big curve. Here, below that section, it seems like the flow must slow a bit, since a few more trees manage to grow here and the bed of the creek held a lot of river rocks and silt. In the distance the canyon curves more toward the west, and this allows a bit more light down into the canyon, producing a bit of a glow ahead.

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

Cottonwood Trees, Autumn

April 1, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A grove of autumn cottonwood trees in Utah red rock country

After a few days “in the field” in a remote southern Utah location with a group of friends, I left our camp and headed back out to what passes for civilization in this part of Utah. Truth be told, by the end of the day I arrived in a quite civilized place! After driving a bit I ended up in the town of Boulder, where I was to meet my cousin and her husband to share dinner and conversation. But I arrived a bit early, so I decide to explore a bit first.

I headed right on through Boulder and onto the Burr Trail route, following it for a few miles to an overlook where the road descends into a long canyon. I arrived at close to the perfect date to see brilliant colors from autumn cottonwood trees in this valley — although the color peak may have come a few days earlier, I like the combination of colorful trees and the skeletal shapes of partially bare trees. This little valley has a flat bottom, and the trees grew across its width and right up the red rock cliff on the opposite side.

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

Bend in the Canyon

March 31, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A sharp curving bend in the bottom of a Utah canyon

In many ways this is a bend in the canyon much like probably many thousands or other bends in this and other canyons. In places the courses of these canyons seem to wobble back and forth, turning right and then left and then right again as they trace their way down into the deeper sections of such canyons. In this spot the canyon narrowed and steepened just a little bit, and the creeks almost filled the bottom of the rocky section of the canyon around the bend. The nearly vertical canyon walls towered hundreds of feet above and no direct sunlight made it down here while I walked through.

These spots form their own little worlds, cut off from the flat country surrounding the canyons high above, and far from entry and exit points above and below. They are quiet places — at least during the good weather times when I tend to visit — and they are sonically isolated from the rest of the world, too. It is possible to walk slowly down such a canyon, picking your way along and through the creek, stopping frequently to look and perhaps photograph… and completely forget that outside world.

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

Red Rock Hills

March 27, 2015 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Red rock hills rise from the surrounding terrain, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

I made this photograph in a spot where the ubiquitous flat terraces, covered with lots of dry country plant life, run into the edge of smooth sandstone surfaces which then rise abruptly into hills and valleys and low summits. We went to this place in the late afternoon — it and a nearby area were to be the location for our evening shoot. We parked our vehicles, got out, loaded up camera equipment, and headed toward these hills.

At this point the light was rather subdued for this time of day. High, thin clouds muted the intensity of the light and reduced the otherwise stark contrasts between shadows and subjects in the sun. This generally softens the appearance of the landscape and, to some extent, warms the light a bit. In the lower part of the frame a few hardy plants still manage to eke our a living on the rocks, but just beyond, as the rocks begin to rise up more steeply, almost nothing grows.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sandstone

Canyon and Stream

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Cottonwood Trees, Autumn

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Bend in the Canyon

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Red Rock Hills

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

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