Tag Archives: sandstone

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

Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon

December 25, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A bright yellow autumn cottonwood tree in a valley below red rock cliffs, Kolob Canyon

I have visited these trees — and this tree — in Zion National Park’s Kolob Canyon area before. I’m familiar with this beautiful little valley that runs up toward the head of a canyon bounded by red rock cliffs, and shaded from the early morning sun. Each time I have visited it has been a bit later in the morning when direct light was still blocked, but when ambient light began to fill in the shadows a bit.

A creek runs up (or down, depending on your perspective!) this little canyon, and it is lined with vegetation, notably including cottonwood trees. Higher up there are conifers, whose green color stands out against the red of the Utah rock. Further along the canyon narrows, twists around turns and disappears from sight. Although the colors might have been even brighter few days before this visit, I like the way that the colors of the foreground tree contrast with the more skeletal shapes of the bare and nearly bare plants beyond.

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

Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff

December 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with autumn foliage at the base of a patterned sandstone cliff.

I photographed these trees in early evening light, moments after the last bit of direct sun had left his sandstone wall. I was shooting along the Fremont River where it runs through Capitol Reef National Park, not far to the east of the Fruita area. This section of the river is lined by beautiful sandstone walls, with lots of beautiful trees growing int eh relatively moist surroundings of the stream.

This little section of the canyon was especially interesting to me. The transitional light first caught my attention, perhaps, as it changed from being lit by soft, warm sunlight to the cooler tones of canyon shade. The colorful autumn cottonwood trees are always interesting, but the bent shapes of this group was special, and because the trees didn’t grow too closely together the shapes were also more visible. The canyon wall itself is fascinating. The sandstone layer here is thick and consists of relatively smooth rock, against which the various patterns on its surface are exceptionally visible — horizontal lines that might be in the rock itself or remnants of long-ago flow patterns, and the beautiful vertical water patterns. Below this thick layer of solid red rock is a contrasting layer of much lighter rock, cut with angled strata.

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

Redrock Valley and Potholes, Evening

December 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A string of potholes descends along the bottom of a red rock valley in evening light

We had spent perhaps a couple of hours photographing this landscape, starting in the early evening when there was still direct light from the sun through high, thin clouds, and then continuing as the sun dropped behind the tall ridge to our west. There was a lot to photograph in this red rock landscape, and we alternated between working slowly when the light became less vibrant and working quickly when it momentarily become luminous.

As the evening continued and the sun set, things slowed down and the photographic work seemed to lead toward an inevitable and quiet conclusion as we spent more time just looking or talking with one another. I didn’t feel like I was quite done with this particular landscape yet, and I found myself near the top of this curving red rock valley that led past a series of potholes and into a narrow gap toward the flatlands below as the last post-sunset glow turned the scene red.

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

Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs

December 22, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with autumn leaves along the Fremont River at the base of red rock cliffs

This was a long day of photography, beginning before dawn with a drive to the east side of Capitol Reef National Park for dawn photograph and then down toward the Burr Trail to explore some highland locations a bit later. We returned to our camp in the middle of the day for lunch (which, if I recall correctly, may have been a pie from the little shop near the campground!), a bit of camp business, followed by heading back out again for late-day photography.

We didn’t get far. We again headed east — I don’t recall now what the plan, if any, actually was — but we soon were distracted by subjects nearby along the road passing through the park: cottonwood and box elder trees in fall colors, the red sandstone cliffs, jumbles of rocks fallen from the canyon walls, and the Fremont River flowing through the canyon. Shortly before sunset we simply pulled over, go out, and headed of in individual directions to photograph until the light failed. This scene includes a small group of very colorful cottonwood trees growing along the edge of the Fremont River at the base of the red rock cliffs.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sandstone

Autumn Cottonwood, Kolob Canyon

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Cottonwood Trees, Patterned Cliff

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Redrock Valley and Potholes, Evening

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Autumn Cottonwoods, Red Rock Cliffs

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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.