Tag Archives: sandstone

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

Red Rock and Trees, Afternoon Light

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Red Rock and Trees, Afternoon Light - Back-lit trees in low afternoon sun light grow on rocky sandstone high country, Zion National Park
Back-lit trees in low afternoon sun light grow on rocky sandstone high country, Zion National Park

Red Rock and Trees, Afternoon Light. Zion National Park. October 22, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Back-lit trees in low afternoon sun light grow on rocky sandstone high country, Zion National Park

As much as I have come to love Zion Canyon itself, with its monumental cliffs, winding Virgin River, and cottonwood trees, something still draws me more strongly to the high country such as that found along the Mount Carmel Highway. (I’m sure that the “real” backcountry will eventually appeal to me just as much, but my “getting acquainted” process with Zion is still in its relatively early phase.) This higher elevation terrain, which can at first perhaps seem somewhat overly complex and even “disorganized – if that makes sense – has come to hold more interest for me photographically, though it has been a bit more difficult to figure out how and when and where to photograph it. I was intrigued by these wonderfully complex sandstone patterns of curves and lines when I first saw them, but initially had a hard time seeing coherent photographs among them.

Since my first visit – less than a year ago, believe it or not – I have now had the opportunity to revisit this area on quite a few days, and I feel like I’m starting to “get” its rhythms. Initially it was a matter of passing along the roadway through the park and catching glimpses of juxtapositions of features, bits of light or color, and various canyons and prominences and thinking “there must be a way to photograph that.” Return visits, in various types of light, during two seasons, and at all hours of the day have helped me figure it out. Among my favorite subjects here (and elsewhere!) are backlit trees, here combined with some low ridges and the swooping curves and textures of the wonderful red rock.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Backlit Trees and Sandstone, Afternoon

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Backlit Trees and Sandstone, Afternoon - Afternoon sun back-lights trees and brush in the sandstone high country of Zion National Park, Utah
Afternoon sun back-lights trees and brush in the sandstone high country of Zion National Park, Utah

Backlit Trees and Sandstone, Afternoon. Zion National Park, Utah. October 22, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Afternoon sun back-lights trees and brush in the sandstone high country of Zion Naitonal Park, Utah

I love this “sea of sandstone” country from the higher elevations of Zion National Park, especially early or late in the day when the low angle sun catches the tips of the needles and leaves of the trees and bushes. The rock formations have a combination of sculpted large features and rough and angular small features that I like as well.

Several times this year I had the opportunity to spend good portions of days along the Mount Carmel Highway through the park. Between the well-known tunnel and the east border of the park, the surroundings are filled with this sort of landscape: small canyons, deeply worn stream beds, knobs of stratified red sandstone, and trees and plants managing to grow anywhere they can get a bit of soil on this rocky terrain. As I travel this road it seems that juxtapositions of these components are constantly forming, sometimes so quickly that I don’t have time to stop. However, because I have been over this road quite a few times now, I’m beginning to understand a bit more where and when to look. The idea here was to line up a couple of almost parallel hill structures, each topped by backlit trees, against the backdrop of shadowed and stratified rock.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Hanging Branch with Yellow Leaves, Sandstone Wall

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Hanging Branch with Yellow Leaves, Sandstone Wall - A branch covered in yellow autumn leaves hands over a dark sandstone wall, Zion National Park
A branch covered in yellow autumn leaves hands over a dark sandstone wall, Zion National Park

Hanging Branch with Yellow Leaves, Sandstone Wall. Zion National Park, Utah. October 22, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A branch covered in yellow autumn leaves hands over a dark sandstone wall, Zion National Park

This is another photograph made in a short slot canyon in the high country of Zion National Park. At this point, it may be clear that I have a bit of an obsession with plants in front of rock of various sorts, and I was intrigued by this bundle of branches covered with yellow fall leaves that was dangling down onto the rocky wall of sculpted sandstone in this canyon and the way that the branch shapes were juxtaposed with the horizontal patterns in the rock and the diagonal fracture dropping from left to right.

It is easy and so tempting to focus on the beautiful red-toned rock, but there are many other colors to see as well. They range from the nearly white sandstone found in some layers, through intense yellows, and all the way to nearly black, especially where lichen or moss grows on the rock. The surface of the rock in this scene is very complex. Not only is the underlying striation visible, but various sorts of lichen have added color and texture – including the lighter blotches near the bottom of the frame and the slightly more subtle red spots lining portions of the fracture.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Bighorn Sheep

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Three Bighorn Sheep - Three bighorn sheep grazing in an area of sandstone slabs, Zion National Park
Three bighorn sheep grazing in an area of sandstone slabs, Zion National Park

Three Bighorn Sheep. Zion National Park, Utah. October 22, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three bighorn sheep grazing in an area of sandstone slabs, Zion National Park

I have been fascinated by the bighorn sheep since an experience I had many years ago in the eastern Sierra Nevada. I was on my first solo backpacking trip – oddly enough, this first solo was a two-week trip! – and I was hiking up into a slightly more remote area not far from Rae Lakes. In typical climbing mode, I was trudging up a steep, rocky trail with my head mostly down, and not paying complete attention to my larger surroundings. All of a sudden I heard a tremendous clattering of rocks very close by, perhaps no more than a couple dozen feet away, and having no idea what would cause such a thing my response was mild panic. I quickly looked up and saw three bighorns very close to me, apparently as surprised by me as I was by them. I immediately began to drop my pack so that I could get to my camera, envisioning a photograph of these noble-looking creatures against the background of this rocky slope. I quickly removed the pack, grabbed my camera, and rose back up to make a photograph… only to see the rear ends of the departing critters perhaps a few hundred yards away on the steep talus slope.

The circumstances of this photograph were much less dramatic, I must admit. While driving along the Mount Carmel Highway over the high country of Zion National Park we simply looked up and saw a small herd or a dozen or more of the animals right above the roadway. I knew they were in the area since earlier I had heard rockfall far above the road, looked up, and seen two of them grazing very high on the slope. But to see such a large group this close was a bit of a surprise. Since I was traveling light on this trip I did not have my longest lens, so I worked with what I had and settled in to see what might develop. The larger group clustered around a bush a bit too far up the slope – and they were apparently not intrigued with the idea of posing, as they stood around with their butts pointing in my direction! One or two of them separated from the main group and soon this group of three made its way down across the sandstone to some brush a bit closer to me.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.