Tag Archives: season

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

Red Rock and Trees, Afternoon Light

December 13, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

December 9, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

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.

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

Autumn Color, Escalante River

December 6, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood tree fall color below sandstone cliffs along the Escalante River, Utah

This is another photograph made on our second attempt to photograph this area during the last half of October, 2012. The first time had been a day that was a beautiful one in many ways, but a photographically problematic one in others – with cold, very strong winds, clouds, and even a bit of rain. So nearly a week later we found ourselves back in the same general area and we decided to give it another try. This turned out to be a good decision, as all of those factors that had impeded photography the first time were now gone, and we had beautiful light, good fall colors, almost no wind.

There are many things that appeal to me about photographing in this kind of country. The rock itself is high on the list, for its range of intense colors along with the fact that it is the source of the many beautiful and compelling canyons that are found here. The fall foliage is another factor. After my Sierra Nevada colors have mostly gone (at least on the east side where the aspens grow) the low elevation colors of oak, maple, box elder, and cottonwood reach their peak. Other plants produce their own unique and sometimes subtle effects – such as the widely varied coloration of the tamarisk plants, which can include everything from black and gray through blue to yellow, red, and even purple. But above all is the quality of the light in these places, especially when it bounces down from high rock faces to light the depths of narrow canyons, taking on the coloration of the higher rocks, softening the lighting below, and often producing a glowing effect that must be seen to be believed. The light in this photograph is such light, reflected from a very large and sun-lit face to the left of my camera position.

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

Base of the Organ, Morning

December 3, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Autumn foliage begins to change along the base of the Organ and on the slopes of the Great White Throne, Zion Canyon

During three visits to Zion National Park and Zion Canyon during the past year, the area around “Big Bend” in the canyon has become a bit of a fixation for me. There is a lot to see and photograph here, and the lighting changes a lot during the course of the day. The bend in the canyon creates a sort of closed-in effect, and it is possible to focus both on the very small features and on the very large, including the canyon walls and more distant examples of vegetation climbing up the cliff walls.

Two major features make an appearance in this photograph. The near, darker columns are the base of a feature called “The Organ” that sits near the apex of the horseshoe bend that the canyon makes here as the Virgin River goes downstream. Beyond that are the huge walls of “The Great White Throne,” a towering feature in this portion of the canyon whose color is lighter than that of some of the other reddish rock cliffs nearby. I made this photograph fairly early in the morning before any direct sunlight had begun to affect the scene and when a certain amount of haze was still in the air. The foliage at the base of The Organ is just beginning to show the tiniest bit of autumn color, but higher on the cliffs of The Great White Throne there are trees that are well along on this transition.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: season

Red Rock and Trees, Afternoon Light

Hanging Branch with Yellow Leaves, Sandstone Wall

Autumn Color, Escalante River

Base of the Organ, Morning

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