Several things about the scene caught my attention as we passed through this area in of Capitol Reef National Park. The background is one of the thickest and most monumental strata in this area of the park. The surface of this solid rock is, however, marked in all sorts of ways. Notably there are stains from flowing water, and in a couple of vertical bands the flow has been regard enough to encourage the growth of lichens.
Continue reading Juniper Tree, Water-Stained Cliff
I recall the first time that I became truly aware of the variety of patterns and texture found in the Sandstone faces of The Southwest. I was photographing deep in a canyon in the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument with friends when I got the idea to keep my eyes open for petroglyphs, something I had not previously thought much about. Before long, I started imagining petroglyphs everywhere. Eventually, realizing that was impossible, I figured out that the rocks and erosion processes themselves produce remarkable patterns.
Continue reading Stained Sandstone, Lichen
I have visited some remarkable cathedrals in Europe, and I obviously have seen stained glass windows. But I paid less attention to the light shining through them until we visited Sagrada Familia in Barcelona a few years ago. We entered late in the day as light streamed though that church’s remarkable windows, and the effect was simply astonishing. After that I began to notice similar, though subtler, effects in other big churches.
Continue reading Stained Glass Light
This beautiful church in Brussels, the Eglise de Notre-Dame Des Victoire, doesn’t seem to be on the tourist map. But we think it was well worth the visit. We walked there from our lodgings in the touristy old part of Brussels. Walking away from there changed our perspective on the city. It appeared that we may have been the only tourists at this church.
Entering the church it was rather dark. But once our eyes adjusted to the natural light, we noticed that sunlight was streaming in through stained glass windows along its east side . At the front of the church, the stained glass windows comprised most of the vertical surfaces, and this created a lovely, light-filled area.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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