Tag Archives: talus

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

Juniper and Sandstone Cliff

Leave a comment
Juniper and Sandstone Cliff
Tall sandstone cliffs dwarf Juniper trees growing among talus boulders.

Juniper and Sandstone Cliff. Capitan Reef National Park, Utah. October 20, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tall sandstone cliffs dwarf Juniper trees growing among talus boulders.

Back in the fall of 2014 I was fortunate enough to be able to work with a great deal of autonomy for a period of about six months. This allowed me to be on the road in the landscapes of southwestern Utah for three weeks. With a long unbroken period of work in the field I was able to spend time in many of my favorite places — Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument (now under threat from the current administration), Capitol Reef National Park, the Dixie National Forest, and Zion National Park. At times I worked individually, on several occasions I joined up with other photographers, and at the end I met family members at Zion.

I joined my friend and fellow photographer David Hoffman for a few days in Capitol Reef. The Fruita area was our home base, but we explored further south along both sides of this park. On this evening after setting up camp we simply went a short distance down the road along the great sandstone walls along the west side of the park and photographed the golden hour light and on into dusk. This scene is at the base of one of these monumental sandstone cliffs, where large boulders that have broken off the face are piled against it at the bottom and a few hardy trees and bushes have taken root.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Tarns

Leave a comment
Alpine Tarns
Alpine tarns at the base of talus slopes, Kings Canyon National Park

Alpine Tarns. Kings Canyon National Park, California. September 15, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Alpine tarns at the base of talus slopes, Kings Canyon National Park

The meaning of the term “tarn” is somewhat varied. Two technical definitions I’ve heard include (rather precisely) a small lake in a depression scooped out by glacial action, or (more informally perhaps) simply any very small body of mountain water too small to qualify as a real lake. Yes, that’s pretty subjective! Aside from their tendency to produce mosquitos, I love tarns, and I especially love areas where they are embedded in a rocky landscape broken by small meadows and occasionally trees.

I photographed this spot with its tarns (or small lakes, if you prefer) in shaded, soft light. There was sun, but it was low enough in the sky that its direct light was blocked by a tremendous rocky ridge to our west. Down here at the base of the small valley where we camped, everything was quiet and soft, including the light.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake

Leave a comment
Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake
Rocks from vertical cliffs line the base of a deep blue alpine lake

Granite Cliffs, Alpine Lake. Sequoia National Park, California. August 6, 2008. © Copyright 2008 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rocks fallen from vertical cliffs line the edges of a deep blue alpine lake

As I write this tonight for posting tomorrow, winter is over and spring is a few hours old. It is perhaps for that reason — the start of spring and the inevitability of summer — that I found myself looking though some old photograph files from a summer about eight years in the past. There is a practical reason to revisit the old files from time to time; I often find photographs that now look pretty interesting that I apparently skipped over originally, for one reason or another. But it is also an opportunity to revisit the older memories as well, since looking at the photographs brings back the recall of many other details of such Sierra trips.

On this trip I crossed the Southern Sierra from west to east with a small group of long-time trail friends. I am not sure why, but I had not been back on this trail in the decades since my first visit — so I was excited to revisit this spectacular route. Today I began tracking the progress of the trip via the old photographs, starting on the first day and looking at photograph up through day three, when we climbed from a beautiful lake to cross the Kaweah Mountains and head east. I came to this photograph, which is a vertical orientation interpretation on a scene in another of my photographs that may be somewhat recognizable. At the time when I made the original print I think I must have committed to the horizontal format and, thus, put the vertical on the back burner. but today I decided that I like this version, too, with a bit less emphasis on the water and a bit more on the vertical thrust of the rocky walls.

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” is available from Heyday Books and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake and Pinnacles, Evening

2 Comments
Lake and Pinnacles, Evening
Lake and Pinnacles, Evening

Lake and Pinnacles, Evening. Kings Canyon National Park. July 30, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light reflects surrounding pinnacles in the surface of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

This photograph takes me back to a long southern Sierra backpacking trip I took with friends back in 2010 — a trip from which I have recently shared a few other photographs. We entered the backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park from the east over one of the high Sierra crest passes, a few days later crossed another even higher pass to enter the upper Kern River drainage, spent a few days in a very remote portion of this area, and then exited back to the east over the crest by way of one of the more notorious east side passes — not the most notorious one, but definitely on the short list of awful passes… in a wonderful way. ;-)

The lake in this photograph was the site of our first night camp, after we came over that first pass and dropped to this beautiful sub-alpine valley with its lakes, meadows, rocks, and small trees. We settled in to this first camp… and into the familiar and welcome patterns of a long trip into the backcountry. These include camaraderie among friends who have shared many backpacking experiences, purposefully purposeless wandering around the wilderness neighborhood, sitting on rocks and staring, and watching the day transition to evening and then night.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist 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.