Tag Archives: tree

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

Autumn Cottonwood, Canyon Walls

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Autumn Cottonwood, Canyon Walls
An old canyon cottonwood tree approaching peak fall color, Utah.

Autumn Cottonwood, Canyon Walls. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old canyon cottonwood tree approaching peak fall color, Utah.

A small group of photographers spent a day exploring this out-of-the-way canyon far out in the Southern Utah backcountry. If a friend had not shared the location with us I probably never would have gone here, and I am deeply grateful that he introduced us to the place.

We began at a totally nondescript pull-out off of a long gravel road, a place where I would never have expected to find such a canyon. We began walking on the dry flatlands and soon dropped into a shallow canyon with some sandstone along the bottom. As per the common pattern, as we walked the side walls began to quickly rise above us, and before long we were deep in a beautiful and lonely canyon. My recollection is that we saw no one other than our party that day. This grizzled old cottonwood stood near the junction of our canyon and a side canyon seen in the upper background.

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.

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Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Spring in the Urban Forest

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Spring in the Urban Forest
A tree with new spring growth in downtown San Francisco.

Spring in the Urban Forest. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A tree with new spring growth in downtown San Francisco.

Here is another momentary detour away from the natural world and to the urban landscape, this time in San Francisco. I made the photograph on a spring day when I found branches with new leaves along this highly urban street, a place where it is possible to frame a photograph so that every single element is constructed by humans. But even here, spring cannot be held back.

These metal, concrete, and glass canyons are a landscape just as much as any red rock or granite canyon. It is possible to apply the same ways of seeing (at least to some extent) to both sorts of subjects. One of the features on this scene that always seems remarkable to me is the reflections. The largest area of what you “see” in the photograph does not consist of the actual objects in the frame, but rather of the ephemeral reflections of other objects on their surfaces.

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.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Arching Cottonwood, Canyon Stream

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Arching Cottonwood, Canyon Stream
An autumn cottonwood tree arches across a stream deep in a Utah slot canyon.

Arching Cottonwood, Canyon Stream. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An autumn cottonwood tree arches across a stream deep in a Utah slot canyon.

There are still a few more photographs in this series from a small canyon in a somewhat obscure part of this Southern Utah landscape. The canyon is a bit of a special place to me, even though visitors might not regard it as being as spectacularly iconic as some better known places. It was the very first such canyon that I ever entered, and for that reason it will always retain a bit of additional magic.

The starting point for entrance is, as is often the case with these canyons, not particularly striking at all. There is a small gravel parking lot, perhaps unmarked, surrounded by mostly dry foliage and some nearby cottonwood trees. You drop down a steep bank to reach a small, slow-flowing stream, then follow it as it meanders through flats. Eventually the walls rise beside you, and before long you are cut off from the larger world.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Urban Forest Spring

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Urban Forest Spring
Spring leaves on a tree in front of San Francisco’s One Front Street building.

Urban Forest Spring. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring leaves on a tree in front of San Francisco’s One Front Street building.

Today’s photograph temporarily climbs out of the sandstone valleys and slot canyons of Utah to enter a different kind of canyon in the urban landscape. This striking building is found in downtown San Francisco, and I’ve photographed it quite a few times during my street photography walks in The City. Unfortunately, those are on hold right now due to the lock-down, so I mined this one from my old raw file collection.

While I don’t approach photographing the natural landscape and the city in exactly the same way, there are more connections than might seem to be the case at first. I look for shape and line in both cases, and I consider how things are juxtaposed in both landscapes. And here, as in essentially photography, light is a key factor. One thing that is a bit more present in urban photography — and which is a source of interest to me — is the way that reflections play into the compositions.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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