Tag Archives: trees

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

Base of the Organ, Morning

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

Base of the Organ, Morning. Zion National Park, Utah. October 30, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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 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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Kolob Canyon, Morning

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“Kolob Canyon, Morning” — Morning light slants over the top of sandstone cliffs above early autumn foliage in Kolob Canyon, Zion National Park

I finally made it into the Kolob Canyon area of Zion National Park this October. From what I can tell, this area is much less frequently visited than the more popular and accessible Zion Canyon area. It seems to me that the park service sort of wants it this way, which makes sense to me. There is almost no formal development of this portion of the park aside from a very modest visitor center near the entrance. Along the dead-end road into this portion of the park, you find little besides a few turn-outs and parking lots at some trailheads. In addition, the entrance to this section of the park requires a significant drive from the most popular lodging areas in places like Springdale.

We arrived on a very cold early autumn morning when many trees and bushes were just beginning the fall color changes. In most places things were still very green, but here and there it was possible to find some nice displays of color. Near the location of this photograph the road made a sort of horseshoe bend across the lower portion of the canyon, and I spotted a lot of things that seemed to be photo-worthy to me: the early morning sun light beams slanting through morning haze across the upper section of the canyon, the dry waterfall at its furthest-back point, the always-beautiful red rock cliffs, and the colorful foliage beginning to appear in the canyon.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Red Maple Trees, Autumn

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Red Maple Trees, Autumn - Autumn red maple trees growing against a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park
Autumn red maple trees growing against a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park

Red Maple Trees, Autumn. Zion National Park, Utah. October 22 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Autumn red maple trees growing against a sandstone cliff, Zion National Park

Sometimes I just have to make a photograph that is full of color, and finding these trees constituted one of those “sometimes.” During the latter part of October we passed through Zion on our way to points east, so we spent most of a day along the Mount Carmel Highway looking for various subjects that can be found there in a fall. Among them, we were looking for autumn foliage. (The color comes to this high country area of Zion while things are still mostly green back down in Zion Canyon.) At this point some cottonwood and box elder trees were changing, though there was a lot of green still around. However, the red maples, which seem to change first, were at peak color conditions in many spots.

As we drove along the park road, we were more or less hanging out the windows, looking for those combinations of light (quality and angle), color (or trees and rocks), and geology that might make good photographs. Most often we found ourselves looking down into narrow canyons where colorful trees lined the banks of the stream beds. Sometimes we photographed from above, but the most productive shooting involved hiking down into these canyons and then slowly walking them while looking intently for subjects. Of course, the red maples don’t require a lot of careful looking! This group of trees was in a shady curve in the bottom of a canyon, so I found a frame-filling bunch of branches and leaves and made a few exposures.

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: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cliff, Fall Color, Escalante River

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Cliff, Fall Color, Escalante River - Fall foliage of cottonwood and box elder trees at the base of a cliff along the Escalante River, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument
Fall foliage of cottonwood and box elder trees at the base of a cliff along the Escalante River, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

Cliff, Fall Color, Escalante River. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 29, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Fall foliage of cottonwood and box elder trees at the base of a cliff along the Escalante River, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

This portion of the Escalante River treated us in two very different ways during our late-October visit. Early in the trip, we were anxious to explore this section of the river, where fall colors of cottonwood and box elder trees and more were arriving and where the river continuously twists and turns among sandstone cliffs. In the morning we drove out to our trailhead, noticing two things about the weather – it was cold and there was a lot of the thing that no one wanted to mention but which we might refer to as “W”. (Hint, it moves the branches and leaves a lot!) Undeterred, we entered the canyon and encountered very beautiful conditions, especially when it came to autumn foliage color. However, the “morning breezes” turned into a midday gale, at times forcing us to stop moving as strong gusts momentarily pinned us down. Some clouds began to move overhead. Low light and screaming winds in a deep canyon make for challenging foliage photography, to say the least! By the time we finally left the canyon, it was trying to rain, and across the valley we could see snow falling on higher peaks.

With that first visit in mind, near the end of our trip we found ourselves with time to go back to this canyon. The “I’ve already been there” thoughts were overwhelmed by the “maybe this time we can actually make photographs” thoughts, and so we re-entered this location. On this morning, there was no “W” and it was a few degrees warmer. As we continued up the canyon, the colors were just as beautiful as before, with blown-down leaves having been replaced in many locations by leaves that had more recently changed colors. The light was gorgeous, and we shot almost continuously as we walked downstream, only turning around reluctantly when we ran out of time and energy, though we did get a bit further down-canyon this time. The scale of this photograph may be difficult to understand in this small web jpg, but the trees are good-sized cottonwoods at the base of a giant cliff of light-colored sandstone that towers overhead at a bend in the river.

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.