Tag Archives: trees

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

Escalante River, Early Fall

Leave a comment
Escalante River, Early Fall - Early fall colors begin to come to the trees lining the Escalante River, Utah.
Early fall colors begin to come to the trees lining the Escalante River, Utah.

Escalante River, Early Fall. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 6, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early fall colors begin to come to the trees lining the Escalante River, Utah.

If I have any regrets about this photograph, it might be that if I had been there a few days later the entire cottonwood-covered river bottom might have been the color of the leaves on the one brilliant foreground tree. But seriously, it was a stunningly beautiful scene. The trees here ranged from regular old green to quite brilliant yellow and gold, and the partly cloudy skies sent alternating cloud shadows and sunny breaks hurrying across the landscape. As I set up on this hill above the river valley, I would look back over my shoulder to spot the next break in the clouds, try to predict where and when it would cast its light, and then make several exposures as the light traversed the scene from near to far, first illuminating the foreground trees, then the red cliff faces, and finally the towers at the far end of the valley.

The terrain in this area is truly stunning. After dropping down a steep descent and traversing rolling waves of sandstone, the road makes a brief descent to the river bottom. It then begins to rise and is soon traveling along a length “hogback” with sheer drop-offs on both sides, and the river valley far below.

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.

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

Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks

1 Comment
Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks
S”Sunset, Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks” — unset light at Chessman Point, Cedar Breaks National Monument

This was my first visit to Cedar Breaks National Monument in Utah. On my previous trip though Utah we had driven past the roads leading to Cedar Breaks and – doing what one does while driving these days! – we looked it up on the iPhone, and it sounded quite interesting. The descriptions suggested a high elevation bowl with Bryce Canyon-like features that would be open to the west and sunset light. With this in mind, we decided to end our cross-Nevada drive with an overnight at Brian Head, the seasonally dormant ski area where rooms were both relatively inexpensive and quite nice! After checking in we drove on up the road to the National Monument.

The terrain is very interesting and very “not California” to this Sierra Nevada guy. On one side of the ridge is a gently rolling high terrain of alternative forest and meadows, just the sort of place to find lots of deer in the evening and an altogether quiet and peaceful sort of place. On the other side of the ridge, however, things are quite different. The mountain simply drops away to the west, with brightly colored and complex fluted canyons of red rock and soil. Far below and in the distance we could see large groves of aspen trees. A strong wind was blowing up the west-side canyons, but I managed to stabilize things enough to make a few photographs of this spectacular terrain in near-dusk light.

Leave a comment or question using the form. (If you are reading this on the home page, click the article title to see the full article and the comment form.

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: Utah

Aspen Color Explosion

1 Comment

Aspen Color Explosion - An almost unbelievable explosion of aspen color in the mountains east of Cedar City, Utah
An almost unbelievable explosion of aspen color in the mountains east of Cedar City, Utah

Aspen Color Explosion. Dixie National Forest, Utah. October 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An almost unbelievable explosion of aspen color in the mountains east of Cedar City, Utah

This impresses me as just about the most ridiculous, over-the-top, unbelievable explosion of aspen color that I’ve ever seen. I visited Utah during the first part of October this year, and I encountered what must be almost peak fall aspen color during the first week of the month in the southwestern part of the state not far from Cedar City and Zion National Park. By the time I arrived the trees at the highest elevations had lost many of their leave, however the show from trees and somewhat lower elevations more than made up for this.

While there were colorful trees everywhere, this particular group seemed unrivaled for the sheet variety of colors packed together in one small area. The specific spot isn’t all that important and, frankly, in many ways the location was otherwise not necessarily the most wonderful example of Utah wilderness. (There were homes not too far away.) We came upon this scene while driving a back-road not far from Cedar City – we were basically just driving around looking for color and hoping we would find some. (Actually, it was hard to avoid seeing aspen color!) While some leaves had fallen from the lower portions of a few of these trees, the color variation was amazing – ranging from yellow-gold through orange and right on to red, with a few still-green leaves thrown in for good measure.

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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Lodgepole Forest and Lower Slopes of Mount Gibbs

Leave a comment

Lodgepole Forest and Lower Slopes of Mount Gibbs - Lodgepole forest trees and the lower slopes of Mount Gibbs are bathed in sunset light, Yosemite National Park
Lodgepole forest trees and the lower slopes of Mount Gibbs are bathed in sunset light, Yosemite National Park

Lodgepole Forest and Lower Slopes of Mount Gibbs. Yosemite National Park, California. September 13, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Lodgepole forest trees and the lower slopes of Mount Gibbs are bathed in sunset light, Yosemite National Park.

This was an evening of “interesting” (e.g. – tricky!) light that changed from moment to moment. The issue was that there were high clouds to the west of my position not too far from Tioga Pass. These clouds can cut both ways – on one hand they can be lit up in quite astonishing ways by the light at the end of the day and just after sunset, but they can also quite simply block the light from the west. When I see this situation in the Sierra, I often make a point of being where I can take advantage of the potential for a wild show of sky color, but I’m also aware that as often as not nothing will happen and the sun will simply slide behind the clouds. On this evening things were complicated. Earlier there was a wonderful atmospheric haze that became luminous in the back-light. However, as the sun dropped toward the horizon, at times it did pass right behind clouds that were thick enough to block its light and turn the world quite gray.

Eventually I figured out that light was going to be transitory and unpredictable on this evening, so I more or less settled into “opportunist” mode, ready to move quickly when a bit of light showed up in one place or another. With a somewhat long lens on the camera, I would wander around or just stand and watch. Then, almost without warning, something would light up – a tree over there, a ridge behind me, some clouds – and provide a momentary opportunity to make a photograph. At the point that I made this photograph, in subtle, rose-colored light, I had almost given up since the trees around me had fallen into shade. But a brief bit of sun came through a break in the clouds near the horizon and lit the nearby grove as the slopes of Mount Gibbs became pink in the end-of-day light.

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.