Tag Archives: utah

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

Cottonwood Grove and Pink Hills, Autumn

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Cottonwood Grove and Pink Hills, Autumn
Cottonwood Grove and Pink Hills, Autumn

Cottonwood Grove and Pink Hills, Autumn. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of cottonwood trees with autumn foliage in front of pink hills near Capitol Reef National Park

This is essentially a photograph of nowhere in particular. We had traveled down a long gravel road on the east side of Capitol Reef, climbed up on top of the ridge in the south part of the park, hiked and photographed a bit, and were heading back to our camp in Fruita when we just happened to see this grove of trees in a wash along the road.

This is a kind of quintessential Capitol Reef and Utah photograph, or so it seems to me. The cottonwood trees grow anywhere there is a creek or a wash, and they are especially beautiful in the fall when their leaves turn brilliant shades of yellow. Beyond these trees are higher hills of pink material, again so typical of this part of Utah. The hills continue to rise, eventually with a sparse covering of pine and juniper, until they reach the open, eroded sandstone of the highest ridges of Capitol Reef National Park.

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.
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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

Cracked Mud, Canyon Light

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Cracked Mud, Canyon Light
Cracked Mud, Canyon Light

Cracked Mud, Canyon Light. Grand Staircase—Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 25, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reflected red canyon light illuminates cracked mud in a Utah wash

I had thought of titling this photograph “More Mud,” given that it certainly was not the only photograph I made of this subject recently. The group of us — 6 landscape/nature photographers — had set off down into a beautiful canyon, but before we dropped into the deeper section we came across this patch of trying and curling mud… and ended up stopping for a half hour or more to photograph this seemingly mundane subject.

But actually, it turns out that desert mud is often anything but mundane. When it is found in a narrow canyon with red rock walls, the mud takes on the colors of the reflected light and even a bit of the blue color from overhead open sky. In many cases, you might miss this if you were not tuned in to the light and color… but if you do see it, soon such places provide a wild range of colors. A highlight comes from overhead light reflected down into the canyon as it bounces off the red rock and takes on a very warm and red coloration.

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.
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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

Evening, Near Fruita

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Evening, Near Fruita
Evening, Near Fruita

Evening, Near Fruita. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 20, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the cliffs and hills of Capitol Reef National Park near Fruita

I had just arrived at Fruita (pronounced “Fruit-ah”) at Capital Reef National Park in the afternoon, after driving from near Kanab via a long gravel back road. After meeting a friend here and setting up camp it was late afternoon, and there was just time to head out and do some brief photography nearby before the day ended. We had an idea about heading into one of the west side canyons that are accessible by the popular (mostly) paved road, but we didn’t get nearly that far before we saw this beautiful evening light. Actually, we were probably not even a quarter-mile from the campground!

The light in this part of the park often poses a bit of a challenge late in the day. While one might look for late golden hour sun on these west-facing sandstone cliffs and peaks, the land rises from here toward the west, causing the sun to disappear from this area earlier than you might expect. But we got lucky, as broken clouds softened and warmed the light as the last sun touched these rocks just as we arrived at this spot. It is the kind of place I might usually drive past, as it is almost too obvious of a photographic location. However, I readily admit to stopping at iconic locations when the light is special, as it surely was on this evening.

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.

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

Burr Trail, Strike Valley

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Burr Trail, Strike Valley
Burr Trail, Strike Valley

Burr Trail, Strike Valley. Capitol Reef National Park, Utah. October 22, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Burr Trail route as it ascends from Strike Valley towards the ridge of Capitol Reef National Park

The Burr Trail is one of the back routes through this section of Utah. It ranges from some decent paved sections to portions that are gravel and somewhat “rustic.” This is one of the latter section, at least for a short distance, as it climbs from the valley seen in the photograph to the top of a ridge behind my camera position inside Capitol Reef National Park before heading west toward Boulder.

This climb exposes some amazing geology, most of which I can only understand in the most basic of terms. This is the Waterpocket Fold area, where the strata are inclined steeply upwards as they rise to the west, and almost everywhere the evidence of these ancient layers of rock is abundant. Here the road enters a narrow canyon at the edge of the valley and soon climbs steeply up to the ridge that runs north-south for a good distance inside the national park. The view here is across the valley — with its central ridge “rib” — toward the steep cliffs on the opposite side of the valley and then rough terrain rising to mountains beyond.

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.