Tag Archives: utah

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

Tree Covered Hillside, Cliff

June 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early autumn afternoon back-light on high country trees and shadows on a sandstone cliff face, Zion National Park

Perhaps surprisingly, trees were a big draw for me during my several visits to Zion National Park in October last year, and not just the trees that were getting their fall color. The junipers and pines are also intriguing, especially when backed by sandstone or lit from behind by low angle light as in this photograph.

This area near the eastern boundary of the park has intrigued me but also puzzled me each time I have stopped there. Nearly is a significant and named park feature that seems to be the main reason for stopping. It is an impressive geological feature… but, for the life of me, I have not been able to find a way to make an interesting photograph of it. Yet each time I passed by, I stopped and looked and pondered and (most often) did not photograph it. However, with each successive stop I began to pay more attention to other features in this spot: the big cliff on the other side of the valley on which colors fade from gray-white to red, the many trees that stand with enough space between them to allow back-light to pick them off individually, and more.

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

Solitary Plant and Sculpted Rock

June 8, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A solitary box elder with autumn foliage grows at the bottom of a wash below water-sculpted rock walls, Zion National Park

Near the start of my late-October, 2012 photographic foray back to Utah with my friends Charlie and Karl, we spent a day – our first in Utah – mostly trying to “work” the various subjects along the Mount Carmel Highway across the high country of Zion National Park. This is, of course, a country full of all sorts of varied and interesting sedimentary rock layers that have been tilted and eroded in wonderful ways, and at this time of year the trees were beginning to take on fall colors.

At one point we dropped down from the road and wandered into a wash that first attracted our attention by means of the very brightly colored red maples. Once in the way, we started to investigate it a bit more, and we soon found a short slot canyon section where the walls were vertical and water had eroded these walls into curves and alcoves. This particular alcove seemed like it might be the site of an intermittent waterfall or seep, and this single tree was growing at its base just above the creek bed.

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

Plants in Sandstone Cliff

June 6, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Plants grow in cracks in a sandstone cliff in the Zion National Park high country

For some reason, the small area where this cliff is found – along the Mount Carmel Highway – holds some fascination for me, and I have stopped here to photograph quite a few times. (This despite the fact that there is no good place to pull over!) In close proximity there are a small stream bed, some beautiful trees growing near the cliff, a section of much more fractured rock, and this cliff of clean, straight rock cut by vertical cracks and crossed by the diagonal lines formed by the texture of the sandstone.

In different light this section of the cliff can be a lot more red, but here I photographed it in shaded light and the tones shifted significantly towards blue. The small plants seem to survive quite well growing it what seems like an impossible location, and when I made the photograph the one on the right was just beginning to take on fall colors. A closer view reveals that the rock’s surface is covered with a wide variety of types of lichen, much of it a bit too small to make out in this web-sized photograph.

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

Box Elder with Sparse Leaves

June 5, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The last autumn leaves on a box elder tree against a dark wall of Escalante Canyon, Utah

On a very cold and somewhat cloudy day in late October we explored portions of the Escalante River in Utah. This was a tough day for shooting! Not only was it cold – it was trying to snow by the end of the day – but it was also very windy, making photography of cottonwood and box elder trees and other vegetation a real challenge.

In places the river twists and turns, first going one way and permitting sun down to the river, then abruptly turning in a share s-curve and heading back the other direction. Then, as they say, “lather, rinse, repeat.” The back and forth winding course of the river continues. As we passed through one of the sharp bends, beneath very tall cliffs and in deep shade, we had to wade across the river as it flowed next to this sandstone wall. Tucked up against the wall and growing from rocky ledges were several trees, including this one that still retained just a few autumn leaves.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: utah

Tree Covered Hillside, Cliff

Solitary Plant and Sculpted Rock

Plants in Sandstone Cliff

Box Elder with Sparse Leaves

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.