Tag Archives: wall

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

Canyon Wall and Reflections

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Canyon Wall and Reflections
A vertical canyon wall is reflected in the Utah canyon stream.

Canyon Wall and Reflections. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A vertical canyon wall is reflected in the Utah canyon stream.

A small group of photographers spent a couple days exploring this canyon, walking in from its wide mouth and soon being surrounded by tall sandstone cliffs and cut off from the outside world. On the first day it was quite cold and we faced the challenge of wind — which created some big challenges when photographing in the shadowed depths of the canyon. We had some success, but a few days later we decided to return and try for a day with less wind.

In this canyon I recognized a lesson that I suppose I already knew subconsciously. As we worked out way downstream we were balancing the distance we could travel against the amount of time we spend on each subject and calculating our necessary turn-around time if we were to exit the canyon in daylight. But it is hard to stop exploring such a place, and more that once we would round a bend, see another section of canyon come into view, and say, “just this one more section.” Then we’d reach the next bend, feel the need to explore it, catch a glimpse of what was around the next bend and, well, you get the idea. If I recall correctly, this was the final bend at which we realized that we had to reverse course. It was a lovely spot, extremely still and quiet, with the small stream flowing gently past the bottom of a very large and rugged cliff in deep shadows.

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: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Canyon Wall

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Canyon Wall
Broken boulders and strata at the base of a slot canyon wall.

Canyon Wall. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Broken boulders and strata at the base of a slot canyon wall.

These canyons are simply full of fascinating details. Unlike much of my familiar Sierra Nevada landscape, where vistas can often go on for many miles, here the size of your world is much smaller. It is constricted to the width of the canyon, the distance to the upper rims (plus some sky), and upstream and downstream to only the next bends. So you are almost forced to focus on smaller details, of which there are many.

Here my attention was drawn to the rocks. I’m no geologist, and I only know enough to speculate about these things. But a close look at the rocks in this scene show material that was created in layers. Near the upper right corner, if you look closely, you can spot a place where there is a striking convergence of angles in the strata. And although this material was laid down in horizontal layers, over time it has been pushed and stretched and lifted until the formerly horizontal now angles up distinctly to the left. There is also an interesting almost vertical fracture between the more solid (and darker) rock on the right, and the lighter color of the broken rocks stacked up on the left.

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: Pandemia, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Benches

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Benches
Unused benches at a school closed by the pandemic.

Benches. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Unused benches at a school closed by the pandemic.

One of the regular features of my life during the pandemic has been my daily (with almost no exceptions) walks around the neighborhood. They range from “gotta’ at least do the minimum” 30-minute walks that barely get the blood-pressure up to longer walks that can be six or seven miles long — sometimes on out and back routes and other times on giant loops. By necessity, these tend to take me through some combination of residential neighborhoods, minor “downtown” areas, and some light industrial districts.

I always have a camera with me, carried in a small over-the-shoulder bag that holds a few other necessities — a bottle of water, a quick snack, phone, etc. Most often I don’t make any photographs, but every so often the urge strikes — sufficient reason to carry the camera on all those other walks. (The camera is minimal — a rangefinder-style mirrorless body with one very small prime lens.) This particular walk took me past a school closed by the lock-down, where benches that might normally be the center of a lively teenage social world were scattered forlornly.

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

Dormant Plant, Fractured Rock

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Dormant Plant, Fractured Rock
A nearly dormant plant grows on a fractured boulder against a cliff wall in a Utah slot canyon.

Dormant Plant, Fractured Rock. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A nearly dormant plant grows on a fractured boulder against a cliff wall in a Utah slot canyon.

To my way of thinking, slot canyons bring several primary associations. The narrow, twisting vertical walls are near the top of the list. The unusual surfaces of the wash floor are another: sand, mud, rocks. Above all (literally and figuratively) is the light entering far above and then bouncing back and forth among the canyon walls as it descends, picking up the colors of the rock and becoming softer and softer.

There are other associations, too, and although they might not be quite so immediately apparent, once you see them they are everywhere. Almost everything here is, of course, affected by water. The canyons were cut by it and the process continues. When the water periodically moves cataclysmically, rocks and boulders are redistributed downstream and mixed together with material from many different sources. As the water continues to eat into rock it undermines the higher structures, and gravity brings down rock from younger state. All the while the moving water grinds away and polishes the lower reaches of the canyon.

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.