Tag Archives: wall

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

Autumn Foliage and Sandstone

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Autumn Foliage and Sandstone, Utah
“Autumn Foliage and Sandstone” — A bush with a few remaining autumn leaves in front of an s-shaped crack in a sandstone wall

At the suggestion of another photographer, near the end of our trip we decided to investigate the canyon in which I photographed this tree. The canyon begins in an inauspicious manner, in a shallow wash at the bottom of a slight canyon – the sort of place you could easily drive through and not particularly notice it. There is no sign to mark the route. Following the wash downstream across the flats, another wash joins from the right and soon the sandy bottom becomes rocky as the route meets the top of a sandstone layer. This layer gradually tilts higher and begins to form low walls, and almost before you know it you are inside the beginning of the canyon. A very narrow slot with a large drop-off interrupts the passage and the route detours around it before dropping back into the bottom of the canyon.

Before long, and almost before you know it, the sandstone walls of the canyon become hundreds of feet tall and even begin to overhang the canyon in places, and it is now clear that you have entered the alternate and isolated universe of a deep canyon. At first the canyon is rather barren, but after some distance there are more trees as the route turns and twists downward. As always, surprises appear continually. In this case of this photograph, a simple little bush happened to appear in front of an s-curve marking the edge of a joint in the sandstone where rock had fallen away, and the light reflected among the canyon walls colored the sandstone red.

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.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


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

Escalante River, Early Fall

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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.
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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: Sierra Nevada

Aspens and Granite

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Aspens and Granite - Two aspen trees with sparse autumn leaves stand in front of a lichen-covered granite wall.
Two aspen trees with sparse autumn leaves stand in front of a lichen-covered granite wall.

Aspens and Granite. North Lake, California. October 8, 2011. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two aspen trees with sparse autumn leaves stand in front of a lichen-covered granite wall.

Photographing this section of rocky hillside along the road the runs past North Lake has become a bit of a habit for me during the past few years. North Lake is a well-known place for photographing fall colors, with good reason. It is in the larger Bishop Creek drainage of the eastern Sierra, one of many places where it is possible to find a lot of autumn aspen color. As a consequence, many people (sometimes too many!) head there to photograph the seasonal color change. I think I first shot there a bit before the most recent upsurge in visits by photographers and photography workshops, so I was able to make some photographs of the general scene in somewhat more solitary conditions.

In recent years, on too many occasions, I have arrived at this lake to find mobs of photographers. Fortunately, for the most part they stop and photograph to same two well-known areas of the lake. Even more fortunately, with a little bit of walking and looking around, one can find a lot of other stuff to photograph here. While the grand views are obvious and spectacular, there are many opportunities for photographing “intimate landscapes” that feature perhaps a few trees, some rocks, a bit of lakeside grass, and so forth. These two trees, almost bare of fall leaves, stood against a bit of cracked cliff that was covered with patches of colorful lichen.

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.

G Dan Mitchell: Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Granite and Snow

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Granite and Snow - Early autumn snowfall or ledges of a cracked granite wall near North Lake
Early autumn snowfall or ledges of a cracked granite wall near North Lake

Granite and Snow. Eastern Sierra Nevada, California. October 8, 2011. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early autumn snowfall on ledges of a cracked granite wall near North Lake.

This was a cold photograph! After the 2011 early October sequence of surprise snow storms, I headed up to the North Lake area as soon as the road was (barely) passable, arriving to find nearly a foot of snow in some places. Needless to say, the series of storms had not been kind to the aspen color – many of the most colorful leaves had been blown down, others had turned black, and much of what remained was inaccessible or caked with snow.

I initially thought about taking advantage of the relatively small number of photographers who had shown up and photographing the classic view from near the outlet, but I decided that it would be more interesting to take advantage of the unusual snow conditions. With that in mind, I set out to walk the road alongside the lake. Next to this road the hillside rises and eventually becomes quite rocky, in places starting to seem almost like cliffs. In one of these areas I came across this bit of cracked and shattered granite, sparsely covered with lichen and with new snow resting on small ledges.

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.