Bleached Plant, Sandstone, Shadows - a photo on Flickriver

i>Bleached Plant, Sandstone, Shadows. Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah. October 23, 2014. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell - all rights reserved.

The skeleton of a bleached plant casts shadows across a sandstone slab

In the fall I spent some time making photographs in Utah, getting to a good number of locations, including some I returned to for more photography following previous visits. Partway through this trip I had plans to rendezvous with a group of friends (some new and some old) and photographers in a somewhat remote part of the state. We met, headed out, and spent the next few days camped "out there," making photographs every day and visiting some very beautiful places.

On the first day of my meeting with this group we found a place to camp and began to settle in. That process took place pretty quickly, as all of us have spent a lot of time camping and we don't need a lot of luxuries — in addition to friends we need food, a campfire, a place to sleep, and a spot by the fire for our chairs. So I soon found myself with a few hours of late afternoon free time between the camp chores and our evening shoot. I wandered off into nearby hills and eventually ended up on a sandstone bench with a bit of a view of the surrounding terrain. On top of this flat, dry, and nearly lifeless spot there were several plants that had tried to make a living here, setting down roots in tiny pockets of sandy soil and then growing horizontally across the rock. The first thing that attracted me was the stark contrast between the bleached plant and the red rock sandstone, but (as is always the case) the more I looked the more I saw. The curve of the white branch at the right edge of the frame is echoed by the similar upward curve of the eroded bit of darker rock on the left side, and a darker parallel version of the plant falls on the rock in the form of a shadow.

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.

Taken on: October 23, 2014

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Sets appears in: • American Southwest • Nature

Groups appears in: • The American Southwest • Utah more » • Landscape photography • Outdoor Photographer Magazine (Unofficial) • National Parks, Monuments and Historical Sites • Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah • nature and landscape photography • Beautiful Mother Nature • Love of the Great Outdoors • Nature's Call. • America's Best Landscapes • Capture Nature / No human elements / No Zoo shots or people in y • Great Pictures of Landscapes • *Earth's Natural Photography* • Earth Images Nature Photography • F-Stop - Nature, Landscape & Wildlife « less

Camera: Fujifilm X-E1, f/11.0, 1/500 sec, 35mm (=53mm), ISO 400 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Fujifilm X-E1
Lens:	XF35mmF1.4 R
Aperture:	f/11.0
Exposure Time:	0.002 sec (1/500)
Focal Length:	35mm (35mm equivalent: 53mm)
ISO:	400
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CC 2014 (Macintosh)
Show full info

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