Monthly Archives: April 2011

Commentary, Tongue in Cheek

Rising Gas Prices: Where Will It End?

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IMPORTANT: Read on for an important update to this April Fool’s Day 2011 that I have posted near the bottom of the page below the original story.

Gas Station Sign, Death Valley
Gas Station Sign, Death Valley

From a quick iPhone snap as I drove through this part of Death Valley a few days ago. Sometimes it seems like only thing higher than the temperature in Death Valley is the price of gasoline. I tell you, after putting 30 gallons in the Hummer, it will be a long time before I can afford to take another vacation!

© Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

NOTE: This photo apparently “went viral” recently, on disinformation posts on social media claiming that this is the price of gas in California today. LOL. I have a bit more to say about that below in an “update” and in the comments section.

If you enjoyed this (hint!) April Fool’s Day post, you might enjoy these, too:

And, of course, the rest of this site features years of my photography, along with articles and stories on photography-related subjects.

And, more fun with Photoshop…

UPDATE 3/10/22: Because the image in this post was ripped off by disinformation posters on social media and used as a fake news meme… I need to give readers the full truth. (Sadly, it does kind of wreck the original April Fool’s joke, but here we are.)

In early 2011 I was in Death Valley to make photographs. I passed by this gas station at Furnace Creek, which is known for having some of the highest posted gas prices in the country. (Smart visitors get their gas for much less at nearby Stovepipe Wells or to the east of the park in Nevada, where it is way cheaper.)

For several years I had been doing an April Fool’s Day post that includes some preposterous story. (See links in the story below.) It occurred to me that I could do one this year (2011) by photographing the sign and Photoshopping preposterous gas prices in place of the actual prices. I don’t actually recall the real prices at the time, but they were probably in the $3-something range. So I pulled over and made an iPhone snap of the sign. (Some wonder: Did I buy gas here. Are you crazy! No! See the previous paragraph. And, no, I do not own a Hummer. ;-)

Conveniently, the “6” on the price for “Supreme” was easy to invert, so I used it to create a “9” that I photoshopped in for the dollar amount. And on April Fool’s Day 2011 I posted the image and the text you’ll find lower on this page.  There were several obvious hints in the story about its April Fool’s Day trickery, though I did manage to fool a few folks. 

That was the last I thought of it until (I think) 2019 when someone contacted me to point out that the image had been ripped off and posted by alt-right conspiracy theory disinformation social media accounts as “evidence” of the outrageous prices for gas in California. Yeah, our prices are higher than the national average, but not this high! Several media outlets contacted me about it, and if you look around you might still be able to find a few of the stories in which I debunked the claim and pointed to this old post. 

So, if you see this “photograph” somewhere online along with claims about the high prices of gas, let them know it is fake and point them here for the truth. ;-)

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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Textures

Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light

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Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light
Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light

Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light. Death Valley National Park, California. February 20, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun back-lights the dense pattern of folds in a small gully at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

In some ways I think this is one of the more subtle and complex of the various photographs I have made that isolate small sections of the Zabriskie Point landscape, especially the eroded patterns of the small gullies below the main viewing area. This photograph, like many in this series, was made after the normal “dawn light” time period, and at this time the sun is higher in the sky. It begins to back-light the tops of the furrows and gullies and the brighter light reflects down into the lower portions of the gully. There are a tremendous number of overlapping ridges and the color variations are quite large, though subtle at the same time. Some areas have a very blue cast, being in shadow and lit almost completely by the open blue sky. Others take on warmer tones, especially if they are illuminated by light reflected from the warm-tones earth. An area of thin clouds was floating above the scene and its shadow slightly softened and muted the light that otherwise might have been quite stark.

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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.