Devil’s Cornfield. Death Valley National Park, California. March 31, 2011. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Early morning light slants across the arrow weed plants of the Devil’s Cornfield area of Death Valley National Park
For the record, while I have no evidence either way regarding the role of the devil in creating this terrain, there is definitely no corn growing in this field! The plant is known as “arrowweed” (or arroweed or arrow weed), and the tall shapes are apparently formed as the sand erodes from around the roots.
This spot is one of several in Death Valley that have been hard for me to see as photographs. (Other “challenges” include the Devil’s Golf Course – which mostly looks like crusty, dried mud to me – and Salt Creek – which I’ve mostly visited at the times of day when the light hasn’t been idea.) I came close once before with a closer view of the plants that revealed their actual color a bit more and which placed them in front of a backdrop of more distant barren mountains. This photograph certainly doesn’t provide a strong center of visual interest, but I like the sense of the plants leading off into the distance, the angles of the blue shadows, and the contrasting warm colors of the plants in near golden-hour light.
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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Dan,I agree with you about both the Devil’s Cornfield and Devil’s Golf Course. I think there are shots there, but I just can’t find them.
However, Salt Creek can be an interesting place at the right time of day. Here is a link to my favorite shot from there: http://naturelightphotography.smugmug.com/Places/Death-Valley/i-D5WLPhB/0/M/Death%20Valley-42-M.jpg
I love your work and your still an inspiration to me. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for your kind words about my photography, Mark!
I can add Dantes View to the list of places that I’m still trying to truly “get” as photographs. I have photographs of all of these locations (Salt Creek, Devils Cornfield, Devils Golf Course, and Dantes View) but I still think that I have some work to do in order to “see” them in the ways they might be seen.
Dantes View is tricky for me in that, as spectacular its panorama is , there is almost “too much” in the view – I find it hard to make a meaningful photograph of it. I’ve seen some interesting work from there that uses a person or persons as a visual center of interest, and I’ve worked with using long lenses to try to isolate smaller components of the landscape. Someday I think I’ll get a really good shot of the place, but I’m still digging!
After shooting Salt Creek a number of times, I do think that I now have an idea or two of how to make it work, though I haven’t been there at just the right times yet. Your photograph in evening (or is in morning? I’m betting evening…) light is getting closer to what I’m thinking about. It is just another one of those places without a sort of central large feature and with a primary feature (the creek) which is not impressive in the typical photographic ways.
Devils Golf Course continues to confound me. Frankly, while I’m amazed by the rugged and alien nature of this landscape and intrigued by the forms of the salt crystals, I usually end up feeling like I’m trying to hard to make a photograph out of something not because it is visually interesting but because it is, well, unusual. Somewhere between very close shots of the crystal forms and very large scale shots that are more about the overall landscape there is probably something. These days I don’t actually go to Devils Golf Course all that much, though I regularly pass by it going elsewhere.
Devils Cornfield is perhaps less difficult, and I have some photographs of it that I like enough. I think that light and atmosphere and composition, perhaps along with decisions about what to put in the background are key here. I need to work this area more!
Take care,
Dan
Again, your work is inspiring and I often find myself asking “How would Dan Mitchell shoot this?”.
I agree with you completely about both Dante’s View and Devil’s Golf Course. I know there are shots there, but I haven’t found them yet. I have a lot of “panoramic” shots from Dante’s View that I could stitch together, but when I do, there isn’t anything special about them.
My Salt Creek shot was a complete accident. I walked the boardwalk and found nothing. I was headed back to my car, turned around, got lucky, and saw the reflection of the sunset in the water.
I’m heading out there next weekend, but I’m concentrating more on the west side of the park. I’m looking forward to it.
Mark, have a great shoot out in DEVA next week! (I hope to be there a few weeks later.)
Dan