Desert Wash and Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A golden desert wash descends toward distant mountains and a valley.

This beautiful wash is very (very!) close to one of the iconic Death Valley stopping places. I’ve never been able to warm up to that particular spot as a photographic subject. Fortunately, even time I go there I look in a slightly different direction — and I often seem to be the only person looking that way — and find this lovely view.

We visited near the end of the day, as afternoon sunlight begins to take on the warm tones of early evening and shadows start to stretch across the valley. Once again, I stopped at this well-known place. Once again I thought it was interesting, but not quite what I wanted to photograph. And, once again, I looked downhill and away to see this wash. The light highlighted the different colors of the geological deposits here, with yellow material lining the path of the wash and the middle distance hills darker and holding tones that are more reddish. The path of the wash winds sinuously back and forth as it descends between the lowering walls, with shadow on one side and sun on the other.

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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