Morning Clouds, Salt Playa. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Winter dawn clouds over Death Valley and the Panamint Mountains, reflected in seepage streams on the salt playa.
Sometimes landscape photograph is almost easy and beautiful conditions, spectacular light, and wonderful subjects just seem to appear. It is a joy when it happens — and I think that when we imagine going into the field to photograph it is these conditions that we think of. The truth is more complex and often less exciting. There is the matter of travel to get from subject to subject. The best light and conditions are typically somewhat short-lived. It is fairly typical to spend many hours not photographing, perhaps waiting for light, traveling to a new location, or trying to figure out the best options. And sometimes the conditions don’t really cooperate.
I have understood this for a long time, but it was many years ago in Death Valley when the idea crystalized for me. On a weeklong shoot that had me traveling every day, I recall waking up one morning and realizing how much work was involved. And, yes, I got up, headed out, and found more wonderful subjects. On my recent mid-January visit the challenges were bigger than usual — often heavy overcast, atmospheric haze made it difficult to find what I was looking for. Even so, with patience and persistence I found myself in beautiful conditions more than once, as I did on this morning when clouds became transparent and then dissipated as the sun ruse over the salt playa.
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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