Desert Mountains, Before Sunrise. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A canyon twists down through rugged desert mountains in pre-sunrise light.
One thing that has always appealed to me about the desert landscape — which for me often means the Death Valley landscape — is that the geology is laid bare almost everywhere. So many landscapes are to a great extent about what covers them — the forests, grasslands, lakes, meadows, rivers, and more. But here most of the vegetation is so sparse (or it matches the colors of rocks and soil so well) that we see straight to the underlying earth — the canyons, the colors of rock and soil, strata twisted and uplifted, runoff channels, landslides, fans, and more.
This canyon descends toward Death Valley from high in the Panamint Mountains, following a twisting path down from the heights as it links up tributary valleys and eventually forms a broad wash that spills out at the top of a gigantic gravel fan. I made this photograph before sunrise, when the soft, early light suffused the canyons and revealed subtle details that can be lost in harsher light later in the day.
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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.
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