Winding Canyon #2. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.
Morning light in a winding desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.
We arrived at this spot in a badlands canyon after the morning golden hour but a bit earlier than I usually get there. The route to this view passes by so much interesting stuff that I inevitably get sidetracked, and I tend to reach this spot after the best light. But on this morning, having photographed here not too long ago, I resisted some of those early temptations. The light was still appealing and the desert haze added a nice quality to the atmosphere.
A few weeks ago I shared another photograph of this scene — that one was presented in horizontal landscape orientation. Why share another when that is the biggest difference? Lots of reasons! Sometimes one or the other format is obviously more successful, but in this case they are different but equally valid ways of seeing this landscape. I don’t subscribe to the idea that there is one “right” way to see a landscape.
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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email
Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.
Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.
Thanks for adding that date here. I probably should cross-link the two posts…
That “couldn’t decide” is one reason that I worked up both the vertical and horizontal images. Usually I can pick one, but this time, I’m not sure — though I’m leaning toward this one.
There is also a practical reason for producing both portrait and landscape versions. If a photograph is licenses for a magazine or book cover, quite often it will need to be portrait orientation. (There’s a book about Death Valley that is on sale at the visitor center that uses one of my portrait-orientation photographs on the cover.)
I think a post with a picture of your book cover would be very nice to see!! congratulations on getting the cover shot!
Both of them are beautiful, and I saved them to look at them side-by-side! By the way for those who are looking for the other photograph it is April 8th! (not that I mind it scrolling past everything) …. I can’t decide which one I like better but I really like the colors in the first one so it’s nice to see another ‘version‘!