It looks like I’m finally coming to the end of this season’s Death Valley Photographs. But there were quite a few, many featuring Lake Manly, the temporary lake flooding Badwater Basin. When the lake appears after a wet year it gives us an unusual opportunity in this desert landscape — to photograph reflected sky and mountains where we would usually see a salt flat.

As in a few other photographs of this subject, I set up right at the very edge of the shallow lake. (How shallow? One could easily walk out into the lake and barely get their feet wet. But please, don’t!) Clouds from a weak weather system passed overhead on this morning, adding drama to what are often clear skies here.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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