Category Archives: Locations

Locations

Photographing Death Valley – Part 1

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This material concerning Death Valley is unavailable while revisions are underway. Thanks for your understanding. In the meantime, I will respond to comments left on this page.

(Update 3/22/13: The planned update to this article has been long-delayed, and for that I apologize. It turns out that the way I want to approach the subject in the revised version is a bit more complicated than I expected. I had anticipated completing an update in early 2013, but I decided to wait until after this year’s shoot in Death Valley so that I would write with that experience fresh in my mind.)

Also, more (but not all!) of my Death Valley photography is found here: https://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/v/NaturalWorld/TheLandscape/Desert/DeathValley/

(Note: After a conversation with a friend who is a retired Yosemite ranger, in which he articulately explained why he has concerns about sharing overly specific information about sensitive and fragile places too widely, I have decided to revise this article about photographing Death Valley. The goal is to remove some of the unnecessarily specific details about places that don’t need a lot more publicity, and to let photographers who are new this wonderful park learn about it the way I did and continue to do – by slowly exploring and adding to my knowledge and experience of the place rather than looking for a quick list of the “great shots.” I hope you’ll understand.

© Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Locations

Answering Some Death Valley Photography Questions

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“Dave” wrote to ask some questions about Death Valley in February, and I thought it might be useful to share my replies with others who are thinking about a visit to that localation.

• Jeep Wrangler good idea for the area and to get into the Racetrack?

First, I’ve posted here a few times about the logistics of visiting and photographing at the Racetrack – you might want to take a look at this post.

A Jeep Wrangler should get you out to the Racetrack Playa just fine. The main difficulties with the road involve very badly washboarded surface, some very gravelly spots (especially near the start), and the fact that you’ll cover 27 miles of this stuff one way. It is not a particularly steep or twisty road. In normal conditions I would feel OK doing it in a two wheel drive vehicle as long as it had good ground clearance and good tires – and the Wrangler should qualify.

Unless you want to drive (too) fast and risk tire damage, you’ll want to give yourself perhaps a couple hours one way. Continue reading Answering Some Death Valley Photography Questions →

Commentary, Ideas, Locations

Thoughts About Photographing Icons

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Earlier today I posted a photograph of an icon, Yosemite’s Half Dome. The idea of photographing such a thing evokes a variety of thoughts and concerns that I suspect many photographers understand: Is it too easy? Has it already been done? How will the shot stand in comparison to those that have already been done by greater and more famous photographers? Why bother?

It is interesting to see the variety of ways in which photographers respond to this issue. At one extreme are those who perhaps chase the icons, realizing that they are beautiful and compelling and that there sure as heck is a market for them. (Experiment: Take two of your best photographs from a famous location, one showing an icon and one showing something less familiar, and post them at Flickr… and see what happens. :-) At the other extreme are those who fall into the camp represented by a photographer who, when asked how to photograph icons more or less replied, “Don’t.”

I suppose I’m somewhere in the middle. Let’s use Yosemite Valley as an example since it is so familiar and since I frequently have the opportunity to travel there to do photography. I most certainly do not head straight for icons when I shoot there. In fact, when I photograph in the neighborhood of most of the icons you will frequently find my camera pointing the other direction. After visiting the Valley for decades, I think I’ve come to understand there is much more to this place than the post card shots.

However, icons are icons for a reason. Every so often I’m in the company of someone who is seeing the Valley for the first time, and through their reaction I am again reminded of the visual power of some of the icon scenes. (I wish I could experience what it must be like to emerge from Wawona Tunnel for the first time having never seen that stupendous view of the Valley before!) So I will shoot icons, but I suppose I at least think I’m more selective about how and when I’ll shoot them. I look for a different angle, a way to position the icon as a background element in a photograph of something less iconic, or perhaps unusual conditions.

It isn’t for me to say how successful I might be at this, but it seems that it is perhaps more of a challenge to find a way to shoot an icon in an interesting way than it is to shoot something that is less familiar.

So the photograph I posted earlier today fits into this category – you can’t get much more iconic than Half Dome! I’ve been trying to learn to understand this particular location – the variables of season and time of day and weather and technical issues about capturing the scene – and I now have a couple images in mind that I’d like to shoot here eventually when the time is right. This one gets close to one such shot I have in mind… but I’ll be back at this overlook many more times.

Commentary, Locations, News

Last Gasps of Eastern Sierra Fall Color?

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Last week I decided not to head over to the east side for more aspen photography – a combination of still working over the many photographs I brought back from earlier visits, some other responsibilities, and continuing reports that the bizarre and unusual progress of fall color was continuing. (But see Michael Frye’s “Lazarus” blog post for hints of a different set of possibilities.)

Along those lines, the recent reports seem to fall roughly into two categories. On one hand we have continuing reports that the aspens are still turning to fall colors very, very late and, in some cases at least, reportedly going almost straight from green to brown or dropped leaves. On the other hand, during the past week I’ve seen reports and photographs of some possibly isolated but very striking aspen color. Without having been on the scene recently I’m going entirely by second- and third-hand reports… but it sounds like you might be able to find a few good trees still if you act quickly and are willing to look around a bit. (And don’t forget that not all trees are aspens – there are other fall color opportunities at lower elevations.)

My attention now turns to other subjects including other opportunities to photograph fall color. My target date for visiting Yosemite Valley to shoot meadows, oaks, dogwood, and maples in fall color has always been the very end of October or right around the first of November. That had been my plan again this year… but during the past week or so I’ve started seeing photographs and reading reports of some good fall color already appearing there. Is the next phase of the “Strange Fall of 2009” going to be early color in the Valley? I’m hoping to head up there this weekend to find out.