Category Archives: Photographs: Death Valley

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Half Dome and El Capitan, Morning Light

May 27, 2009 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

The first view of Half Dome and El Capitan upon arriving at Yosemite Valley in the early morning.

Let’s think of this as a work in progress…

Almost every time I enter Yosemite Valley via the northern highway 120 route I stop at this turnout not far below the turnoff to Foresta, where the first view of Half Dome and El Capitan suddenly looms ahead. I am so familiar with this road that I know exactly when this view will appear, but it must be stunning for a first-time visitor to round this ridge and see these icons looming ahead. I pull out, park the car, fit the long lens, and see what the conditions will produce on this particular day.

I have a vision for a photograph that I’ll probably get some day from this spot, but it will take a perfect combination of light (type, angle, intensity) and atmosphere (some haze but some clarity in the scene as well) and conditions (a bit of snow somewhere, perhaps like that on the summit of Half Dome in this photo). I have a feeling that the day on which it happens will not necessarily be an otherwise stunning day – but the conditions for this shot will be right.

In the meantime this version and a companion in landscape orientation that I shot in early May will have to do. Besides the obvious iconic stuff (Half Dome in the far center and the face of El Capitan looming on the left) there are some interesting visual coincidences in this scene. Notice that the curve of the upper right ridge of Half Dome is mirrored in the curve of the foreground ridge in front of El Capitan. The concave curve on the very upper left side of Half Dome (close to the cliff next to the “cable route”) is mirrored by the dip in the foreground trees. The descending angle of the middle-distance ridge on the right side extends into the downward slanting crown of the trees at lower left.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Morning at the Rhyolite School

May 16, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light slants through the windows and across the floor of the old schoolhouse in the ghost town of Rhyolite Nevada.

Although it is not the most iconic structure at the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada (very close to Death Valley National Park), I’m intrigued by the ruins of the old Rhyolite School. It is one of the more intact structures – while the roof is gone, many of the walls are still standing, as is the main floor seen in the photo. I like to photograph both the exterior and interior of this structure. There is something compelling about the school with its missing roof and windows leaving the interior open to the sky, and this building makes me think about the lives of the people who lived here more than other buildings like the bank and railroad station.

I made this photograph in the early morning after photographing dawn light on the bank building and the distance Amargosa Valley and Mountains and, beyond that, Telescope Peak in Death Valley’s Panamint Range. The sun was still fairly low, providing the slanting light though the windows. If you look closely at the far windows you can make out some of the other buildings of Rhyolite.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Croatia, Photographs: Death Valley

Ruins, Dawn, Rhyolite

May 15, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud-filtered dawn light washes over crumbling ruins in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada with Death Valley National Park, California and snow-capped Telescope Peak in the distance.

(More of my Death Valley photographs)

Looking back through my photos from Rhyolite in early April of this year, I found this image of several ruined and crumbling buildings against the backdrop of Amargosa Valley, Death Valley National Park and Telescope Peak, and an cloudy interesting dawn sky. One reason I thought I’d share this one is that it is a somewhat different image of the Rhyolite ghost town in that it doesn’t really include any of the iconic structures – just a more typical scene of buildings in a state of ongoing desert decay.

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.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Before the Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley

May 1, 2009 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Before dawn in Twenty Mule Team Canyon with Death Valley and high peaks beyond.

Twenty Mule Team Canyon is traversed by a good but not very busy gravel road. I was in the canyon well before dawn on this morning and torn between shooting detail photographs of the interesting eroded forms nearby and shooting the longer view down the canyon, over low peaks, and into Death Valley beyond. (In the end I worked quickly and did both!) At the time I made this photograph the very first sunlight was barely striking the highest peaks far to the north across The Valley, but the light on the nearby hills was the diffused light that comes from the sky before dawn.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.