Category Archives: Photographs: Death Valley

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Sunrise, Panamint Mountains

Image 2 Comments
Sunrise, Panamint Mountains
Sunrise light on teh summit of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park

Sunrise, Panamint Mountains. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise light on the summit of the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park.

This photograph comes from the same spectacular early morning that produced another one that I shared a few days ago. I made this photograph a few minutes later as the first direct dawn sunlight began to strike the peaks and ridges of the Panamint Mountains in Death Valley National Park. This morning was a prime example of the rapid and often surprising transitions that occur at the beginning and ending of the day. When I arrived here well before dawn I could tell it was cloudy, but I could imagine a sunrise ranging from gray and dim to what actually happened. And once the process began and the good light appeared, it was a matter of working quickly over a short period before the light again became more mundane.

The experience of making this photograph (and others in the set from that morning) is also a reminder that in order to experience exceptional conditions you really need to be out there a lot. I’ve been to this location many times, including others when the conditions ranged between “blah” and “lovely, but I’ve seen this before.” If you just go once, you have no idea what you’ll encounter. But if you keep going back, even when you aren’t sure how it will turn out, the odds are that eventually you will encounter one of the outlier spectacular moments.

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 and Amazon.

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.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Morning Shadows, Panamint Mountains

Image Leave a comment
Morning Shadows, Panamint Mountains
Morning shadows stretch across a wide valley high in the Panamint Mountains.

Morning Shadows, Panamint Mountains. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning shadows stretch across a wide valley high in the Panamint Mountains.

This photograph comes from a wonderful winter week in Death Valley a few years ago. Death Valley has increasingly become another busy national park, especially during the late winter and spring, and even more so during spring break and some of the longer winter holidays. But that had not quite taken off eight years ago when I spent a wonderfully lonely week in the park, having many places completely to myself… and experiencing some of the coldest weather I have encountered there.

I had been up high in the Panamint Mountains at dawn on this morning. After finishing with some photography of a particular subject up there, it was time to move on to the next subject. I headed down a gravel backcountry road, dropping into one high valley, and then continuing into an even larger valley below that. I paused here to look into those two valleys as the rising sun was casting long shadows across the landscape. This place always evokes the silence and immense expanse of this desert 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 and Amazon.

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.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Mustard Canyon

Image 4 Comments
Mustard Canyon
Evening light on the Mustard Canyon area in Death Valley National Park.

Mustard Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the Mustard Canyon area in Death Valley National Park.

This is a place that I photograph from time to time. It isn’t far from spots where I camp, so it isn’t unusual to pass by as I head out or return from some more distant location. A few years ago I stopped and climbed a low hill there late in the day, found it magical, and the hill — which might seem like nothing special to others — is one of my little personal spots in Death Valley. From here the panorama is expansive in all directions, and the slight elevation of the place lets me see even farther.

The view here begins in the foreground with the Mustard Canyon area. The mustard part of the name makes sense — in the ideal light the formations are strikingly yellow. The canyon part seems a bit of a stretch. I’m sure that there is a route followed by water heading out into the valley, but it seems more like a wash than a canyon. The rugged foreground, filled with alternating yellow and reddish material, eventually gives way to giant alluvial fans, and in the far distance the terrain rises to the Amargosa Mountains.

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 and Amazon.

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.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Panamint Sky

Image Leave a comment
Panamint Sky
Sunrise sky above the Panamint Mountains.

Panamint Sky. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise sky above the Panamint Mountains.

This morning, about eight years ago, was one of those that reminds me why it is worth getting up in the darkened driving long distances to arrive at a location before the sun rises. I arrived along the summit of the Panamint Mountains very early, and shortly it became clear that the sky might do something very special. A layer of broken clouds was spread across the sky, perfectly positioned to be illuminated by the first sunlight, and to my north the lines of clouds converged above the horizon.

Several years ago I shared another photograph from this morning — if I recall correctly it was a panoramic format image of the same clouds, separated from this on in time by perhaps a minute. That is, of course, enough to change things considerably in this evolving light.

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 and Amazon.

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.

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.