Category Archives: Photographs: Desert

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Cottonwood, Fallen Monolith, and Cliff

May 20, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunlight reflected from nearby canyon walls illuminates an autumn cottonwood tree in front of a fallen sandstone monolith and vertical cliff face.

I may be repeating a story I’ve previously told, but here goes. Earlier during my late-October visit to Utah we had wandered into this area, only to be largely stymied by clouds, cold, absurdly strong winds, and even a bit of rain. It was a bit disappointing, in that we had really looked forward to visiting this portion of the Escalante River, and when we started out in the early morning and saw a lot of beautiful fall color we thought we were in for a good day of shooting. Although that day was not a complete loss, it wasn’t what we hoped for – and by the end of the day we were struggling against very strong winds and cold.

Fortunately, nearly a week later we found ourselves back in roughly the same area of Utah, and as we considered the next day’s possible shooting locations the idea of giving this spot a second try came up. After considering that alternatives of trying a new location or going back, we decided to go back. It was a good decision! Where the first visit had been cold, cloudy, windy and even a bit damp, the second visit brought warmer conditions, almost completely clear skies… and most important, nearly windless conditions. (At one point we were cautiously admitting to one another that we had made exposures of foliage that lasted as long as a couple of seconds!) Near one large bend in the canyon there was a spectacular abundance of “targets” – brilliant cottonwood and box elder trees, beautiful canyon walls of various colors, fallen leaves, and more. On the previous visit we had all looked at this little scene of a large fallen section of the canyon wall with golden cottonwoods growing all around, and then pretty much continued on since the trees where being whipped around by the wind. But on this second visit the wind was calm, and light was reflected into the scene from sunlit sandstone walls to our left.

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Creosote Shadows, Morning Tracks in Sand

May 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

A clump of creosote brush casts a morning shadow across tracks in the sand, Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park

While reviewing some old raw files near the end of 2012, I went back to some Death Valley photographs made during the past few years. I came upon this photograph that I had more or less forgotten. I wonder if at the time I was distracted by other photographs that appealed to me more, or if I perhaps just wasn’t sure how to treat it at the time. In any case, it still surprises me – even though I should know better by now – that I find photographs that I like among images that I thought I had finished with several years ago!

Looking through the other photographs that were part of the series that this one comes from, I recalled that I had gone out into dunes in Death Valley before dawn to photograph pre-dawn, dawn, and early morning conditions. As I often do, I approached these dunes by a roundabout route, not only to make the walk a bit easier but also to avoid other photographers and to have a better chance of finding sand that had not yet been tracked up by other human visitors. This small clump of creosote was growing in shallow sand, and its roots had slowed the windblown sand enough to create a very small hill. In turn, this let the low angle sun cast a shadow that led downhill into lower sand and which crossed the tracks of some wildlife that had passed this way the night before.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

High Country Desert Canyon

April 30, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A back-country gravel road twists through the upper reaches of a colorful mountain canyon, Death Valley National Park

The gravel back-country road might be hard to spot in this photograph, but if you look closely near the lower right you may see it twisting around a bend before crossing the canyon behind the rocky prominence at the bottom of the frame. The road begins in desert sagebrush country, then rises to cross the Amargosa Range before descending, sometimes precipitously, down toward the main Death Valley.

Some things about photographing this subject are easy and obvious, but others are a bit challenging and require some attention and then some resistance to trying to turn the scene into something it isn’t. What is easy about this subject? I am endlessly fascinated by winding canyons with overlapping ridges that descend toward the bottom of the canyon, creating a back and forth weave of form. Here the canyon winds from right (at the top) to left to right to left to right to left and, finally, back to the left. And the colors and textures are remarkable, ranging from the very dark rocks at the bottom, through the much lighter slopes right above to the rather reddish rock in the far, upper portion of the canyon. What is hard about it? In many ways, it is easy to pass right through such an area and overlook what it offers, since there really is not single, central, and iconic “thing” to focus the attention. Instead, I almost have to remind myself to slow down, to stop, and to just look… and finally the way to photograph such subjects begins to reveal itself. In addition, because the color palette of this land is so subtle, including mostly pastel shades that subtly contrast with one another, it is important, I think, to resist the ever-present temptation to hype it up into something it isn’t.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Sandstorm, Dunes, Desert Mountains

April 29, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening light on sand dunes with clouds of wind-driven dust above and desert mountains beyond, Death Valley National Park

As it got closer to sunset on this sandstorm evening in Death Valley, I stopped at a low, black hill that I like to ascend so that I can shoot in a 360 degree panorama from its summit. The hill itself is interesting, it that it is made up of material that is much different from that of the surrounding desert, a sort of very dark layered rock. The hill itself is almost completely bare of vegetation, but the flats around it support a healthy crop of arrow weed plants, which can glow with a golden color in the right light.

While my original plan was to photograph the further dunes, from here I saw the conjunction of the golden arrow weed plants, the dark curve of the barren black hill, the bright light and shadows on the taller dunes, the clouds of blowing sand beyond the dunes, and in the far distance the lower peaks and ridges of the Cottonwood Mountains. This is an example of an opportunistic photograph, in that I did not plan on this scene beforehand and because the light died within a minute or two of the time I arrived.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Category Archives: Photographs: Desert

Cottonwood, Fallen Monolith, and Cliff

Creosote Shadows, Morning Tracks in Sand

High Country Desert Canyon

Sandstorm, Dunes, Desert Mountains

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