Category Archives: Photographs: Desert

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Evening, Eastern Sierra Near Lee Vining

1 Comment
Evening, Eastern Sierra Near Lee Vining

Evening, Eastern Sierra Near Lee Vining. Sierra Nevada Mountains, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light and afternoon clouds over the high desert of the eastern Sierra Nevada range near Lee Vining, California.

I’m finally finding a bit of time to go back to some photographs I made in June this year, including a series from the eastern Sierra that I’ll present in black and white. I made this photograph on an early June trip, the first of the year on which I was able to cross the Sierra on the newly opened Tioga Pass Road. It was something of a “random trip,” as I initially thought I might end up shooting spring subjects in Yosemite Valley – until I figured out that it was going to be way too crowded there and just headed over Tioga Pass instead to camp in Lee Vining Canyon. On this evening I drove out toward Mono Lake and “chased the light” as a storm broke up over the Sierra crest. Not finding quite what I was looking for at this exact hour at Mono I headed back toward highway 395 and took a little gravel road towards the upper end of the June Lakes Loop. As I came to the top of the hill I saw this wonderful view looking north across the high desert and sagebrush towards the hills around Lee Vining with the light shining onto the valley floor below the clouds that were just starting to thin.

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.

keywords: eastern, sierra, nevada, range, mountains, lee vining, california, usa, sage, high, desert, hills, road, pole, utility, telephone, electric, clouds, owens valley, june lake, loop, gravel, brush, afternoon, evening, sierra, nevada, range, eastern, escarpment, lee vining, stock, light, overcast

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin

Tufa Towers, Mono Lake, Dawn

Leave a comment
Tufa Towers, Mono Lake, Dawn

Tufa Towers, Mono Lake, Dawn. Mono Lake, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mono Lake and shoreline tufa towers are illuminated by dawn light.

I more or less accidentally ended up at Mono Lake early on the second morning of my early June “Yosemite trip.” My plans are often somewhat flexible when I’m out doing photography, but they were very flexible this time. My original plan had been to try to grab a last-minute campsite in Yosemite Valley and shoot there for the better part of two days, but when my position on the campsite waiting list made this option look less than certain I decided to instead head up to Tuolumne Meadows, over Tioga Pass, and get a camp site on the east side. Being only a 15 minute drive from the iconic South Tufa location at Mono Lake it was hard not to head over there before dawn.

The dawn light can be truly stunning at this location if you hit it just right. Ideal conditions might include glass smooth water on the lake, some clouds over the Sierra crest and perhaps directly overhead, but clear sky to the east so that the first sun can hit the towers without obstruction. When I arrived at Mono before sunrise it did not look like it would end up being quite that “ideal” day. A fairly solid overcast filled the sky to the east, with just a few small holes in the clouds that might allow some beams of light to pass through. But since I was there – and since I’ve learned that conditions can evolve in interesting and surprising ways – I wandered on out to the water’s edge and set up for a first shot in a small bay-like spot. After shooting the very first light hitting some towers out in the water I decided to move a bit to my right and into a more jumbled area of the tufa where I found this composition looking out between towers toward the lake and the nearly clear sky to the north.

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.

keywords: mono; lake; tufa; tower; geology; shoreline; dawn; sunrise; light; warm; water; surface; black; bluff; bird; grass; cloud; sky; blue; california; usa; nature; landscape; scenic; travel; jagged; shape; shadow; sierra; nevada; mountain; range; east; valley; desert; geology; stock; reflection; mirror

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

Morning at the Rhyolite School

Leave a comment
Morning at the Rhyolite School

Morning at the Rhyolite School. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

keywords: school, house, building, ruins, dilapidated, weathered, window, wall, brick, stucco, concrete, light, slant, floor, old, historic, ghost, town, abandoned, sky, blue, cloud, morning, sunrise, dawn, nevada, usa, mine, interior, rhyolite, crack, gravel, travel, scenic, stock, death valley, national park

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Before the Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley

Leave a comment
Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley

Before the Dawn, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley. Death Valley National Park, California. April 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

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.

keywords: death valley, national park, panamints, amargosa, range, mountain, salt, flat, twenty mule, team, canyon, dawn, sunrise, earth, forms, fold, geology, light, hills, peaks, badlands, ridge, pink, sky, cloud, scenic, travel, landscape, stock, early, morning