Category Archives: Photographs: Desert

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

Creosote and Dunes

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Creosote and Dunes
A clump of creosote among the sand dunes in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Creosote and Dunes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A clump of creosote among the sand dunes in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Perhaps surprisingly, that bit of dry surface in the foreground is what initially attracted me to this intimate landscape scene among the sand dunes. These surfaces are found in many places around and between the dunes, and at first their relationship to water is surprising in such a place. Some of the forms look much like what we find on desert playas, but in other places they are quite fragile and appear to have been smoothed and sculpted by wind-borne sand. (I try to avoid walking on them unless they are the more durable playa-type of formations.)

I had just photographed a closer subject, some dead creosote bushes, when I saw this larger and thriving specimen positioned among some beautifully curving dunes and casting a shadow onto them. It was a tricky exposure — the backlit “sky” (which is actually glowing haze in front of distant mountains) was extremely bright, while the shadows were quite dark. This was definitely a case of exposing to capture image data with the intention of using the post-processing stage to bring things back to something closer to what I saw.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows

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Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows
Morning light highights the forms of sand dunes and distant desert mountains.

Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light highights the forms of sand dunes and distant desert mountains.

This photograph was likely made near the end of the morning’s work among the dunes, as the light is just about to become more harsh than what I usually favor with this subject. The camera position, focal length, and direction of the photograph were chosen to include several things: that lovely section of curving dunes with shadows, the fascinating pattern on the nearer dune at the bottom, the muted details of the distant mountains, and as little vegetation as possible.

The photograph was a compositional challenge. While I really wanted to feature the diagonal ripples across the foreground dune, including too much of this ended up dwarfing the more distant landscape. The alignment between the summit of the darker dune and the distant peak and where to place both in the composition was a bit of a question. The photograph is also an example of my inclination to use longer focal lengths with many landscape subjects.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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 Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan

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Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan
Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

This is the second of two photographs made close together on this morning in the dunes. I made it just moments after the first direct sunlight had arrived here, illuminating the distant fan, the creosote plant, and the curving shapes of the dunes. This light lasts only a moment, and when I saw it coming I stopped here, found this composition, and waited for the show. I like the way that the foreground light aligns with the softly-lit alluvial fan in the distance, and how the implied line of the incoming light likely traces the angle of the bits of dune at the left edge.

It is still amazing to me that such well-developed plants can find a foothold in this terrain — and beyond that manage to thrive on a high point along the dunes. This is not a friendly environment for most plants — it can be tremendously hot, it is quite dry, and when the winds get going these plants are blasted by flying sand. (I’m a bit too familiar with that last issue!)

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

In the Panamints, Morning

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In the Panamints, Morning
Patterns or early morning light and shadow on the ridges of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

In the Panamints, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns or early morning light and shadow on the ridges of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

There do not appear to be any icons whatsoever in this photograph, and you might be hard pressed to identify the scene as being in Death Valley. There are no visible sand dunes, no salt flats, no devils playing golf. But the fact is that terrain like this is characteristic of more of this immense national park, a place full of beautiful and spare desert mountain landscapes.

This scene is high in the Panamint Range, the mountains that run roughly north-south to the west of Death Valley proper and which separate it from the Panamint Valley. This is truly amazing country once you get to know it, a place characterized by plenty of evidence of its mining past, lots of country that is rarely visited today, and incredibly long views across a vast landscape stretching from Nevada to the Sierra.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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