Morning Clouds, Salt Playa. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter dawn clouds over Death Valley and the Panamint Mountains, reflected in seepage streams on the salt playa.

Sometimes landscape photograph is almost easy and beautiful conditions, spectacular light, and wonderful subjects just seem to appear. It is a joy when it happens — and I think that when we imagine going into the field to photograph it is these conditions that we think of. The truth is more complex and often less exciting. There is the matter of travel to get from subject to subject. The best light and conditions are typically somewhat short-lived. It is fairly typical to spend many hours not photographing, perhaps waiting for light, traveling to a new location, or trying to figure out the best options. And sometimes the conditions don’t really cooperate.

I have understood this for a long time, but it was many years ago in Death Valley when the idea crystalized for me. On a weeklong shoot that had me traveling every day, I recall waking up one morning and realizing how much work was involved. And, yes, I got up, headed out, and found more wonderful subjects. On my recent mid-January visit the challenges were bigger than usual — often heavy overcast, atmospheric haze made it difficult to find what I was looking for. Even so, with patience and persistence I found myself in beautiful conditions more than once, as I did on this morning when clouds became transparent and then dissipated as the sun ruse over the salt playa.

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.

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Dawn Clouds, Panamint Range. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn clouds above the Panamint Range and Death Valley.

On the final morning of a typical Death Valley visit, I get up well before dawn and squeeze in one more “shoot” before leaving. It typically is not too far from where I’m staying since my early wake-up call usually means that I can’t break camp before heading off to photography, and I know that I’ll need to head back, perhaps grab something to eat, and pack up before starting the long drive home. I was camped near Furnace Creek this time, so I selected a spot at the edge of the salt playa not too far from there.

I was up in darkness and it was still dark when I arrived at my location. I sat in my vehicle for a few minutes, and as the first faint light arrived I could see that much of the sky was overcast. This was not encouraging, but I finally decided to load up and walk out across the gravel fan and to the playa. If something was going to happen with the light I had to be in position — no waiting to find out! A short time later I was in position, and the light still wasn’t quite remarkable. But as the first faint sunrise light, filtered by clouds to the east, touched the face of the Panamint range it colored the thinning clouds and created subtle light on the face of the 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.

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

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Playa and Mountains, Last Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twiilight winter sky above Death Valley playa and the Panamint Mountains.

On one hand, I’m fortunate enough to live where I can get to Death Valley in a single day of driving. On the other hand, it is a rather long day! I was on the road close to 6:00AM. (Sometimes I leave earlier, but we were out the night before.) I don’t stop a lot on these drives, but even so it was close to 3:00 by the time I got to the place where I planned to camp… only do realize that this was a long weekend and there were actual crowds in Death Valley. I’m more used to seeing very few people there this time of year. This fact cost me a bit of extra time figuring out where to camp, and by the time I got that sorted out and headed out for evening photography it was pretty late in the day.

This is my way of saying that I had to make more or less a snap decision to commit to a general location and go there quickly. By the time I arrived there wasn’t going to be a lot of light left and I soon found myself photographing end-of-day and evening light. But what a beautiful sky it was! Desert dawn and sunset skies can, at least when there are some clouds, be exceptionally beautiful. I think one reason is that they stand above a landscape that is often stark and bare. (In the right conditions, that emptiness can be a canvas painted by this light.) On this evening there were a few clouds right above the Panamint Mountains, with one straggler stretching high into the sky against a lovely gradient transitioning from brightly lit clouds to the deep blue of oncoming night.

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.

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