Category Archives: Photographs: Desert

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

Colorful Desert Hills, Morning

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Colorful Desert Hills, Morning
Multi-colored strata in eroded desert hills

Colorful Desert Hills, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Multi-colored strata in eroded desert hills.

The colors of some of the strata laid bare in desert regions like this one are sometimes wild and occasionally unbelievable. The blue tones often provide some of the most striking surprises, since that may be the last color we expect to see in soil or large expanses of rock — reds, browns, yellows are far more common.

I made this photograph in a little area that is almost a lab of eroded forms and varied colors. I like to photograph here in the morning, when I often have the place to myself and when there is the possibility of soft, low-angle light. Here the strata of tan, red, and blue materials run at right angles to the lines produced by erosion.

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

Bandlands, Morning Light

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Bandlands, Morning Light
Soft early-morning light on rugged and colorful badlands formations

Bandlands, Morning Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft early-morning light on rugged and colorful badlands formations.

On the final full day of our early-April 2019 photography visit to Death Valley we decided to head for a familiar location where I enjoy photographing in the morning. After being closed earlier in the season this area had finally reopened — flooding of washes in the area had interfered with access, and repairs had be recently completed.

The photographic opportunities in this area — and, to be honest, in many places — depend a lot on the specific qualities of the light during a visit. I’ve been here where clouds turned everything gray and when intense light made some portions of this landscape a bit too stark for my preferences. This morning was close to ideal. When we arrived, before dawn, there was a high overcast and the light was not all that spectacular. However, the clouds were thin, and as the sun rose the light made it thought the dissipating clouds — and this sort of high, thin clouds provide some of the most subtle and beautiful 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.

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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.

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

Badlands, Morning

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Morning, Zabriskie Point
Layers of overlapping badlands formations in morning light, Death Valley National Park

Badlands, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Layers of overlapping badlands formations in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

This location provides a spectacular bit of Death Valley scenery, but it isn’t photographed as often as some nearby areas that are regarded as being more iconic. It also tends to be a bit more visually attractive, at least in my view, at a time of the day that is later than the usual “golden hour” morning time when most photographers tend to be in the area. Over the years I have had a sort of informal project to photograph this spot during these times.

This is also an older photograph — not from this year’s two visits to Death Valley but rather from a trip about eight years ago. Every so often I “discover” a photograph that I had overlooked when I originally made it. Missing them has puzzled me a bit, but I think it is some combination of moving on to the “next thing” a bit too quickly, not being ready to understand how to “see” the image as a final photograph right away, and being distracted by other contemporaneous work. Back then I did work up another view of this scene — it included more of the contrasting colors near the top of the frame, and by comparison this one may have seemed too subtle… which, of course, is now part of what I like about it!

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.

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

Clouds, Sand Storm, Desert Mountains

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Clouds, Sand Storm, Desert Mountains
Clouds from a weather front above sand storm in dessert mountains

Clouds, Sand Storm, Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Clouds from a weather front above sand storm in dessert mountains.

At times during our early-April visit to Death Valley National Park we had some remarkable atmospheric conditions to work with. That was certainly the case on this evening, when we had a combination of low-angle sunlight (which became quite colorful right at sunset), a building sand storm that was filling the air above the Amargosa Range with thick dust, and a passing weather front that darkened the sky and dropped some light rain.

In this interpretation of the scene I chose to go with a black and white rendition. One reason is that, in some ways, monochrome interpretations actually allow more subjective flexibility with the scene. I think that black and white allows us to comfortably step a bit further away from the objective reality of the scene, since we start with something that is, by its monochromatic nature, emphatically not what we see in the real world. In this photograph I wanted to emphasize the powerful and monumental quality of the storm clouds above the masses of dust and sand covering 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.

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.