Category Archives: Photographs: Nature

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

Winter Desert Flowers

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Winter Desert Flowers
Dried winter flowers high in the mountains of Death Valley National Park.

Winter Desert Flowers. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dried winter flowers high in the mountains of Death Valley National Park.

From photographing with my wife, Patricia Emerson Mitchell, who specializes in photographing the plant world, often at very small scales, I have learned to pay more attention to the small things that I typically overlook — at least when I remember to do so. I’m not immune to photographing small subjects, but my perspective often begins with the large and works toward the small, not always going as far in that direction as she does. When I’m in Death Valley, where I made this photograph, I often remember that I only really began to pay attention to the myriad tiny plants and flowers on trip where she joined me.

When I first paused at the location where I made this photograph, flowers were the furhest thing from my mind. I was returning on a gravel road from a less-visited outback location, and because I was not in a hurry I turned off when I spotted some dilapidated traces of an old mine — some tracks, a small tailings pile, the entrance to a mine. I got out and walked toward it, and as I walked I realized, much to my surprise, that this very dry desert mountain landscape was absolutely filled with dry flowers left over from the previous season. I cannot identify these flowers, but they and other dry flowers were everywhere… when I finally stopped to look.

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: Birds, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Landing

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Landing
A group of snow geese landing on a wetlands pond on a foggy winter morning.

Landing. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of snow geese landing on a wetlands pond on a foggy winter morning.

These conditions are perhaps my favorite for photographing migratory birds — thick fog that is beginning to clear, allowing just a bit of directional light to illuminate my subjects at times, but still thick enough to to block out distant distractions. These are transitory conditions, like a sunset or skiable spring snow. You need to be there and ready, and get to work quickly when the right light happens — it won’t last long!

Here in California we can typically find these conditions this time of year in many, many places — at the coast, along the shores of bays and lakes, next to rivers, all up and down the state. This photograph comes from the Great Central Valley, that place we tend to regard mostly as agricultural country, stitching hundreds of miles from Southern California to just below Mount Shasta. I had gone on this day because I knew there would be fog — the birds are less of a certainty. As the fog thinned and the light increased I found this spot and worked it as the conditions changed.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake, Mountains, Evening Light

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Lake, Mountains, Evening Light
Evening light over a small alpine lake and tall mountains deep in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Sequoia National Park.

Lake, Mountains, Evening Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light over a small alpine lake and tall mountains deep in the Sierra Nevada backcountry, Sequoia National Park.

This photograph takes me way back, almost a decade ago, to a long Southern Sierra pack trip with a great group of fiends. We came in over a high Sierra crest pass, then a couple of days later crossed an even higher pass (that doesn’t cross the crest), and dropped into some of my favorite Sierra Nevada backcountry in a place where we walked for miles through broken and rocky terrain before finally descending to the first trees we had seen since early that morning. We camped, and the next day we headed further into the backcountry, to an area where far fewer backpackers are found.

I made this photograph in a truly magical place where we camped that night. It was one of the few spots I’ve been to in the range where I could almost imagine that I was camping in a spot that no one had previously visited. (I know better, but it was isolated enough to feel that way.) We saw no one other than the members of our own little group fo three that day, that night, and into the next morning. This evening photograph looks across a small alpine lake toward a towering and rugged range that is not, despite its appearance, the Sierra crest.

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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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

Dusk Sky, Snow-Capped Mountains

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Dusk Sky, Snow-Capped Mountains
Brighltly colored dusk clouds above the snow-capped Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park

Dusk Sky, Snow-Capped Mountains. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Brighltly colored dusk clouds above the snow-capped Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park

This year I made my first photography foray back to Death Valley in mid-January. From my perspective, the season for this place lasts from about November until the first few weeks of April in a typical year, the period when the temperatures range between cold-to-comfortable and not-quite-yet-unbearably hot. My favorite time to go is when it is still truly winter, and especially at times where few others are there. I timed this trip correctly for the winter weather, but I neglected to consider that my trip crossed into a three-day weekend — and there were crowds. It took me longer than expected to settle into a campsite, and by the time I was able to head out for photography it was later than I had planned.

I decided to head toward a nearby area that I now pretty well, saving more distant explorations for the following days. I went to an area where I had an unobstructed view of the Panamint Range (one of those place I would soon visit). In winter, these “desert mountains” are often quite wintry, and during this visit they were covered in snow. I made this photograph, with the mountains already becoming dark, as the last brilliant light colored the western sky.

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.

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