Category Archives: Photographs: Southern California

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

Mesquite Dunes and Cottonwood Mountains, Morning

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Mesquite Dunes and Cottonwood Mountains, Morning
Mesquite Dunes and Cottonwood Mountains, Morning

Mesquite Dunes and Cottonwood Mountains, Morning. Death Valley National Park, California. March 31, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light on Mesquite Dunes and the Cottonwood Mountains, Death Valley National Park.

This is one of the images I had in mind on the most recent late-March trip to Death Valley. When I visited earlier this year in February I started thinking about photographing the dawn light on the lower slopes of the Cottonwood Mountains along the west side of upper Death Valley. I had (and still have!) in mind several locations from which to explore this interesting terrain and light, but among them were a few that placed the Mesquite Dunes (a.k.a. “Death Valley Dunes”) in the foreground. (Why didn’t I shoot this subject back in February, you ask? The weather did not cooperate! There was rarely good light in the morning and, in fact, I had to deal with rain and snow on that visit!)

Besides finding a location from which to line up the elements of the shot, the other keys are having a long enough lens and, well, being there at the right time! And, as I was reminded in February, a bit of luck with the weather doesn’t hurt either. Although it had snowed and rained right before my arrival on this visit, this time the weather ended up being clear for the most part and was even turning downright hot by the time I left later on the day that this photograph was made.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains

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Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains
Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains

Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the based of the Cottonwood Mountains at the edge of Death Valley.

This is (yet another) one of those photographs that is the result of some odd combination of “planning” and serendipity. When I travel somewhere to do photography I often, though not always, have some ideas about certain types of subjects I would like to photograph or about ways I’d like to photograph them. On this visit to Death Valley I had a few such ideas in mind – one of them had to do with scenes that filled the frame with the rugged and forbidding and seemingly lifeless mountains and valleys and ridges of the place. Another had to do with photographing in the early light along the west side of the Valley, something I thought about but didn’t really try on my previous visit. This photograph and a few others like grew out of those ideas.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t have been in this spot at this moment if I had not had an electrical problem with my car! The night before I had returned to the campground from a bit of late shooting, parked the car, and went about my “camp business” before crawling into the tent and setting my alarm for an appropriate pre-dawn hour so that I could arrive at a particular location before the sun came up. The alarm went off at the appointed time, and a few minutes later I emerged from my tent and got into my car. It wouldn’t start. I soon realized that the car was electrically “dead” – no interior lights, etc. Since it was still completely dark, the idea of doing auto repair outside the tents and RVs of lots of other sleeping campers was out of the question, so I went back into my tent and speculated uncomfortably about the potential costs of towing and automobile repair in Death Valley.

Later, as the sky began to lighten, I heard other campers stirring. I got up – again – and opened the engine compartment to find that one of the battery cables had come off, perhaps as I drove a rather rough road the previous day! Relieved to find that this was something that I could fix, I reattached the cable, quickly got in the car, and figured I would see what I could salvage of the morning shoot. I headed west across the Valley toward Towne Pass, thinking about photographing some snow that was high on the ridge. As I drove I saw that the first light had still not quite reached the Valley floor along the base of the Cottonwood Range. I quickly found a slight rise along the road where the view wasn’t obstructed by desert plants, pulled over, put on the long lens, and made a few photographs as this beautiful light worked its way down the face of the range and began to work its way out across the giant wash along the edge of the Valley.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Red Rock Gully

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Red Rock Gully
Red Rock Gully

Red Rock Gully. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A red rock gully and wash in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park.

I have driven past this area along the road from Death Valley up to Wildrose Canyon quite a few times, and as I do I always am impressed by the many convoluted little canyons and odd and interesting rock formations. Most often I have been on my way to some other place or the light wasn’t quite right, but I always take a look and make a mental list of little spots to keep an eye on. This particular little canyon is one you might not even notice unless you were looking carefully as you passed it. It is in a narrow section of the lower canyon where it is one of many such little landscapes. On this morning I was coming back down from shooting up higher in the Panamints and I was watching carefully as I drove, frequently pulling over to stop and check things out more carefully. At first I almost drove past this spot, but it looked like the light might be interesting this time so I quickly stopped and backed up and made a series of photographs including this one.

The question of how to frame this scene was an interesting one. As is often the case I cover more than one base and shoot the subject in several ways. Initially I worked with a vertical orientation that includes a bit more of the rough terrain a bit higher in the canyon. That image may still see the light of day! But as I shot the scene I also realized that I could use a horizontal orientation too, more tightly frame the entrance to the small canyon, and give up some of the upper canyon formations.

With many subjects I would prefer softer light, and I would probably try to shoot much earlier in the day or come back in the evening. But this canyon, I think, works well in the light of a bit later in the morning when the sun has topped the ridge and direct light hits the top of the rocks and reflects into the recesses a bit more.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley

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Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley
Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley

Petroglyphs, Panamint Range. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Petroglyphs of bighorn sheep in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park.

If you keep your eyes open, think about your surroundings, and know where to look, eventually you will come across the signs of much earlier residents of Death Valley. From my basic knowledge, I understand that there is evidence that a series of native American cultures resided in and around the Valley for at least the past 11,000 years, a period over which the climate changed from one that was originally much wetter to the hotter, drier climate that we know today. Because many of these people apparently had to migrate locally to find food sources at different times of the year it seems that evidence of their presence can be found in a wide variety of locations.

I recall the first time I found an artifact of one of these cultures. It was on my first visit to Death Valley back in the 1990s. At one point I wandered away from a place where I was camped and walked out across a section of a very large gravel wash, where I found a comfortable rock to sit on and enjoy the view. As I sat there I happened to look down and notice an unusual rock. I picked it up and realized that someone had formed it into a shape that could be used for carving or cutting, and I later read that it was a sort of knife. As I held it, surprised by finding any human signs in such a place, I began to wonder about the life of the person who made it and used it – a life I could barely imagine. A few minutes later I returned the object to where I had found it and walked back to camp.

For me, an encounter with rock art such as these petroglyphs provokes a lot of deep thoughts about time and culture and the lives of people who seem about as far removed from my experience as I can imagine. I try to imagine myself in their lives, but know that I fail.

Of course, I won’t say more about where such things are located than what is on this page. If you know where this example is located, let’s keep it a secret, OK?

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.