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

Sand Storm, Dunes

Image April 23, 2023 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

Sand Storm, Daunes — A landscape of wind-blown sand dunes disappears into the distance during a desert sand storm.

A landscape of wind-blown sand dunes disappears into the distance during a desert sand storm.

The landscapes of Death Valley National Park sometimes can seem almost alien. There are places where there is little or no apparent vegetation and the scene appears lifeless. While the truth about sand dunes is more complicated — there’s actually quite a bit of life there — when a big sand storm comes up these places look and feel like something from another world, one that is not particularly friendly to humans carrying cameras!

Recently someone asked if I worry about my equipment in these conditions. The answer is yes, but there are ways to manage the risks and make photographs. In this case I worked with a longer lens and positioned myself upwind of the dunes with the wind more or less at my back. As a result, even though my subject was a scene full of blowing sand, there was little sand where I stood, and it was coming from behind me.

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: Nature

Blue Dicks Flower

Image April 22, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A spring blue dicks wildflower in bloom.

The blue dicks flowers are ubiquitous around here in the springtime, often growing in or at the edge of grasslands. It is an attractive flower (or group of flowers, more likely) waving at the top of a long, slender stalk. I look forward to their appearance every year, and I always end up making a few new photographs of them — despite the fact that the long stem makes them move in the slightest breeze, making photography a challenge.

The obvious question, of course, is “Where did that name come from?” I wondered for quite a while, too. According to one source, “he least suggestive explanation is that “dick” is a shortened form of the genus name Dichelostemma.” There are some other, potentially racier, explanations, but I think I’ll stick with this one.

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

Sunrise Dunes, Desert Mountains

Image April 21, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sunrise light highlights sand dunes against a backdrop of desert mountains.

Some of my recent Death Valley dunes photographs have featured a wild wind and sand storm — a very dramatic scene that was not easy to photograph. Here I switch to the opposite mood in the dunes, the quiet moment when the first sunrise light arrives. The light changes with incredible speed at this time of day, going from the soft blue tones of pre-sunrise to bright and harsh daytime colors in moments. I made this photograph during the first direct light, when distant mountains were still in shadows.

It is hard to convey the experience of the dunes at this moment. The landscape is immense and silent. Sometimes it feels like there is a dissonance between the profound quiet and stillness and the rapidity of the visual changes. We continued to photograph a bit longer, then the magical early light was gone.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Spring Squall and Wildflowers

Image April 20, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Almost everything about this photograph is transitory, with the arguable exception of the distant hills and mountains. This is an extremely dry place for most of the year, but following wet winters it erupts into a remarkable show of wildflowers for a few weeks around the beginning of April. The rain and light in the photograph are more transitory than the flowers. It was a windy, post-storm spring day, with cloudbursts and cloud shadows racing across the landscape.

There’s always a bit of luck involved in landscape photography. We may like to imagine that we can control all of the elements that make a photograph of such subjects, but our skill and knowledge merely improve the odds. In the end, we work with what we find. Another stroke of luck in this photograph: the passing cloudburst was in the direction of the afternoon sun, so it was lit from behind.

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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Sand Storm, Dunes

Blue Dicks Flower

Sunrise Dunes, Desert Mountains

Spring Squall and Wildflowers

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.