Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake and Peaks, Dawn

Image Leave a comment
Lake and Peaks, Dawn
The first light touches high peaks above an eastern Sierra Nevada lake, John Muir Wilderness.

Lake and Peaks, Dawn. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The first light touches high peaks above an eastern Sierra Nevada lake, John Muir Wilderness.

There is an earlier photograph of this scene that is very similar to this one, so similar in composition that you might have to see them side-by-side in order to recognize the differences. Due to exposure challenges (deeply shadowed foreground and brightly lit peaks) I made a series of exposures. Recently, while working on a project, I went through the group of images again and decided that this one had some promise, too. I think I’ve decided that I like this one better now!

Our group was camped for a week at this location, a place almost completely surrounded by high, rocky terrain that extended all the way to the Sierra crest. It is a lovely place, full of varied subjects. In fact, I made this photograph less than a minute’s walk from my tent! It almost seems like cheating when I can roll out of my sleeping bag in the morning, crawl out of the tent, walk a 100 feet and start photographing.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Dunes, Sunset Light

Image Leave a comment
Dunes, Sunset Light
Rim light on dunes near sunset, Death Valley National Park.

Dunes, Sunset Light. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rim light on dunes near sunset, Death Valley National Park.

For the most part I avoided tourist-popular places during my recent visit to Death Valley. However, I confess that I did camp in a well-known parking lot, uh, I mean campground for one night so that I could be closer to sand dunes. On that evening and again the following morning I headed out to some places along the edges and back of the dune fields to photograph this always-fascinating subject.

This photograph comes from the evening shoot, for which I headed to a spot where I find sequences of receding dune crests that are perpendicular to the setting sun. I aimed almost exactly in the direction of the sun just as it was about to drop behind mountains, and I performed some gymnastics in order to shade the lens and minimize flare. On a technical note, this subject provided the opportunity to use a special setup — a medium format zoom lens attached to my full frame camera using an adapter that provides tilt and shift adjustments.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Light in the Narrows

Image Leave a comment
Light in the Narrows
Light filtering down from far above lights the curving path through desert canyon narrows.

Light in the Narrows. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light filtering down from far above lights the curving path through desert canyon narrows.

Since the start of the pandemic lockdown, the number of days I’ve been able to spend in my favorite landscape locations has been extremely limited. The last time I was able to go to Death Valley — a place I have photographed every year for decades — was in early 2020. Now that I’ve completed my vaccinations it seemed safe and responsible to travel out into that backcountry for a few days of photography, mostly in the places the tourists don’t go. Fortunately, in this park it is possible to put yourself in fairly isolated locations where, for example, you might not encounter another person for 24 hours.

One night I camped alone at the end of a road that dead-ends in the lower reaches of a canyon. This gave me time to explore the canyon twice — first in late-afternoon light and again the next morning when the light came from the opposite direction. Most canyon walking (often more accurately described as wash-walking) in Death Valley is done out in the open, frequently in intense sunlight. But at the right times fo day in the right canyons one can escape that light and enjoy the soft glow of light from above reflected between the canyon walls.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographs: Germany, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

La Nuit Bohème

Image Leave a comment
La Nuit Bohème
A doorway with a poster and grafitti in Heidelberg, Germany

La Nuit Bohème. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A doorway with a poster and graffiti in Heidelberg, Germany

Deciding what to write about this photograph is proving to be a bit of a challenge. From my perspective it sort of “is what it is.” But that doesn’t make for a very informative post, so I’ll try! I made the photograph while walking down a narrow street in the old part of Heidelberg, Germany, on a street that is distinctly not the Hauptstrasse.

Several things intrigued me about the simple scene. First, the poster for “La Nuit Boheme” makes this opera fan thing of, well, you know. I also am fascinated by the angles and surfaces of very old buildings. (In one city full of them I finally realized that the exteriors of such places — unlike in urban America — are not the “beautiful places” most of the time, and the beauty is where passers-by cannot see it; perhaps it is inside or in a small yard. The disconnected feeling of the spaces marked off by different colors of walls, the door, and the pavement seem seem to signify things that were not meant to connect but simply found themselves in conjunction.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

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