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

Layered Rock Face

Image Leave a comment
Layered Rock Face
Rock layers lie exposed on a cliff in a quiet desert canyon.

Layered Rock Face. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Rock layers lie exposed on a cliff in a quiet desert canyon.

On this trip we arrived in Death Valley in the late morning. Midday in the desert is not necessarily a great time to be out in the open, especially on a windy day like this one, so I often head for canyons to find better light and shelter. We took a side road into a quite canyon that doesn’t get a lot of visitors, mainly with the idea of finding a sheltered place to eat lunch and rest a bit after our drive.

We relaxed and finished lunch, and then began to pay more attention to nearby photographic opportunities. Up the canyon was an incredibly barren and rugged landscape, but nearly there were smaller features that seemed quite attractive. We found some canyon plants that were blooming, so we spent some time photographing wildflowers. Across the narrow canyon from our position was this bit of fascinating canyon wall, where old sedimentary layers had been uplifted and then eroded away to created this terraced effect.

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

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga

Image Leave a comment
Sand Storm, Sunset Virga
Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm.

This photograph represents Death Valley as a place of “apocalyptic beauty.” Most of the time this landscape is quiet, and the predominant impressions it makes on me are about stillness and immense space. But it can also produce incredibly dynamic, powerful, and even intimidating conditions, sometimes without a whole lot of prior notice.

This scene is a conjunction of three conditions that I’ve only experienced together a few times there. A weather front was moving through and trying to drop rain on the landscape — here the clouds are releasing virga, curtains of rainfall that don’t make it to the ground. Extreme winds from the southwest were whipping up a sand storm that was rising into the Amargosa Mountains to the east of the valley. (I was standing in tremendous winds and blowing sand when I made this photograph.) Then all of this came together with a brief moment of sunset light as the rain was clearing from the west to leave an open sky in the direction of the setting sun.

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: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Photographers

Photographing Spring Wildflowers

Image Leave a comment
PattyPhotographingFlowersShellCreek20190401
Patricia Mitchell photographing spring wildflowers at Shell Creek

Photographing Spring Wildflowers. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patricia Mitchell photographing spring wildflowers in San Luis Obispo County.

Many, though perhaps not all readers, know that my wife Patricia Emerson Mitchell is also a fine photographer. She photographs many things, but her speciality is the small world, usually seen by means of training her macro lens on flowers and foliage, often with an eye to seeing the shapes and colors in abstract ways.

On our way to Death Valley earlier this spring we took a detour through California hill country where fields of wildflowers were blooming. During most of the year this spot would be dry and brown, but winter rains turn it green, and in wet years like this one we get to see astonishing wildflower blooms.

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.

Commentary

Wildflower-Covered Hills

Image Leave a comment
Wildflower-Covered Hills
A springtime California hillside covered with yellow and purple flowers

Wildflower-Covered Hills. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A springtime California hillside covered with yellow and purple flowers.

Despite the sometimes-arid conditions in many parts of California, when the rainy season cooperates — as it did in 2018-2019 — there can be a wild explosion of wildflowers for a few weeks in early spring. Hillsides that are typically brown during the majority of the year burst forth in color for a short time. In some of the best spots, at the peak of this development entire hillsides and valleys can be completely covered by flowers.

I photographed this scene on my second visit to the Temblor Mountains area this season. I had been there about a week-and-a-half earlier, and had found some flowers in this spot just above the San Andreas earthquake fault — but the specific spot in this photograph had almost no flowers at that time. But what a difference a week or two made!

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.

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