Desert Wash, Evening Light. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Soft evening light shines on alluvial fan and a desert wash below Artist Palette, Death Valley National Park
Late on this April Fools Day, Death Valley played a bit of a trick on us. Earlier we had made a big trek through a back-country area, spending most of the day driving gravel roads and making photographs. Finishing this adventure we returned to our lodgings, took a brief break, downloaded some files from cameras, and started thinking about where to go for the evening. I find it very difficult to plan too far in advance in Death Valley, especially during the times of year when I typically visit. So much depends on the particular conditions of weather and light. An incoming dust storm suggests certain locations and certain ways of shooting, clouds suggest different approaches, and clear skies yet others. On this afternoon we had mostly clear skies, but with some clouds over ridges, notably above the high peaks of the Panamint Range.
Taking it all into consideration, it seemed to me like it might be a good evening to head south in the main valley and look for evening light on flats and hills. We drove a bit south and stopped to make a few photographs, and as I got out of the car I commented on how still the air was. As soon as these words left my lips a breeze began to stir, and by the time we finished and got back into the car the wind was becoming a bit more noticeable. As we headed south the wind continued to rise, and the shadow of the clouds above the Panamints began to stretch across the valley toward the eastern hills. As we continued south I stopped a couple of times for views that I caught out of the corner of my eye, and each time the wind was stronger, soon rising to the level where it was becoming difficult to photograph. I thought we might just outpace the oncoming cloud shadow and catch a bit of evening light along the base of the mountains along Artists Drive, so we headed up there. We stopped at a rise overlooking rugged terrain and stepped out… into what now felt like a full gale. But there was golden light glancing across the gravel wash, so we made a few photographs before getting back into the car to head toward Artist Palette. (Believe it or not, I have never photographed that feature before, and I really needed something for the archive.) But before we could get there the cloud shadow stretched to our position and the golden light was gone. I looked up at the clouds above the crest of the Panamints and saw a hole in the clouds below the band that was blocking the light and guessed that we might just maybe get one last beam of light, and with that in mind we high-tailed it to Artist Palette. Just as we got out of the car and set up cameras and tripods, that light did arrive in particularly impressive fashion, and we had about 1/12 of a golden hour before it was gone. I worked quickly, getting a few shots of the main feature but then focusing on other nearby hills and washes, including this one stretching below our location and toward the main valley.
G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and 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.