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

Sunset Sand

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Sunset Sand
Sunset light, shadows, and sand dune textures, Death Valley National Park.

Sunset Sand. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light, shadows, and sand dune textures, Death Valley National Park.

In the evening I found myself in an isolated place. In fact, as near as I could tell, there was no one else in these dunes at all, despite a few parties being camped not far from my location. Taking stock of the orientation of the dunes and the surrounding topography, I decided that I wanted to be at the edge of the dunes about an hour before shadows from a tall ridge to me west would arrive there. I picked out a likely-looking destination in the distant dunes, waited in my “camp” for the right moment, and then headed that way.

The complex interplay between the warm-toned light angling low through the atmosphere, the hills that would inevitably cut off that light a bit before actual sunset, and the shapes, colors, and textures of the dunes plays out rather quickly. Sometimes the ideal light may last only minutes, though this can be extended a bit by looking for higher and lower spots to photograph and by paying attention to where the light will last a bit longer as it streams through low spots in the ridge. I thought that I was probably done for the evening until I looked toward this bit of dune texture, where the last bit of light was shining through one of those gaps in the mountains to the west.

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

Desert Ridges, Morning Haze

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Desert Ridges, Morning Haze
Desert ridges disappear into distant morning haze.

Desert Ridges, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert ridges disappear into distant morning haze.

There is a series of lessons I have learned about photography in Death Valley National Park. They including things like seasonal timing, observations about the light at various times of day, the number of locations and subjects that are a bit off the beaten track, and the importance of spending time “poking around” looking for them. One important element sits at the nexus between the immense scale of the place and the qualities of its atmosphere and light: learning to love blue haze in the atmosphere.

As a photographer who has done a lot of work in places where clear air is common — for example, among high peaks of the Sierra Nevada — the bluish haze that is often visible across the immense distances of Death Valley was initially a challenge. (It still can be at times.) Dealing with this required me to learn some lessons about timing… and that I learn to see the haze as a potential asset rather than just a problem. On this morning I had finished photographing a location in the clear sunrise light. I headed to a elevated location with broader views… and lots of the blue haze obscuring distant features. The intent of this photograph was to work with rather than against that condition, and let it help reveal the scale of the landscape.

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

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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

Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light

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Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light
Creosote plant in eveing light as wind-blown sand softens the contours of receding dunes.

Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Creosote plant in eveing light as wind-blown sand softens the contours of receding dunes.

This is (yet another!) photograph that demonstrates the conjunction of a range of things: planning, good luck, responding quickly to conditions, and more. Regarding the planning, I had made a long drive to a place a mile or so from this spot, where I set up a primitive camp and waited for the late-day light. A lot of good luck was involved — this was my first time at this location, so I had to make some guesses about where to be when the evening light arrived… and the guesses turned out pretty well.

As to conditions, several things were happening here. First, it was extremely windy, so I made some decisions about camera setup to deal with that. I made the exposure during a short interval of less wind. Second, there was only a brief interval when the light acquired the warm, evening color, and then the shadows from a low mountain range to the west “turned out the lights.” If you look closely you can already see some shadows starting to creep into the edges of the frame.

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.

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

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Breakfast, Manhattan, December 2021

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Breakfast, Manhattan, December 2021
Breakfast on the window sill, Manhattan, December 2021.

Breakfast, Manhattan, December 2021. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Breakfast on the window sill, Manhattan, December 2021.

On one level this is a photograph of a half-eaten breakfast roll on the paper bag it was packed in, sitting on the window sill of a Manhattan hotel room on a cloudy winter morning. We can look at it as a little still life, I suppose, though perhaps a less appealing one than the traditional images of fruit and such. But there’s a story behind it.

For us a typical Manhattan breakfast might be coffee and pastry picked up somewhere on the street or, if we had the time and inclination, a “real breakfast” with eggs and more in a restaurant somewhere. (We follow a “two-and-a-half-meals-per-day plan when traveling, where the half meal could be morning or midday and is usually espresso plus something small.) But this visit was during the start of the Manhattan holiday omicron surge — what a strange description! — and those crowded little restaurants and shops were not so appealing. Fortunately, the Mille-Feuille Bakery was on the ground level of our hotel, so we’d head down there, pick something up, and return to our room… where the morning ritual was to start the covid rapid test, then sip coffee and eat pastry while the 15 minutes passed.

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. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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