It looks like I’m finally coming to the end of this season’s Death Valley Photographs. But there were quite a few, many featuring Lake Manly, the temporary lake flooding Badwater Basin. When the lake appears after a wet year it gives us an unusual opportunity in this desert landscape — to photograph reflected sky and mountains where we would usually see a salt flat.
Continue reading Morning Sky, Edge of Lake Manly
Our main photographic targets during our late-February trip to Death Valley were Lake Manly and the impressive wildflower bloom, but we did schedule one morning visit to the sand dunes. We arrived well before sunrise when it was too dark to see our way into the dunes. Unfortunately, this was not to be a morning for grand dune photographs, since morning overcast blocked the sunlight. So instead we focused on small subjects — plants and flowers, the morning traces of the passage of wildlife, and textures of windblown sand.
I’ll break with the tradition of the these posts and write a bit about a technical photographic topic. A challenge of photographing the sand is that, unless you photograph straight down or find a suitably slanted bit of sand, depth of field can be a challenge. I sometimes employ a solution that surprisingly few photographers seem to use. I have a tilt/shift lens adapter for my landscape camera that lets me attach a medium format zoom lens and use the adapter’s movements to angle the pane of focus to match the surface of the dunes. That’s right — movements with a zoom lens!
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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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I have photographed in Yosemite since I was literally a child. (The first “serious ” photograph I recall making was on a family trip to the Valley when I scrambled up a little hill to find a composition of a dome framed by tree branches.) The Valley remains one of the most astonishing sights on the planet, with features that are darned near unbelievable. But after decades of photographing there, when I visit now I look for other things than the icons.
Admittedly these black oaks have become almost iconic, though they aren’t a recognizable feature in the way that Half Dome or Yosemite Falls are. There’s no one particular feature, but rather a playground of textures and colors and lines to work with. I stop and photograph here on almost every visit.
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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.
This is another of my “too foggy to photograph birds” photographs from California’s Central Valley. Back in mid-January I headed out there after reading reports of tule fog, something that attracts me to the area in winter. The fog can produce a wonderful, mysterious atmosphere, and as conditions transition from thick fog to sunlight there are diverse photographic opportunities. Unfortunately, that transition never came during this visit, and it was thick fog all the way!
As I write this in early March we are likely days away from the departure of migratory geese, who head back north every year by mid-month or so. I’m hoping to squeeze in one more visit before they depart, but there’s not much time left. (Depending on where you see this post, the date may have already passed!)
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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. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.