Tag Archives: arid

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows

Image Leave a comment
Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows
Morning light highights the forms of sand dunes and distant desert mountains.

Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light highights the forms of sand dunes and distant desert mountains.

This photograph was likely made near the end of the morning’s work among the dunes, as the light is just about to become more harsh than what I usually favor with this subject. The camera position, focal length, and direction of the photograph were chosen to include several things: that lovely section of curving dunes with shadows, the fascinating pattern on the nearer dune at the bottom, the muted details of the distant mountains, and as little vegetation as possible.

The photograph was a compositional challenge. While I really wanted to feature the diagonal ripples across the foreground dune, including too much of this ended up dwarfing the more distant landscape. The alignment between the summit of the darker dune and the distant peak and where to place both in the composition was a bit of a question. The photograph is also an example of my inclination to use longer focal lengths with many landscape subjects.

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

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan

Image Leave a comment
Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan
Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

This is the second of two photographs made close together on this morning in the dunes. I made it just moments after the first direct sunlight had arrived here, illuminating the distant fan, the creosote plant, and the curving shapes of the dunes. This light lasts only a moment, and when I saw it coming I stopped here, found this composition, and waited for the show. I like the way that the foreground light aligns with the softly-lit alluvial fan in the distance, and how the implied line of the incoming light likely traces the angle of the bits of dune at the left edge.

It is still amazing to me that such well-developed plants can find a foothold in this terrain — and beyond that manage to thrive on a high point along the dunes. This is not a friendly environment for most plants — it can be tremendously hot, it is quite dry, and when the winds get going these plants are blasted by flying sand. (I’m a bit too familiar with that last issue!)

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

Sea of Dunes

Image Leave a comment
Sea of Dunes
Sand dune forms extend into teh distance, Death Valley National Park.

Sea of Dunes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sand dune forms extend into the distance, Death Valley National Park.

From just the right vantage points, the terrain of sand dunes can appear to be entirely devoid of living things. (In truth, no landscape is, but the evidence is hard to see here.) And when looking in the ideal directions, the succession of curving shapes can suggest a sort of frozen seascape full of immense waves.

I made this photograph on a spring morning while exploring a favorite area of these dunes, one that isn’t quite as busy with people trying to get to the highest point. This area is mostly a landscape of parallel ridges and valleys that run toward the center of the dunes, so I tend to approach from the edge and work my way toward the center. The main dune in this scene is a remarkable one — it is long and has a face that is marked by an unusual rippled pattern.

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

Canyon Wall Detail

Image Leave a comment
Canyon Wall Detail
Detail of a canyon wall with tilted sedimentary rocks and fossils, Death Valley National Park.

Canyon Wall Detail. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a canyon wall with tilted sedimentary rocks and fossils, Death Valley National Park.

These rocks tell a story, a profound one no doubt, but also one that this non-geologist is incapable of fully comprehending. But I do know a few things, and with that bit of knowledge and the time to observe, I can report that there is a lot to think about in places like this and, for that matter, the entirety of Death Valley National Park. A difference between this landscape and most others with which I’m familiar is that here it is almost entirely exposed rather than being hidden underneath forests and snow.

As I understand it, the course of many of the rocks here is sedimentary — they were formed under ancient seas. (Portions of the valley were submerged much more recently, and that shorter tale is visible, too, in places.) Those sediments sometimes captured creatures that became fossilized, as we see in the black spots in the rocks of this photograph. Then various geological forces lifted, tilted, fractured, and contorted these layers over a vast span of time. In many places in the park the strata are inclined upward as they progress to the west. Here one of the inclined rock bands contains colors that are the exception rather than the rule in this national park.

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.