Tag Archives: badlands

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

Badlands and Valley, Morning

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Badlands and Valley, Morning
Eroded formations and Death Valley in morning light.

Badlands and Valley, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Eroded formations and Death Valley in morning light.

This is a location that I often go to in Death Valley when I want to photograph in the early morning… and I’m feeling a bit lazy and trying to avoid a long drive. The area is, for many folks, more or less a “drive through” site, but I’ve been going back there for years, lingering and exploring on foot and with my camera.

For the most part in this place you’ll find close-up views of beautifully eroded formations of contrasting colors, with lots of opportunities to photograph the “intimate landscape” of close to medium distance subjects. But in a few spots you can obtain a wider view and see far beyond this hills. To make this photograph I climbed a bit so that I could look over the nearby hills and out into the vast expanse of Death Valley in the early morning light.

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.

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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

Bandlands, Morning Light

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Bandlands, Morning Light
Soft early-morning light on rugged and colorful badlands formations

Bandlands, Morning Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft early-morning light on rugged and colorful badlands formations.

On the final full day of our early-April 2019 photography visit to Death Valley we decided to head for a familiar location where I enjoy photographing in the morning. After being closed earlier in the season this area had finally reopened — flooding of washes in the area had interfered with access, and repairs had be recently completed.

The photographic opportunities in this area — and, to be honest, in many places — depend a lot on the specific qualities of the light during a visit. I’ve been here where clouds turned everything gray and when intense light made some portions of this landscape a bit too stark for my preferences. This morning was close to ideal. When we arrived, before dawn, there was a high overcast and the light was not all that spectacular. However, the clouds were thin, and as the sun rose the light made it thought the dissipating clouds — and this sort of high, thin clouds provide some of the most subtle and beautiful light.

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.

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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

Badlands, Morning

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Morning, Zabriskie Point
Layers of overlapping badlands formations in morning light, Death Valley National Park

Badlands, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Layers of overlapping badlands formations in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

This location provides a spectacular bit of Death Valley scenery, but it isn’t photographed as often as some nearby areas that are regarded as being more iconic. It also tends to be a bit more visually attractive, at least in my view, at a time of the day that is later than the usual “golden hour” morning time when most photographers tend to be in the area. Over the years I have had a sort of informal project to photograph this spot during these times.

This is also an older photograph — not from this year’s two visits to Death Valley but rather from a trip about eight years ago. Every so often I “discover” a photograph that I had overlooked when I originally made it. Missing them has puzzled me a bit, but I think it is some combination of moving on to the “next thing” a bit too quickly, not being ready to understand how to “see” the image as a final photograph right away, and being distracted by other contemporaneous work. Back then I did work up another view of this scene — it included more of the contrasting colors near the top of the frame, and by comparison this one may have seemed too subtle… which, of course, is now part of what I like about it!

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

Badlands, Evening

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Badlands, Evening
Evening light on deeply eroded terrain, Death Valley National Park

Badlands, Evening. Death Valley National Park, California. March 30, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on deeply eroded terrain, Death Valley National Park

Early each spring I head back to Death Valley for several days of exploration and photography. In March of 2015 I began my trip with a visit to Los Angeles, from which I departed and drove to the park to set up my camp. My typical ritual is to arrive in the early afternoon, find a campsite, get set up and settled in, wait for early evening, and then head out for my first photography in this vast landscape.

I began by heading to an area of the Valley with expansive views across to the Panamint Mountains, backlit by the early evening sun. I photographed them through a moody haze from an elevated spot that I often go to. Before long the light on these mountains faded as the sun dropped behind them, and my attention turned to nearer formations on my side of the valley, which were now being illuminated by the warm evening light. The low angle delineated the complex structures of these badlands during the last few minutes of light.

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