Tag Archives: badwater

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

Photographer, Manly Lake

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Photographer, Manly Lake
“Photographer, Manly Lake” — A photographer wades in shallow waters of Manly Lake, Death Valley.

As I photographed the landscape another photographer worked her way out onto the shallow water at the edge of Manly Lake. At first I managed to photograph around her, but before long she moved directly into m frame. At this point it occurred to me that she could become the subject of a photograph herself.

Her presence illustrates something that may not be obvious about this desert lake — it is extremely shallow! This makes sense once you think about the nature of the terrain here This is Badwater Basin, a broad playa containing the lowest elevation in Death Valley. It is nearly flat, and differences in elevation on the playa are measured in centimeters. She was able to find places to step that were perhaps only a centimeter or two higher than the water. (From the Department of Awful Puns, it occurred to me that a fun alternative title for this photo could be “Photograph Her, Manly Lake.”)

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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.

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

Manly Lake Reflections

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“Manly Lake Reflections” — Manly Lake reflects peaks of the Panamint Range, Death Valley.

We arrived before sunrise to photograph at Badwater Basin, featuring Manly Lake, and we continued to photograph well past the golden hour. As the day continues, the colors of the desert landscape soften and become less intense. That was the effect I was looking to capture in this photograph. The light on the mountains is still warm, but the dawn color is gone from the cloud-filled sky and its reflection.

I chose to include a bit of the playa material breaking the surface of the water in order to anchor the scale of the scene. While the mirrored forms of distant mountains and clouds are almost abstract, those bits of material emerging from the shallow water remind us of the reality of the scene.

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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.

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

Telescope Peak, Lake Manly

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Telescope Peak, Lake Manly
“Telescope Peak, Lake Manly” — Panamint Range and Telescope Peak reflected in Lake Manly, Death Valley.

This photograph incorporates at least two elements that might surprise people unfamiliar with Death Valley National Park — a large lake and snow-dusted mountain peaks. Telescope Peak, the highest point on the Panamint Range summit ridge, rises just above 11,000′, putting its summit in the alpine zone. It is normal to see snow there during the winter months.

Lake Manly, the body of water reflecting the mountains, is a different matter. Its appearance is somewhat rare, occurring only in years of exceptional rainfall. Although this is now a dry winter in California, a big storm a year ago primed the pump, a monumental November storm re-formed the lake, and there was another storm around Christmas Eve Day. The broad but shallow lake forms on the playa of Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the continental United States.

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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.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape

At the Edge of Lake Manly, Sunrise

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At the Edge of Lake Manly, Sunrise
“At the Edge of Lake Manly, Sunrise” — Solitary figure at the edge of Lake Manly and the reflection of a desert mountain sunrise.

Most of my landscape photographs include little or no evidence of human presence. But sometimes including a human figure can transform a photograph. (I suggest obscuring the figure with the tip of your finger to see how much it changes things.) The person obviously provides a focal point, but also invites viewers to imagine themselves in the scene.

I did not set out to include people in my photographs of Lake Manly. In fact, I positioned myself at the very edge to the lake so that I could include uninterrupted reflections. But this person walked out on a small peninsula that was barely above the water level. At first I was mildly irritated… but I soon realized that this simply gave me a different sort of photographic opportunity.

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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.