Tag Archives: barren

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

Morning Ride in the Badlands

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Morning Ride in the Badlands
A solo bicyclist on a morning ride along a curving gravel road past badlands.

Morning Ride in the Badlands. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solo bicyclist on a morning ride along a curving gravel road past badlands.

Years ago I was a very (very!) enthusiastic cyclist. I don’t ride any more, but I still have three bicycles — one of the early StumpJumper mountain bikes, a touring/commuting bike with a handmade British frame, and road-racing bike (also with a hand-built frame). Although I have not ridden in Death Valley, I can surely identify with the experience of the person in this photograph.

I had arrived in this area early, and I had been making photographs since before sunrise. Although a gravel road passes through here and the spot is not far from some well-known locations, I had the place almost to myself. I saw almost no one else as I worked. It was windless and still and so quiet… and that passing of a single cyclist was enough to interrupt the mood! But not enough to keep me from photographing him as he passed through this section of s-curves, heading toward more distant hills in this lovely 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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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes and Mountains, Evening

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Dunes and Mountains, Evening
Soft evening light on Death Valley sand dunes and desert mountains.

Dunes and Mountains, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft evening light on Death Valley sand dunes and desert mountains.

This is (yet another) end-of-the-day photographs from Death Valley National Park, made during the soft light time after the sun had dropped behind the Cottonwood Mountains behind me to the west. As wild as the sunset light is, I think I’ve come to love the softer and more subtle quality of this time of the day.

The photograph looks east across low dunes that stretch across a wide section of the valley here, in a place where nearby mountains disrupt the wind patterns and cause the winds to drop their load of sand. Beyond the dunes lie arid desert mountains, with strata and erosion laid bare.

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

Detail, Desert Mountains

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Detail, Desert Mountains
Detail of a rugged desert mountain landscape in late-day light.

Detail, Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a rugged desert mountain landscape in late-day light.

On this evening I was photographing out in the valley among the sand dunes, focusing largely on that landscape and it small and large features. As late afternoon transitioned to sunset and then the sky-lit post sunset light my focus remained primarily on the dunes. But after the light left the lowlands of the valley it remained briefly on the surrounding peaks.

The terrain in this photograph of a portion of the mountains is remarkably rugged and barren. What plantlike grows on these faces and in the gullies is both sparse and almost impossible to see from a distance, and the landscape appears to consist almost wholly of fractured and stratified rock.

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.

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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

Hills and Wash

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Hills and Wash
A desert wash winds through colorful hills at the base of the Black Mountains in soft evening light.

Hills and Wash. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A desert wash winds through colorful hills at the base of the Black Mountains in soft evening light.

I am a bit surprised that I never really noticed this feature before. This wash twists its way up through a series of very colorful hills that are plainly visible from a road that I have travelled many times. I suppose that the explanation may be that I have often passed by on my way to some other specific location, and thus my attention hasn’t been on my immediate surroundings as much as it should have been.

This was a very cloudy evening, but there were brief intervals of light, often filtered by high clouds and in gaps between thicker clouds and a high mountain ridge to the west. It was extremely windy and the light was in a constant state of flux, so when I saw this scene I worked very quickly, deciding that using a tripod wouldn’t help much in the strong gusty winds and that getting the photograph quickly before the light changed was the most important thing. Sure enough, within seconds after making a small number of exposures this light was gone.

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.