Tag Archives: black and white

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Stream and Peak

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Stream and Peak
A small subalpine stream descends from higher terrain among the peaks of hte Sierra crest.

Stream and Peak. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small subalpine stream descends from higher terrain among the peaks of hte Sierra crest.

Sometimes I manage to tweak some people a bit by saying, “All photographs lie.” I probably should explain. Too often there is an assumption that photographs are about showing the objective qualities of subjects, and that the best photographs simply convey the reality of these things. I think that is mistaken, and that photographs are literally incapable of being objective analogs of their subjects. Almost everything about a photograph is subjective. How did we choose to frame it? What did we choose to leave out? What time of day did we make it? What lens did we choose? Did we choose color or black and white? If there is a “truth” in a photograph it is the truth about the photographer’s subjective response to the subject. (This is a partial explanation of why two photographers who photograph the same subject usually end up with quite different photographs.)

Beyond that, there are many aspects of a subject that a photograph simply cannot contain. The sound of little mountain streams is central to my experience of places like this, but it is not found in a photograph. A photograph cannot capture the breeze or the slight chill of the shade in high mountains. The knowledge of what lies between this small stream and the lake at the base of those peaks isn’t found here. How I came to find myself at this place is not known to the viewer. Where is this place, and does that even matter?

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.

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

Canyon Narrows

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Canyon Narrows
Soft light in the narrows of a Death Valley National Park canyon.

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

Soft light in the narrows of a Death Valley National Park canyon.

Canyons are (almost) all about the light. OK, the textures and forms are pretty striking, too, as is the quiet. But the light is really special. In the narrowest sections — such as the “narrows” in this photograph — direct sunlight doesn’t penetrate to the bottom of the canyon much or sometimes at all. The typical ideas about best times for landscape photography can be upended, as the best light often comes to these places when the sun is high enough to shine directly on upper walls and then bounce its way down into the depths of the canyon.

I have recently shared some other photographs from this canyon, made on a recent trip when I camped nearby and was able to enter the canyon more than once and at various times of the day. The other photographs are all in color, and they tend to highlight the subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle!) contrasts between warm and cool-colored light. I had to chuckle inwardly a few days ago when a friend suggested that I try monochrome with this subject. I’ve been a black and white photographer since, well, the first time I picked up a camera, and I often think that my visual home is monochrome. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that I would want to find a way to produce a photograph of this place in black and white, too.

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.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Death Valley, Morning Haze

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Death Valley, Morning Haze
Early morning haze obscures distant mountains and valleys, Death Valley National Park.

Death Valley, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning haze obscures distant mountains and valleys, Death Valley National Park.

The truth of the matter is that I’ve become a bit obsessed with this view. I’ve photographed in morning and evening, in warm weather and in the middle of winter. (It gets cold on these ridges, even in Death Valley National Park.) On one occasion I was forced to turn back by snow on the route. I’ve seen utterly glorious light here, and I’ve encountered light so flat and gray that it wasn’t really worth photographing. Sometimes when I visit the park I tell myself that I won’t go here… and then at some point I almost inevitably end up making the trip.

Most often I’m completely alone here, though on a few occasions I’ve encountered one or two others. This place, and others like it, are remarkable at any time, but even more so when I experience them in solitude. Those mountains in the hazy distance are perhaps 30 to 40 miles away. Behind me the view stretches all the way to the snow-covered Sierra, and off to my left lie peaks well beyond the Nevada border. And everywhere in this vast expanse the landscape is laid bare, raw and visible.

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.

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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

Sea of Dunes

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Sea of Dunes
Layers of sand dunes lead toward barren desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

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

Layers of sand dunes lead toward barren desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Death Valley is often a beautiful place, but there are places in this landscape that can appear quite desolate if you look in the right direction. In many landscapes most of what we see is what covers the scene, but here the underlying geology is often stripped bare and we are left with a landscape of rock and sand. Even where plants grow — more places than you might imagine — they do not cover the landscape in the manner of forests and meadows.

This photograph is about that way of seeing this landscape. The dunes build one after another toward their highest point, much like waves on the ocean. Beyond this there is a rugged desert mountain range. This photograph is what I think of as a subjectively true image. While you would never find a scene that literally looks exactly like this, this interpretation is true to one way of seeing the place.

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.

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