Tag Archives: black

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

Desert Gold and Mountains

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Desert Gold and Montains
“Desert Gold and Mountains” — Rugged desert mountains tower above gravel fans filled with blooming desert gold flowers, Death Valley.

I have been sharing a lot of photographs from this year’s spectacular wildflower bloom in Death Valley National Park — and I’m not quite done yet! In dry years one may have to go off searching (sometimes in vain) for landscape-carpeting flowers like these. But this year, after a previous season of good rainfall the flowers were easy to find.

How easy? I made this photograph just a few minutes from the busy Furnace Creek area. Here the desert gold flowers spilled across a broad wash, past small hills, and on into the more distant wide valley. Beyond are the dark hills at the north end of the Black Mountains.

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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

Desert Gold Field

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Desert Gold Field
“Desert Gold Field” — Late afternoon light on field of desert gold wildflowers in southern Death Valley.

A day or two ago I thought that I was finished with the photographs from our late-February visit to Death Valley. But I decided to make another pass at the raw files from the trip, and I found a few more photographs that I think help fill out the story of this trip. (Update: Since I wrote that I have found even more!) The highlights — and my primary photographic targets — were the exceptional wildflower bloom and Lake Manly. Here’s another of the wildflower photographs, one which illustrates the extent of some of the larger fields of color.

If you visit this spot during most of the year you might not notice much vegetation at all. Aside from a few bushes, it would mainly give the appearance of a gentle gravel slope. But in February the desert gold plants were taking full advantage of the season’s above-normal rainfall, and some places like this one were more or less carpeted with colorful flowers.

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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: Sky

Morning Sky, Edge of Lake Manly

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Morning Sky, Edge of Lake Manly
“Morning Sky, Edge of Lake Manly” — Morning cloud-filled sky above the shore of Lake Manly.

It looks like I’m finally coming to the end of this season’s Death Valley Photographs. But there were quite a few, many featuring Lake Manly, the temporary lake flooding Badwater Basin. When the lake appears after a wet year it gives us an unusual opportunity in this desert landscape — to photograph reflected sky and mountains where we would usually see a salt flat.

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Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Autumn Black Oak Trees

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Autumn Black Oak Trees
“Autumn Black Oak Trees” — Black oak trees with autumn foliage on a hazy day in Yosemite Valley.

I have photographed in Yosemite since I was literally a child. (The first “serious ” photograph I recall making was on a family trip to the Valley when I scrambled up a little hill to find a composition of a dome framed by tree branches.) The Valley remains one of the most astonishing sights on the planet, with features that are darned near unbelievable. But after decades of photographing there, when I visit now I look for other things than the icons.

Admittedly these black oaks have become almost iconic, though they aren’t a recognizable feature in the way that Half Dome or Yosemite Falls are. There’s no one particular feature, but rather a playground of textures and colors and lines to work with. I stop and photograph here on almost every visit.

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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.