Yes, more dried mud! As I have written before, for reasons that still mystify me, this is an irresistible subject for many landscape photographers… and I’m no exception. What explains it? The colors? The contrast with surroundings? The fractal shapes?
Continue reading Fractured Surface
This imaginary landscape — an image produced by manipulating photographic materials — riffs on the subject of playa mud. Here the semi-circular forms in the lower 2/3 of the frame interested me, obviously along with the shapes and textures of the dried mud.
Continue reading Imaginary Landscape — Brown
This little geological vignette intrigued me. While exploring an area in Death Valley featuring very dark, fine gravel that almost has the appearance of shallow dunes, I came across low flat areas where water has obviously collected in the past. Now there was a surface of old mud, cracked into separate pieces as it dried, a familiar desert sight. But here this surface was pockmarked with small black stones.
Continue reading Mud And Stones
I had been photographing long views of colorful aspen groves on mountainsides as the sun came up. Photography in quickly-changing early morning light can be intense, and ideal conditions only last a short time. As the sun rose the light soon become too intense for the photographs I was interested in, so I went for a stroll along the base of a nearby rocky hill where it was still shady.
The hill produced the conditions that made this photograph possible. The most obvious was that the shaded light remained soft, revealing subtle elements in this little scene. Because direct sunlight had not yet arrived, the fallen leaves were still covered in frost. Morover, it is likely that the leaves collected here in the first place because the hill provided some protection from wind.
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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
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