“First Light, Panamint Mountains” — The first sunrise light on Rogers Peak and the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley National Park.
How many times have I watched for this first light as it touches the peaks and ridges of the Panamint Mountains before working its way down to the floor of Death Valley? I have no idea, but I’ve been going there for something like 25 years now, so it must be quite a few times! It never gets old.
The highest point in this photograph is snow-capped Rogers Peak. The highest summit in the park, Telescope Peak, is just out of sight to the left. Surprisingly, there are communications facilities on top of Rogers Peak, and in a higher resolution version of this photograph you can see the towers on the very summit.
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.
The dust from a nearby sand storm obscures a series of ascending ridges..
On this afternoon I made quite a few photographs, and they range from a few with striking sunset and dusk colors to others that are almost devoid of details in the blowing sand and dust. Yes, it was a sand storm day, and that is precisely what drew us to this portion of the valley. High winds from the southwest were raking the sand dunes and raising giant, fast-moving clouds of sand and dust. They raced across the valley, traveling northeast toward the Amargosa Mountain range.
I made this photograph very close to the point where we entered the cloud of dust/sand. We had come up from a part of the valley further south, and as we got closer to the dunes and the source of the haze the dust began to obscure the sky and the view. We stopped here before entering the worse of the cloud and made a few photographs looking into it, with the tall mountains to the north nearly obscured
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.
Shadows on lakeside meadow as morning light hits Sierra Nevada peaks
This is a scene of what I regard as classic Sierra Nevada scenery. It also has the three main ingredients of many mountain photographs: rocks, trees, water. I made the photograph in the morning, probably most of the way through this morning’s photographic work. A typical morning in such a place begins with an alarm going off (quietly!) well before sunrise, followed by rolling out of the tent, grabbing camera pack and tripod, and heading off to some likely location to find morning light. Photography begins before sunrise, often moves quickly as the first direct light hits the landscape, and then evolves with the changing morning light… until, several hours later, it is time to wander back to camp and fix coffee and breakfast.
We were camped very close to this lake — though you could have easily walked past it and completely missed our camp, which was hidden away in the trees. We remained here for the better part of a week, allowing plenty of time to become familiar with the local landscape, photograph in a range of conditions, and make longer excursions away from camp. I actually did not photograph this closest lake much until near the end of our stay, when I realized that it was now or never. I made this particular photograph in the morning, well after sunrise but a few minutes before the sun peeked over nearby peaks to illuminate the shoreline meadow.
“Bubble-Feeding Humpback Whales” — Bubble-feeding humpback whales break the surface at Point Lobos State Reserve, California
I had the morning free, so I got up early and did the counter-commute drive down to Point Lobos, where whales had been spotted very close to these shoreline during the past week or so. I soon spotted huge groups of sea birds feeding above slightly turbulent water, a reliable indicator of where whales may appear. I headed to a high bluff with a panoramic view and almost immediately spotted whales. As the fish (anchovies?) moved closer to the shore, the birds followed, and soon whales (and dolphins and seal lions) also appeared.
I’m far from an expert on marine mammals, but I’m learning! This past year or so has provided some wonderful opportunities. I have long known about gray whale migrations in the area, but I learned that while the grays tend to move past on their way to places north or south, the humpback whales follow the food and will hang out in one area when there is food available.. as it currently is. I also learned about their remarkable group “bubble-feeding” behavior, where they team up and use remarkable strategies to corral fish. Some of them will apparently surround a school of fish. Then another whale goes beneath the school and emits a tremendously loud sound that sends the fish upwards. Meanwhile, another whale circles and blows bubbles into the water. The climax comes when the whole group may suddenly burst vertically through the surface of the water, full “throats” and mouths extended and full of water and fish.
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.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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