Tag Archives: california

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

Cactus-scape

Image February 2, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Close-up view of beavertail cactus, Death Valley National Park.

Many of the photographs that I brought back from Death Valley last week feature the grand, immense scale of the landscape — which is only nature given the, well, grand, immense scale of the landscape of the place. Today I’ll take a break from those images and look share something on much smaller scale — a cactus-scape, if you will. This is a very close view of a small portion of a beavertail cactus. As I worked on landscape photography in this location I realized that these cacti were everywhere, so I soon switched to a different camera with a macro lens.

This subject may bring up the question: will this be a “super-bloom” year? I don’t have a definitive answer to that, but I’ll share a few observations. I have heard that above-average rainfall in about the November time frame supports those extraordinary spring blooms. That did not happen this year. But there was rain — quite heave and even damaging rain — much earlier in the season, and there was some additional rainfall during the December-January period. I did see some very young shoots of new plants already starting to pop up in a few promising areas. My bet? No super-bloom, but more of a good to better-than-average year for wildflowers.

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

Playa Patterns

Image February 1, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Patterns of earth, water flow, and salt deposits in Badwater Basin, Death Valley.

In a roundabout way, this photograph is the result of last-minute changes to my plans during my recent Death Valley visit, changes necessitated by the closure of other places I intended to visit there. I took advantage of this situation by more carefully exploring some popular (and some less popular) locations in my central portions of the park. And that led to me being being at Dantes View on a rather cold evening. This is a location with some rather remarkable views, stretching from distant Sierra peaks to mountains near Las Vegas.

I arrived while there was still direct light on the salt flats and other features in Death Valley, and then I continued to photograph right on through sunset until early dusk. I made this photograph was the sun-shadow line was just passing over this area of salt deposits in, more or less, Badwater Basin. From Dantes View, more than 5000′ above Death Valley, these features look quite different than what we see when we are among them, and I used a long lens to isolate interesting sections of this otherworldly landscape.

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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

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains

Image January 31, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

In dawn light, the Panamint Mountains rise from Death Valley to snow-covered Telescope Piak.

At the current time many road (and the locations they access) in Death Valley National Park are closed as a result of earlier flooding and washouts. Before I went there this past week I was aware of some closures, but when I arrived I discovered that some of my planned destinations were unavailable. I changed plans, improvised, and still found plenty to see and do in the park, and my list of planned locations remains for my next visit.

If plans had not changed, I would not likely have come back with this photograph. I often make relatively last-minute decisions about where to photograph based on light and sky conditions, and when I noticed that the air was clearer than usual — important given the vast distances in this park — I headed to a location with a view of the first morning light on the Panamint Mountains and their snow-capped summit of Telescope Peak. To give some idea of the distances, the highest peak is perhaps roughly twenty-five miles from my camera position.

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

Holly in the Sun

Image January 30, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A desert holly plant in sunlight, growing in a Death Valley National Park canyon.

Last week I made my first visit of the year to Death Valley National Park. I like to photograph there during the winter and again at the very beginning of spring. Despite the reputation of the place, it can be quite cold there in January, and I experienced a few windy and chilly moments. I made this photograph near the furthest point in a pleasant wander up a lovely wash that I happened into more or less by accident. I was near a ridge and the slanting afternoon light was still just catching the branches of this desert holly plant.

The circumstances of this afternoon’s walk were a reminder about one of the best ways to encounter the wild. I had gone out to scout a location for the next day’s dawn photography, and from my selected location I saw a small canyon dropping away. I almost didn’t enter it, but finally decide to walk “just a few feet” in to investigate. I did, and soon came to a junction with a much larger wash, and I couldn’t resist exploring. I started up, eventually going 15 minutes past my turn-around time, and finally ending up in a narrow, constricted, dark… and altogether fascinating little stretch of canyon that I need to explore again.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: california

Cactus-scape

Playa Patterns

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains

Holly in the Sun

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.