Tag Archives: canyon

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Desert Mountains and Valley

Image Leave a comment
Desert Mountains and Valley
Badlands, mountains, and a valley, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains and Valley. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Badlands, mountains, and a valley, Death Valley National Park.

As I continue (still!) working my way though this year’s Death Valley photographs, a familiar process is at work. I first go to images that jump out at me or which I specifically recall making. In some ways, this is the easiest part of the process. Then I dig into the archive more carefully, considering photographs that seem less obvious, but which “work” once I spend time with them. At about this point I imagine that I have finished, but the thought that I’ve missed something gnaws at me, and inevitably I head back into the files again and gradually find subtler images that I like.

This is one of those later-stage photographs. On this morning I made several exposures from this spot, and two others initially jumped out at me as “the shots” from this place. When I looked at this one, there were things I liked about it, but I had other photographs that I wanted to deal with first. When I finally came back to it I think I started to realize what I must have instinctively found interesting about this scene when I pushed the shutter button. It is a large landscape, looking across bare foreground hill into a large valley, and toward desert mountains distant enough to introduce the effects of atmospheric haze.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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, Photographs: Southern California

Winding Canyon #2

Image 4 Comments
Winding Canyon #2
Morning light in a winding desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.

Winding Canyon #2. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light in a winding desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.

We arrived at this spot in a badlands canyon after the morning golden hour but a bit earlier than I usually get there. The route to this view passes by so much interesting stuff that I inevitably get sidetracked, and I tend to reach this spot after the best light. But on this morning, having photographed here not too long ago, I resisted some of those early temptations. The light was still appealing and the desert haze added a nice quality to the atmosphere.

A few weeks ago I shared another photograph of this scene — that one was presented in horizontal landscape orientation. Why share another when that is the biggest difference? Lots of reasons! Sometimes one or the other format is obviously more successful, but in this case they are different but equally valid ways of seeing this landscape. I don’t subscribe to the idea that there is one “right” way to see a landscape.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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, Photographs: Southern California

Toward the Light

Image Leave a comment
Toward the Light
Brighter walls beyond canyon narrows, Death Valley National Park.

Toward the Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Brighter walls beyond canyon narrows, Death Valley National Park.

There is a seasonal cycle to my landscape photography, which should be no surprise since these cycles are visible in the landscape itself. This takes me back to certain subjects almost every year: migratory birds and access to desert and to snowy landscapes in winter, access to warmer places and new life in spring, the Sierra and other travel opportunities in summer, the colors of autumn. This year’s seasonal change is well underway, as I think I’m getting close to the end of this year’s new Death Valley photographs.

This is yet another one from a very fruitful visit to this canyon in the mountains of Death Valley. We drove there, hiked in, and then took our time hiking back down, pausing frequently to photograph the narrow sections in gentle afternoon light. In this photograph, as in a few others from this location, the dark and banded foreground rock in the shadows contrasts with the lighter walls that get more of the warm-colored sunlight.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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, Photographs: Southern California

Canyon Walls, Light and Dark

Image Leave a comment
Canyon Walls, Light and Dark
Contrasting light and dark walls in a narrow canyon, Death Valley National Park.

Canyon Walls, Light and Dark. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Contrasting light and dark walls in a narrow canyon, Death Valley National Park.

This is a Death Valley canyon that I have visited on numerous occasions, and this particular narrow bend is one I recall from my first visit. Because the foreground section is so narrow and angled away from the light, the contrast with the more luminous wall beyond is striking. That wall receives more light due to its angle as the canyon bends, and the warm-toned light contrasts with the blue toes in the deeply shaded foreground section.

I find this contrast between shadow and brighter light to be a wonderful generator of color contrasts in these canyons. The first such canyons I photographed were in the desert Southwest, where the light picks up the color of the reddish sandstone. But the canyons of Death Valley do not typically have such colorful rocks, and much of the color potential comes from the quality of the light itself.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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