Tag Archives: Cloud

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

Dust Storm, Dunes, Evening Light

June 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A dust storm rages above sand dunes at the end of the day, Death Valley National Park

This was a wild evening, featuring an apocalyptic combination of tremendously strong winds, huge clouds of blowing sand and dust, periodic downpours of rain, and light that changed constantly from ominous and dark to luminous clouds backlit by sun to threads of virgo, and more. I had never seen quite this combination of conditions in Death Valley at one time.

Photography was quite challenging. Because sunset was approaching (and I continued to photograph into the dusk), it was often quite dark. The screaming winds made it virtually impossible to shoot from the tripod, so I was mostly reduced to bracing my camera against the window frame of my vehicle and working with the camera handheld. In the rough conditions I was forced to work from a distance with a long lens, since photographing inside the windblown clouds of dust and sand was not a good idea. Here the clouds and the dust above the sand dunes momentarily thinned, creating a backlit glow from the low angle sun about to drop behind mountains to the west.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

SFMOMA, Cloud

June 16, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A cloud above the new SFMOMA building

I think my landscape photographer instincts went to work on this photograph, despite its thoroughly urban subject. But imagine a valley floor, a vertical granite cliff, peaks beyond, and a cloud floating past and I think you might see the analogy. But this is a distinctly San Francisco street/architecture photograph.

I was on foot in The City, spending the better part of a day wandering around in an area bounded by the Embarcadero and the Bay, Market street more or less, and Fourth Street. I was headed south on a less crowded street, traveling more or less toward the newly remodeled SFMOMA (museum of modern art). I had been looking a the tall building on the right and the bit of the new portion of the museum poking out to its left when the solitary cloud appeared from behind the building and began to move from right to left. Having very little time to contemplate, I framed up this vertical composition and made the photograph “street” style, using the prime lens already on the camera and simply shooting handheld

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Meadow, Forest, Cloud-Shrouded Peak

June 10, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud-shrouded Mount Conness towers above the domes and forest of Tuolumne Meadows

I’ll take a break from the recent urban, night, and street photography and go back to the high country with a photograph from about this time a year ago. I spent a few days in the Tuolumne Meadows area, photography in the high elevation areas of the park. This was a particularly memorable evening that started without a specific plan, led to a surprise meeting with friends and photographs, including a hike down a river to a lovely area of granite slabs, and concluded with sunset back in the big meadow.

As we came back up the river we split up — some heading up onto a nearby high prominence and others (that would be me!) hanging out along the edge of the meadow, between the base of a granite dome and a large herd of grazing deer. As the final sun light touched the tops of the highest peaks, fog formed around the summit of Mt. Conness up along the Sierra crest.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Tundra Swans, Mount Shasta

February 22, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Tundra swans fly in front of distant cloud-shrouded Mount Shasta

Mount Shasta is one of those special mountains that stands alone and above all around it. In land that rarely exceeds a few thousand feet in elevation, this peak soars to over 14,000′, only a bit shorter than Mount Whitney, the tallest peak in the Lower 48 States. While Mount Whitney is nestled into a very high section of the Sierra Crest, along with other peaks and ridges of nearly the same height, nothing near Shasta is remotely near as tall. Its bulk soars above the rest of the landscape, especially when it is covered in winter snows — and the clouds that build over its summit can make it seem even larger. As we like to point out, the peak is so big that it makes its own weather.

The peak is clearly visible from this area of the Klamath Basin, and it is the first thing to catch the morning light. While out in this immense valley photographing tundra swans I noticed that some flocks along the far side of the valley were passing in front of the peak, and I started tracking them to see if any would cross the mountain at the right elevation. As I saw a flock far to my northwest, I would begin to track it along the horizon, hoping that it would pass in front of the peak and be high enough to clear the lower and darker mountains, yet not so high as to be far above the peak.

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