Tag Archives: cottonwood

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

Dunes, Mountains, Haze

April 5, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Afternoon winds and blowing sand soften the contours of sand dunes and desert mountains

For us, the drive to Death Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area is always a long one, even when we break it into sections as we did on this trip. We came through Trona and up the Panamint Valley, then following the newly reopened Wild Rose Canyon Road up into the mountains. Along the way to made a few stops in this range, and finally ended up in Death Valley itself in the middle afternoon. After getting settled in following the drive it is very tempting to just be lazy! However, we were there (mostly) to make photographs, so we got to work.

For me, the first photography of almost any trip amounts, to some extent, to a sort of warm-up exercise. I may (or may not) have a particular photograph or subject in mind, but it is important to get the camera out, head into the field, and start making photographs right away, if for no other reason than to “prime the pump” for the rest of the visit. We we headed to the dunes, stopping at a place where few others go, shouldered tripods, packs and cameras, and headed out to see what we could find. I had my sights on some low dunes where various vegetation grows, but along the way I looked toward the more distant higher dunes and spotted this beautiful backlight and haze as wind began to blow sand into the air from the dune ridges.

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

Clearing Dust Storm, Evening

June 1, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Translucent atmosphere as the sky clears in the wake of a Death Valley dust storm

This was the tail end of a massive dust storm that was with us in one form or another for an entire day. Very early in the morning we had seen the precursor conditions when we visited a high ridge in the Panamint range before dawn. At that time there was a kind of haze in the atmosphere that I had come to associate with incipient dust storm conditions. By midday the dust was easily seen rising out of the great valleys on either side of the mountains, and before long tendrils of dust were snaking through the air above our position. Returning to Death Vally itself we encountered a wild scene — thick dust everywhere and extremely high winds. We gave up and shut ourselves indoors for a few hours, and then not long before sunset the wind abated a bit, and I ventured outside.

The dust storm was still raging across the valley, but in our location the winds had dropped considerably. But in the interim a weather system had moved overhead, and now it was raining into the dust storm — something I had not encountered here before. I made my way to an elevated location that was above much of the worst of the dust and from which I had wide views across the lower end of the Valley. From there I could see the Cottonwood Mountains to the west, and as the air cleared slightly the light made its way under the clouds and back-lit the dust still floating in the translucent atmosphere.

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

Sunrise Wave Cloud

April 27, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A wave cloud develops above Death Valley mountains at sunrise

When it comes to desert skies, it can be hard to find just-right conditions. Often the skies at Death Valley are simply clear, with few or no clouds aside from contrails from passing jets. And when there are clouds during the dawn and dusk hours when color potential is at its greatest, more distant clouds can block the light that would create the bright colors. This is especially true in the evening in Death Valley, where it is not uncommon for there to be thicker clouds in the moister regions to the west at sunset.

The latter situation was in play on this morning. In fact, I had originally planned to photograph south of this location. I had driven there and started to set up in the near darkness, only to realize that a fairly thick cloud deck was not going to clear and that it was going to block the morning light. I had a backup plan, and when I arrived at this spot a good distance to the north there was a break in the clouds. This color comes quickly and doesn’t last long — you more or less have to be ready for it before it is visible, though you may get a hint of developing color from clouds far off and near the horizon. Here a wave cloud is forming over Tucki Mountain, with a few more lenticular clouds out over the Cottonwood Range and beyond.

Photographs: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: The Southwest, Photographs: Utah

Fall Color, River Canyon

March 18, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees and other fall color along the bottom of a river canyon, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument

I made this photograph a few years back on a beautiful autumn day when a small group of friends walked down a river canyon, exploring and photographing the river, the vegetation, and the rocky walls. Direct sunlight does not reach the bottom of these canyons most of the time, especially during the times of the year when the sun’s path is lower in the sky and the daylight hours are shorter. Instead, the light strikes the upper walls, bouncing back and forth, diffusing and picking up the color of rocks and fall leaves as it makes its way downwards. If you look, you can see it in this photograph — in the glow on the canyon wall, the saturated colors of the leaves, and the light making its way into shadows.

Such canyons are wonderful places to go if you want to be cut off from the rest of the world. The landscape above the canyons is often relatively bare, perhaps dry and flat with occasional junipers. But none of that flat land world is visible once you are down in the canyon, where cottonwoods and brush spring up along the creek and every bend promises something new an interesting.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: cottonwood

Dunes, Mountains, Haze

Clearing Dust Storm, Evening

Fall Color, River Canyon

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