Tag Archives: cottonwood

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

Beneath The Overhang

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Beneath The Overhang
High overhanging walls of a narrow desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.

Beneath The Overhang. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

High overhanging walls of a narrow desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.

This is a remarkable spot in a lovely desert canyon in Death Valley National Park. After hiking up a wash for some distance and navigating around a minor impediment, the path suddenly enters the “narrows” — sections of the canyon with very high walls only feet apart where little light manages to find its way down from above. Entering the soft light, shades, and quiet of these places is always a special experience.

I have presented almost all of my photographs from my recent pair of visits to the park as color photographs. It is hard to forego color with these subjects, given the remarkable variations in the color of the landscape and the light in the desert. But here I felt that a black and white rendition made sense and suggested those characteristic feelings from being in this deep canyon.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees and Grass

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Winter Trees and Grass
Winter grass beneath a thicket of dormant trees on a foggy morning in the Central Valley.

Winter Trees and Grass. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Winter grass beneath a thicket of dormant trees on a foggy morning in the Central Valley.

This photograph comes from a particular moment of transition on a winter tule fog day in California’s Central Valley, the point when the nearly impenetrable gray blanket of the fog begins to thin, the view opens a bit, and the light becomes warmer and slightly directional. A half hour earlier this scene would have been almost devoid of color, and many of the trees would have been nearly obscured by fog. (An hour later the scene might be overly bright and harshly lit.)

This spot holds several things that characterize the the Valley at this time of year: the fog-to-sunlight transition, of course, but also the dormant trees along the edge of farmland and the very green newly sprouted winter grass. That grass is a distinctly California thing that often surprises visitors from colder climates, where the seasonal cycle is almost reversed. A spot like this will be dry and brown in summer and fall, but winter rains trigger our”impossible green” season as the plants respond to the moisture.

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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Trees, Levee Road, Fog

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Tule fog softens the light on a Central Valley levee road winding among winter trees.

Winter Trees, Levee Road, Fog. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tule fog softens the light on a Central Valley levee road winding among winter trees.

My usual inclination when photographing a place like this is to focus on the natural and to exclude the signs of the human presence. It is perhaps ironic that I embrace the human world in my street photography but often obscure it in my other work. I think this comes from the desire to imagine a “natural” work without, well, us. There are fine reasons to do this, but there are also some reasons to not imagine that we are not part of the natural world. (This subject likely deserves and article, a book, a small library — not a two-paragraph post!)

During the winter months I often photograph in California’s Central Valley, attracted by the tule fog and by the migratory birds. And I mostly photograph these subjects as examples of nature. But the Central Valley is anything but a natural wilderness! It is crisscrossed by roads large and small, increasingly filled by towns and cities, and dominated by the agriculture industry. The good news is that those things are interesting photographic subjects, too. This road more or less winds along a levee at the edge of a large pond. I paused here to look back and the way I had come, photographing the road winding through a gentle landscape of tule fog and winter trees.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

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

Old Cottonwood and Red Rock Cliffs

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Old Cottonwood and Red Rock Cliffs
An old cottonwood tree, changing to fall colors, stands in front ot a red rock cliff face, Zion National Park.

Old Cottonwood and Red Rock Cliffs. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old cottonwood tree, changing to fall colors, stands in front ot a red rock cliff face, Zion National Park.

There’s a very good chance that I’ve already said this too many times, but the color palette of the Utah red rock country is simply remarkable. The rocks themselves are astonishingly diverse, ranging from the reddish tones to whites, grays and blacks, and occasionally more exotic colors. The trees and plants, especially as the autumn color change begins, cover a range from grays through greens to yellow, orange, red, and brown. And all of this varies from the bluish tones of early morning and evening through the golden hour saturation and the midday intensity of light. I’ve said it before and I’ll likely repeat myself in the future, but to a Sierra Nevada photographer this can be almost overwhelming.

Early on our second morning in Zion National Park we took a drive that entered the park near Springdale just before dawn. We stopped several times as we began the ascent on the Mt. Carmel highway, first to photograph the intense dawn light and then, a bit later, to photograph this gnarly tree against the backdrop of a shaded canyon wall.

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.

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