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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Photographers, Photographs: Southern California

Photographing the Canyon

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Photographing the Canyon
Patricia Emerson Mitchell photographing in a desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.

Photographing the Canyon. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Patricia Emerson Mitchell photographing in a desert canyon, Death Valley National Park.

My photographs of desert canyon landscapes are virtually always devoid of people. Without some frame of reference it is difficult or even impossible to judge the scale of these places — a cliff could be four feet high or forty, a rock might be a pebble or a boulder. This photograph includes my wife, Patricia Mitchell, at work photographing a section of a narrow desert canyon in Death Valley back in late March.

I often favor longer lenses for landscape photography, but in these canyons I usually use an ultra-wide lens. The canyon walls are only feet apart in the narrowest places, and often the view forward and backward may stretch no more than a few dozen feet. Photographing as a duo in such a place requires teamwork, and each person typically must work alone — or all of the photographs will feature other photographer! She went first as we re-entered this canyon. I followed, and initially photographed back in the direction from which we came. Once she moved forward I turned my attention into the canyon and then kept my distance so that we would not interfere with one another’s compositions.

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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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

Badlands and Distant Mountains, Dawn

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Badlands and Distant Mountains, Dawn
Sunrise sky over badlands terrain and distant desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Badlands and Distant Mountains, Dawn. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Sunrise sky over badlands terrain and distant desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Recently I wrote that I was finishing up with the photographs from my two early 2022 visits to Death Valley National Park. But things are often not quite what they seem… and I’m not quite done yet. This is a familiar pattern — I work up the most obvious images first, while others take a bit longer. As I approach the end of the archive I inevitably figure out how to work with some that I had overlooked. This is one of those photographs.

I also noted that I took another look at a location that I had dismissed in the past, an interesting place that did not really speak to me photographically. This isn’t the first time that I’ve reconsidered a subject, and a random comment by a friend inspired me to try again. It helped that the light on this morning was both challenging and special — with both the specialness and the challenge coming from the partially cloudy sky. The distant mountains are in the day’s first direct sunlight, while the light on the foreground features is still soft and indirect.

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

Toward the Light

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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.

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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, Photographs: Southern California

Canyon Walls, Light and Dark

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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.