Tag Archives: desert

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

Winding Desert Canyon

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Winding Desert Canyon
A desert canyon winds into the Black Mountains of Death Valley

Winding Desert Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A desert canyon winds into the Black Mountains of Death Valley

These desert canyons come in a variety of forms. In many ways, the slot canyons are the most appealing, with their tall, often vertical walls, serpentine paths, and sometimes very narrow dimensions. But the constitute the minority of the canyon types. Others may be quite wide and shallow, almost having the character of wide washes instead of canyons. These are often found lower in the mountains, and are easy to spot from a distance where the canyons spill out onto (sometimes vast) fans of gravel. Another type feels like a canyon, but has a more open character, with hills rather than walls along the sides, and often with a wide path up the center.

This canyon has the latter character, at least at this point. (Elsewhere in the same drainage it has more of the character of a slot canyon.) While there are low walls along its edges, one wouldn’t be too hard pressed to pass over them, and above these walls the sides of the canyon slope away at relatively low angles that allow sunlight to penetrate to the bottom. Recently it finally occurred to me that one of the things that makes such canyons so enjoyable to walk is that there is no single path to follow. Where the canyon is wide enough, the feeling is midway between following a trail and walking in trail-less country. You do follow the course of the canyon, but you can pick your way through it in any way that seems to make sense.

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 and Amazon.
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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Creosote Bushes, Dunes At First Light

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Creosote Bushes, Dunes At First Light
First light on sand dunes and a pair of creosote bushes, Death Valley

Creosote Bushes, Dunes At First Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First light on sand dunes and a pair of creosote bushes, Death Valley

I made this photograph during that short, beautiful period when the day’s first light arrives in the desert. I had spotted these clumps of creosote plant earlier, when the light was still pre-dawn blue. I made a few photographs at that point which, of course, have an entirely different feeling than this one. I think I had begun to move on to another subject when I decided to instead stick with this one as the sun rose behind distant mountains. The first light struck the top of dunes to my left (not visible in this photograph), and as the angle of the light increased with the rising sun it began to sweep across nearer dunes beyond the plants.

The color contrasts here are, I think, quite something, even with the overall soft quality of the scene and the light. That one band of dune just beyond the plants is very colorful in the early direct light. Beyond the sun is just beginning to strike a few other dunes. In the far distance the hills and washes at the east side of Death Valley are still in the blue morning twilight shadows. The creosote plants are still in shade — but not for long — and silhouetted against the more colorful den.

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 and Amazon.
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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

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon

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Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon
Hiker passes beneath a thick natural bridge spanning a narrow Death Valley canyon

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hiker passes beneath a thick natural bridge spanning a narrow Death Valley canyon

With the exception of a couple of very accessible and popular canyons, many Death Valley Canyons are not visited all that much. Even canyons that are a short distance from major iconic locations and roads are often uncrowded. Canyons that are more remote can be wonderfully lonely places, locations to find the solitude that the desert supplies in such abundance. They are magical places though, to be honest, if you have experienced the red rock sandstone canyons of the Southwest, many of the canyons of Death Valley are more subtle. The canyons are also an undeniable reminder of the tremendous role of water in forming this landscape, odd as that may seem in what is now a desert.

While many Death Valley sights are arguably at their best during or near the golden hour period around dawn and sunset, the canyons can be good a bit later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon. In fact, too close to the sunset/sunrise times and the canyons can be quite dark — perhaps too dark for most photography. But when the sun is a bit higher in the sky the light can strike upper canyon walls and bounce and diffuse down into canyon depths. This light can be soft, gentle, and take on the colors of the canyon rocks. You can see some of that light on the massive bridge that crosses this canyon, and if you look closely you may see a small hiker providing a sense of scale.

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects

St. Madeleine Church, Trona

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St. Madeleine Church, Trona
The stark architecture of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat Catholic Church, Trona, California.

St. Madeleine Church, Trona. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The stark architecture of St. Madeleine Sophie Barat Catholic Church, Trona, California.

I have a bit of history with the California town of Trona, but it has mostly been superficial. I may need to consider changing that. The town is in the far reaches of San Bernardino County, in the desert region between Ridgecrest, California and Death Valley National Park. The entire reason I even know of the place is that it is on the route that I almost always follow into the park. The town has roots that go back to the 1800s, and it seems to be supported almost entirely by the mining/extraction operations that go on there. To this outside, Trona has that utilitarian, dusty, sad, potential ghost town look of so many remote Western towns. I’m sure that some of that impression is the result of my own ignorance, but still…

I’ve passed through Trona annually for about two decades. However I rarely stop, mostly because Trona is either the last step on a very long drive to Death Valley (and I just want to get to DEVA and get to work without delay) or the first step on the long drive home (and I feel little need to stop yet). There isn’t much there for travelers — a drive-in, a restaurant on a side street, a market, a gas station or two. However, with each visit the feeling grows that there is something worth looking at and photographing here, especially in an increasingly urbanized age where fewer people have any experience with such places. So this time, on the way out of the park, we paused briefly and drove around just a bit. I noticed things that I have missed before. (For example, not all of the homes here are abandoned or unloved.) Our final stop before moving on was the parking area next to the St. Madeleine Church. In fact, this was one of the features that first suggested photography here to me some years ago, even though I had not previously stopped. It is a remarkable building, and its brutalist concrete construction and unadorned square shape somehow seem appropriate in this stark desert 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 and Amazon.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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