Tag Archives: desert

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point

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Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point

Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun lights the folded earth of a gully at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

I know Zabriskie is an “iconic” photographic location, and it has “been done” many times, but somehow I find myself unable to complete a Death Valley trip without an early morning visit to shoot a Zabriskie sunrise. (When I think of photographing Manley Beacon I’m reminded to the joke about photographing Yosemite’s Half Dome – it goes something like this: “When you photograph Half Dome be sure to open up about one stop to compensate for all of the light that has been used up by previous photographers.”) But for me the real interesting subject at Zabriskie is found in the nearly infinite variety of shapes, textures, and shadows of the tortured terrain below and to the left of the Point. Long after the sunrise is over and almost all the other photographers have left, I’m still there photographing the continuously changing light as it picks off the top of this small ridge, creates a reflection that lights up that fold, and so forth. I’ve photographed the gully that is shown in this photograph as late as 9:30 in the morning.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: gully, valley, fold, texture, pattern, wash, runoff, zabriskie point, death valley, national park, california, usa, land, form, geology, scenic, travel, nature, desert, stock, shadow, morning, light, bend, twist, icon

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Dawn Light, Rhyolite

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Dawn Light, Rhyolite

Dawn Light, Rhyolite. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn sun strikes the ruins of the bank building in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada, with the mountains of California’s Death Valley National Park beyond.

This was my second visit to the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada – just outside the Death Valley National Park boundary and a few miles from the small town of Beatty. Rhyolite is the result of a very brief gold-fed boom and bust cycle in the first years of the 1900s, when it went from being one of the largest towns in Nevada (not much of a challenge… ;-) to being completely deserted in a matter of a few years after the ore more or less ran out. Some structures remain, including this iconic bank building that is probably the most recognized (and most photographed) feature of the town.

On my previous visit, almost exactly one year ago, I arrived before dawn, as I did again this year. Repeating last year’s experience, once again there were high clouds in the sky, and I was concerned about whether or not the light would be good. Last year it never got better than OK, though there were still some interesting photographs to be made. I went ahead and set up, this time standing back from the building and using a long lens to capture an image of the front wall of the bank with the Amargosa range in the distance and beyond that the snow-covered summit of 11,000″+ Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range. At sunrise the light came through below the high clouds, and a brief moment of absolutely stunning light illuminated Rhyolite and the Amargosa Range. Yes, the light really was this color – I actually have reduced the saturation a bit in post.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: rhyolite, nevada, ghost, town, abandoned, bank, school, ruins, abandoned, structure, building, old, historic, desert, mountains, amargosa, telescope peak, panamint, range, dawn, light, sunrise, sage, brush, valley, cloud, sky, dark, death valley, national park, scenic, travel, stock, window, wall, column, brick

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

Desert Sunflower

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Desert Sunflower

Desert Sunflower. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Blossoms of the Desert Sunflower (Geraea canescens) on a gravel fan in Death Valley National Park, California.

This is the first photograph I posted from my 2009 spring trip to Death Valley (March 32-April 3), from which I returned only yesterday. I’ll post more on the trip itself in the text accompanying additional photographs as I post them. I made this photograph on my last evening in the park. My basic daily plan in Death Valley is usually some variation on the following: shoot a location or two in the morning, “hang out” during the hot and harshly-lit midday period, and then shoot a couple more locations in the late afternoon and evening. On this afternoon I decided to first look for some of the colorful flowers that grow along the washes this time of year, and then to head over to Mesquite Dunes (aka “Death Valley Dunes” or “The Dunes”) to shoot at the very end of the day.

I drove to a point perhaps halfway between Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek where these flowers grow in profusion alongside the road when the timing and conditions are just right. Finding the flowers is almost embarrassingly easy – they grow right next to the road! Shooting them can prove to be a bit more difficult, especially in the typical Death Valley afternoon winds. While the late afternoon light was beautiful, the flowers were blowing so much in the wind that shooting them was almost impossible. I finally figured out that one key was in locating flowers with shorter, stronger stems that seemed to move less. Another key is using an appropriately fast shutter speed, which fortunately goes right along with using a large aperture for narrow DOF. Finally, once I found a flower or group of flowers, set up the composition, and focused (Live View rocks for flower photography!) it was a matter of patiently waiting for slight lulls in the wind and making several exposures as insurance against the inevitable motion blur from wind whipped plants.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.



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

Aguereberry Point, Afternoon Light

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Aguereberry Point, Afternoon Light

Aguereberry Point, Afternoon Light. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Looking west from Aguereberry Point across high peaks of Death Valley National Park toward the Sierra Nevada.

In April of 2008 I spent a number of days photographing in and around Death Valley National Park. On the third day I finished driving down through Titus Canyon in the afternoon and found myself with some extra travel time, so I headed up to Aguereberry Point where there is a high and austere view of Death Valley. After photographing the Valley and watching the last light leave the valley floor I headed back to the parking area and pointed my camera west toward the setting sun and the distant ridges of the southern Sierra Nevada range.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: aguereberry, point, death valley, national park, mountains, desert, dry, geology, geography, sunset, afternoon, light, black and white, ridge, atmospheric recession, valley, sierra nevada, distant, landscape, scenic, travel, california, usa