Tag Archives: desert

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

Star Trails, The Manifold, Zabriskie Point

April 1, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 7 Comments

Star trails above the Manifold, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

One of my goals on my late-March trip to Death Valley was to do some night photography, in particular to take advantage of the nearly full moon near the end of my visit. Some of my plans did not quite work out – for example, on the night when I intended to do night photography of the moving rocks at the Racetrack Playa it was cloudy all night! However, on the final night of my visit the weather gods cooperated and I was able to make a few exposures from Zabriskie Point as the moon rose. As if to partially make up for messing up the intended Racetrack shots, the “cloud gods” were kind enough to provide me with a few high thin clouds at Zabriskie. This was one of those wonderful occasions when things actually did go as planned!

Anticipating the full moon at Zabriskie, I made a point of camping in the vicinity of Furnace Creek at the Texas Springs campground. (I expect that my habits mystified a few nearby campers. I drove in at about 2:00 p.m., grabbed a site and “marked” it by leaving a chair and a tarp, and almost immediately left – not returning until nearly 10:00 p.m. Then I was up and gone well before sunrise.) In any case, I headed down to the Badwater area in the late afternoon to photograph sunset light on the salt flats and evening clouds – following an impromptu “dinner” at the back of my car at the Badwater parking lot. It was getting fairly dark by the time I finished up at Badwater, so I headed straight up to Zabriskie. By the time I arrived the moon was just coming up over the mountain range to the east, with its light at times filtering through high clouds. During the hour I was there I made three exposures. With exposure times in the 8 to 12 minute range and followed by “dark frame exposures” of equal length, this was a slow and quiet process.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
ISO 200, f/8, 787 seconds (not a typo!)

keywords:

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

Dusk, Death Valley Dunes

March 31, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 9 Comments

Dusk light on plants and wavelike patterns of Death Valley Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

The drive to Death Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area is a long one, and even though I try to leave early I almost always arrive at Death Valley in the middle or late afternoon. This was the case on my visit during the past week. I arrived just before dinner time, set up my tent at Stovepipe Wells (or “Stove Pipe Wells” according to some of the literature at the lodge), grabbed a quick bite, and headed over to nearby Death Valley Dunes (sometimes a.k.a. “Mesquite Dunes”) to do a quick shoot in sunset and dusk light from a position along the road using a long lens. Some of the other photographs show a more “traditional” dune view, focusing on some of the larger dunes, the transverse dunes, and even the foothills of the Amargosa Range to the east, but for this one I decided to focus closer and photograph the plants growing along the closest dunes – plants greener than usual from the recent rains in the park.

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

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 260mm
ISO 200, f/11, .5 second

keywords: death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, landscape, nature, desert, mesquite, dunes, evening, dunes, dusk, sunset, evening, light, plants, sand, pattern, wave, folds, travel, scenic, landscape, nature, stock

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Titus Canyon

February 3, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of Titus Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California.

This photograph was made on a trip to Death Valley a couple of years ago – I pulled it up recently while working on a post about photographing Death Valley at my web site. Titus Canyon is known for the lower section which is a very narrow and deep slot canyon with a road through it. The road is a spectacular drive, starting east of Death Valley near Rhyolite and Beatty, crossing the mountain range along the east side of Death Valley, descending steep canyons on the west side, passing though the very deep and narrow lower section, and finally emerging into Death Valley. I regard the route as one of the most spectacular drives that I’ve seen – though it isn’t an easy drive. You’ll want a vehicle with good ground clearance, 4WD is advised, and those unnerved by steep and winding gravel roads that sometimes pass across very exposed areas might think twice about driving it. (As of this writing, Titus Canyon has been closed by flooding during the recent southern California storms.)

This photograph was made in the lower portion of the canyon, but above the slot canyon section near where the canyon emerges into Death Valley. The mountains seen in the distance are on the other side of Death Valley and far to the west.

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

keywords: titus, canyon, road, cliff, rocks, sky, clouds, trees, bushes, plants, desert, grapevine, mountains, landscape, scenic, travel, drive, california, usa, death valley, national park, stock, curve, rugged, desert, road

Locations

Photographing Death Valley – Part 1

January 20, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 17 Comments

This material concerning Death Valley is unavailable while revisions are underway. Thanks for your understanding. In the meantime, I will respond to comments left on this page.

(Update 3/22/13: The planned update to this article has been long-delayed, and for that I apologize. It turns out that the way I want to approach the subject in the revised version is a bit more complicated than I expected. I had anticipated completing an update in early 2013, but I decided to wait until after this year’s shoot in Death Valley so that I would write with that experience fresh in my mind.)

Also, more (but not all!) of my Death Valley photography is found here: https://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/v/NaturalWorld/TheLandscape/Desert/DeathValley/

(Note: After a conversation with a friend who is a retired Yosemite ranger, in which he articulately explained why he has concerns about sharing overly specific information about sensitive and fragile places too widely, I have decided to revise this article about photographing Death Valley. The goal is to remove some of the unnecessarily specific details about places that don’t need a lot more publicity, and to let photographers who are new this wonderful park learn about it the way I did and continue to do – by slowly exploring and adding to my knowledge and experience of the place rather than looking for a quick list of the “great shots.” I hope you’ll understand.

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.

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