Tag Archives: deva

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

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze

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Desert Mountains, Morning Haze
Morning haze obscures the details on a series of desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning haze obscures the details on a series of desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

This is another serendipitous photograph, and if you compared it to many of the other photographs I made at this location you would never guess that they came from the same place, same time, and same conditions. I was there to photograph dawn light on some nearby geological features. Dawn arrived with beautiful saturated light and clear air. When I finished with that I turned around to face the rising sun… and found the landscape’s details almost obliterated by the glowing, back-lit haze.

I’m not sure what, exactly, typifies a “typical” Death Valley photograph — but I know that these conditions were somewhat unusual. The haze made the successive hills fade into the distance, and the foreground area with the clearest details was in shadows. In the end, I think it has a mood that is different from any of my other photographs from Death Valley.

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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

From Valley To Peaks

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From Valley To Peaks
In morning light, he Panamint Range rises from below sea level in Death Vally to over 11,000 feet at Telescope Peak.

From Valley To Peaks. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The Panamint Range rises in morning light from below sea level in Death Vally to over 11,000 feet at Telescope Peak.

Earlier I shared another photograph of this series of impressive ridges, rising in the dawn light from the below-sea-level playa of Death Valley to the 11,000’+ summit of Telescope Peak. The other photograph took in a wider view of the landscape. In this one I narrowed the focus to emphasize the immense mass of these mountains and their astonishingly tall escarpment.

It is very hard to get an accurate sense of scale for this scene. This was true when I was there, and I suspect it is even more true when looking at the photograph. The base of the mountains is many miles away — I don’t have an accurate measurement, but it must be more than ten miles. If you look closely, you may notice that it takes four ridges to reach that highest summit, whose distance is likely something like 25-30 miles. And if you look closely you can pick out a series of four ridges as the mountains rise to the summit.

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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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape

Evening Overlook

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Evening Overlook
Two people watching the early evening view of immense desert mountains from a high overlook.

Evening Overlook. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Two people watching the early evening view of immense desert mountains from a high overlook.

Late in the day during my recent Death Valley visit I went to this overlook. It is more typically a place to photograph the sunrise, which comes from camera-left and illuminates the big ridges in the distance. But I had a free evening, not a morning, so I figured it was worth a shot. I arrived before sunset, and I made this photograph before the sun had dropped behind the western ridge, though the haze and high clouds softened the light a bit.

I’ve never been able to quite describe in words the experience of standing on a very high point in such a vast landscape. From here one can look 5000′ down into Death Valley or look 6000′ up toward the highest peak in the Panamint Range and simultaneously feel “on top of the world” and very, very small in the presence of such immensity.

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

Eroded Badlands Hills

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Eroded Badlands Hills
Deeply eroded badlands hills and more distant mountains in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Eroded Badlands Hills. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Deeply eroded badlands hills and more distant mountains in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Special Note: Patty and I are presenting a Silicon Valley Open Studios event on May 21 and 22. Look us up (Dan | Patty) or contact us for information. Come and see our prints!

You could look at this photograph in several ways, but I think the complex patterns of this landscape are the main attraction. Recently I read an article about photography that suggested (to paraphrase) that landscape photography aspires toward abstraction. I like that idea a lot. I feel there should be more to a landscape photograph than an ostensible “record” of things in front of the camera. Ideally photographs can be viewed on multiple levels simultaneously — our relationship to the place and the way we see it, the sum of compositional elements, some level of mystery, suggestions of things not contained in the frame, emotional implications, and more.

This feels like one of those photographs to me. You could respond to the remarkable nature of the landscape that was in front of the camera. You could also consider the visual forms from an abstract perspective — the complex patterns of elements in contrary and parallel motion. You are free to ponder where this portrayal of the landscape fits into the larger scheme of landscape art. And who am I to try to stop you from looking for relations to other, larger things?

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.