Tag Archives: dunes

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

Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows

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Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows
Morning light highights the forms of sand dunes and distant desert mountains.

Dunes, Mountains, and Shadows. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light highights the forms of sand dunes and distant desert mountains.

This photograph was likely made near the end of the morning’s work among the dunes, as the light is just about to become more harsh than what I usually favor with this subject. The camera position, focal length, and direction of the photograph were chosen to include several things: that lovely section of curving dunes with shadows, the fascinating pattern on the nearer dune at the bottom, the muted details of the distant mountains, and as little vegetation as possible.

The photograph was a compositional challenge. While I really wanted to feature the diagonal ripples across the foreground dune, including too much of this ended up dwarfing the more distant landscape. The alignment between the summit of the darker dune and the distant peak and where to place both in the composition was a bit of a question. The photograph is also an example of my inclination to use longer focal lengths with many landscape subjects.

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

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan

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Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan
Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

This is the second of two photographs made close together on this morning in the dunes. I made it just moments after the first direct sunlight had arrived here, illuminating the distant fan, the creosote plant, and the curving shapes of the dunes. This light lasts only a moment, and when I saw it coming I stopped here, found this composition, and waited for the show. I like the way that the foreground light aligns with the softly-lit alluvial fan in the distance, and how the implied line of the incoming light likely traces the angle of the bits of dune at the left edge.

It is still amazing to me that such well-developed plants can find a foothold in this terrain — and beyond that manage to thrive on a high point along the dunes. This is not a friendly environment for most plants — it can be tremendously hot, it is quite dry, and when the winds get going these plants are blasted by flying sand. (I’m a bit too familiar with that last issue!)

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

Sea of Dunes

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Sea of Dunes
Sand dune forms extend into teh distance, Death Valley National Park.

Sea of Dunes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sand dune forms extend into the distance, Death Valley National Park.

From just the right vantage points, the terrain of sand dunes can appear to be entirely devoid of living things. (In truth, no landscape is, but the evidence is hard to see here.) And when looking in the ideal directions, the succession of curving shapes can suggest a sort of frozen seascape full of immense waves.

I made this photograph on a spring morning while exploring a favorite area of these dunes, one that isn’t quite as busy with people trying to get to the highest point. This area is mostly a landscape of parallel ridges and valleys that run toward the center of the dunes, so I tend to approach from the edge and work my way toward the center. The main dune in this scene is a remarkable one — it is long and has a face that is marked by an unusual rippled pattern.

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

Dead Creosote, Dunes

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Dead Creosote, Dunes
Morning sun on san dunes and skeletal dead creosote plants, Death Valley.

Dead Creosote, Dunes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun on san dunes and skeletal dead creosote plants, Death Valley.

We tend to think of the landscape and, in particular, the desert landscape as being relatively static. Landscape photographers often hear comments along the lines of, “You have all the time in the world to make a photograph.” While there is some truth to this notion — yes, that mountain is likely to still be there tomorrow — things are not quite that simple, particularly at the beginning and end of the day. While the physical objects in this photograph stand still, the light most certainly does not!

This photograph was, in a sense, the result of a combination of working slowly and working quickly. Soon after arriving in this area of the dunes I saw this clump of dead creosote bushes. I thought they were interesting, but the lighting at that point wasn’t conducive to how I would photograph them. So I made a mental note about the scene and the spot and went to work on other things. A bit later the light was starting to sweep across the tops of the dunes and I turned my attention back to this subject, hoping that the angles would work out correctly to light the plants while the underlying sand remained in shadow. I waited as the light worked its way down the stems of the plants and then made the photograph during the seconds-long window just before the light struck the sand beneath them.

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.