Tag Archives: eroded

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

Strata

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Strata
S”Strata” — ort morning light illumnates rugged desert strata

Desert landscapes can have an almost surreal quality, with features that are close to unbelievable. (I suspect that this happens in most landscapes, but the “barren” desert reveals them more clearly.) The landscape is laid bard, and we get a clear view of eroded features, twisted rock strata, contrasting colors produced by layers of different materials.

In certain places, in the right light, the contests and patterns become even more striking. This is one of those locations, and it was a day with that kind of light. These eroded hills are threaded with both very light and very dark strata, sometimes directly juxtaposed. On this morning the low-angle, directional light was softened a bit by high clouds.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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

Desert Hills And Mountains

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Desert Hills And Mountains
Morning light on eroded forms and desert mountains

Desert Hills And Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light on eroded forms and desert mountains.

Often when I photograph in a familiar place I look at certain subjects, find them appealing, but just don’t quite yet know how to see them as photographs. Sometimes I attempt a photograph and end up dissatisfied. Other times I look and don’t even photograph. The far ridge in this photograph has been one of those subjects.

The ridge is very impressive — high, barren, and rugged — and it is easily visible from some very popular locations in Death Valley National Park. However, perhaps because access is not easy or possibly because better known features are nearby, I rarely see it photographed. On this spring morning I had been photographing one of those other locations, and I looked up to see the high clouds above the ridge and the backlight on the foreground hills… and it seemed like the right time to give this scene a try once again.

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

Colorful Desert Hills, Morning

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Colorful Desert Hills, Morning
Multi-colored strata in eroded desert hills

Colorful Desert Hills, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Multi-colored strata in eroded desert hills.

The colors of some of the strata laid bare in desert regions like this one are sometimes wild and occasionally unbelievable. The blue tones often provide some of the most striking surprises, since that may be the last color we expect to see in soil or large expanses of rock — reds, browns, yellows are far more common.

I made this photograph in a little area that is almost a lab of eroded forms and varied colors. I like to photograph here in the morning, when I often have the place to myself and when there is the possibility of soft, low-angle light. Here the strata of tan, red, and blue materials run at right angles to the lines produced by erosion.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Desert Canyon, Evening Light

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Desert Canyon, Evening Light
Evening light shines into a very rugged and colorful desert canyon.

Desert Canyon, Evening Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light shines into a very rugged and colorful desert canyon.

Late in the afternoon the light was dying quickly. Clouds were coming in from the north and creating a lid across most of the sky. We saw a bit of sunlight on the desert floor to the south, so we drove in that direction, hoping to get there before that light also was lost. Unfortunately, as we got closer that light also began to be cut off by the clouds and by the mountains to the west, as the lowering sun reached the summit ridge.

Looking up at those mountains, it appeared that there was a thin spot in the clouds a bit north of our position, so we took one more chance and now headed back to the north. The potential was there for a few moments of light as the sun emerged from behind those clouds, shining through the thinner clods, and casting soft but directional light on this area of colorful geology. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived in this area that soft sunlight appeared. We knew we had only a short time to work before the sun dropped behind the mountains again, and the wind was blowing like crazy, so simply made a few careful handheld exposures as the light shining into this colorful canyon peaked.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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