Tag Archives: erosion

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

Mustard Canyon

Image 4 Comments
Mustard Canyon
Evening light on the Mustard Canyon area in Death Valley National Park.

Mustard Canyon. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the Mustard Canyon area in Death Valley National Park.

This is a place that I photograph from time to time. It isn’t far from spots where I camp, so it isn’t unusual to pass by as I head out or return from some more distant location. A few years ago I stopped and climbed a low hill there late in the day, found it magical, and the hill — which might seem like nothing special to others — is one of my little personal spots in Death Valley. From here the panorama is expansive in all directions, and the slight elevation of the place lets me see even farther.

The view here begins in the foreground with the Mustard Canyon area. The mustard part of the name makes sense — in the ideal light the formations are strikingly yellow. The canyon part seems a bit of a stretch. I’m sure that there is a route followed by water heading out into the valley, but it seems more like a wash than a canyon. The rugged foreground, filled with alternating yellow and reddish material, eventually gives way to giant alluvial fans, and in the far distance the terrain rises to the Amargosa Mountains.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

StRata, Morning Light

Image 2 Comments
Stata, Morning Light
Early morning light on eroded strata with contrasting colors, Death Valley National Park.

Strata, Morning Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Early morning light on eroded strata with contrasting colors, Death Valley National Park.

This photograph is an example of the transitory nature of light — and how this factor puts the lie to the notion that landscape photography is something always done slowly, at leisure. That is sometimes possible, but more often the most interesting light is fleeting, there only for an instant and sometimes passing its peak before you realize it. Here the layers of colorful strata are in a small canyon, and the light is blocked early in the morning by hills on the other side, behind the camera position. Once the light does arrive, the shadows move down the landscape quickly, and the interval when the light is ideal is brief.

This photograph is also an example of finding balance between an “objective capture” of the scene, a photographic representation of “what it looked like to me,” and something extreme or even fantastical. You have perhaps seen other photographs of these colorful strata, with shades of red, yellow, blue, green and more. Such colors are striking, but they are often quite subtle. In flat or harsh light they are less intense than what you see here. Even in great light and with the kinds of post-processing that I do, the colors are still not exactly intense. I think this subtlety is part of the beauty of these features, and this is lost when the photographer pushes things too far.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Badlands and Valley, Morning

Image Leave a comment
Badlands and Valley, Morning
Eroded formations and Death Valley in morning light.

Badlands and Valley, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Eroded formations and Death Valley in morning light.

This is a location that I often go to in Death Valley when I want to photograph in the early morning… and I’m feeling a bit lazy and trying to avoid a long drive. The area is, for many folks, more or less a “drive through” site, but I’ve been going back there for years, lingering and exploring on foot and with my camera.

For the most part in this place you’ll find close-up views of beautifully eroded formations of contrasting colors, with lots of opportunities to photograph the “intimate landscape” of close to medium distance subjects. But in a few spots you can obtain a wider view and see far beyond this hills. To make this photograph I climbed a bit so that I could look over the nearby hills and out into the vast expanse of Death Valley in the early morning light.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Bandlands, Morning Light

Image Leave a comment
Bandlands, Morning Light
Soft early-morning light on rugged and colorful badlands formations

Bandlands, Morning Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft early-morning light on rugged and colorful badlands formations.

On the final full day of our early-April 2019 photography visit to Death Valley we decided to head for a familiar location where I enjoy photographing in the morning. After being closed earlier in the season this area had finally reopened — flooding of washes in the area had interfered with access, and repairs had be recently completed.

The photographic opportunities in this area — and, to be honest, in many places — depend a lot on the specific qualities of the light during a visit. I’ve been here where clouds turned everything gray and when intense light made some portions of this landscape a bit too stark for my preferences. This morning was close to ideal. When we arrived, before dawn, there was a high overcast and the light was not all that spectacular. However, the clouds were thin, and as the sun rose the light made it thought the dissipating clouds — and this sort of high, thin clouds provide some of the most subtle and beautiful light.

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.