Tag Archives: formation

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

Desert Mountains and Sky

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Desert Mountains and Sky, Death Valley
“Desert Mountains and Sky” — Evening clouds form above desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

First day photographic subjects in Death Valley are often a bit tricky for me. It takes me about eight hours to drive from the San Francisco Bay Area, and when I arrive I have to find a campsite and set up my tent and other gear. By the time I finish it is typically getting close to the time when normal people would be eating dinner. Tempting, no? But I shift into “photographer mode,” and head out to find something to photograph — I’ll eat after dark when I return to camp.

While I do photograph on the first evening of these trips, I don’t generally travel that far to do it. This first evening was kind of lazy. I drove fifteen minutes to an area I know, and there I walked to the top of a nearby hill to check out the view, including these clouds. The sky is a fascinating subject in Death Valley. While big dramatic rain storms are rare (but not impossible) sometimes atmospheric conditions are affected by weather fronts that fall apart over the desert, leaving broken, dissipating clouds like these — and they can be quite dramatic.

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.

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Photographs: Birds, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Cranes in Formation

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Three Cranes in Formation
Three lesser sandhill cranes against blue winter sky above California’s Central Valley.

Three Cranes in Formation. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Three lesser sandhill cranes against blue winter sky above California’s Central Valley.

As I posted this I was considering the title… and it occurred to me that “Three More Cranes” might be the appropriate modification, considering how many crane photographs I have been sharing! And I’m not done — there are still a few more in the queue. Think of it as a sort of end-of-season (at least in Central California) crane fest, with the photographs coming from my final two visits to local crane areas this winter.

Getting a good, close photograph of cranes in flight is more of a challenge than you might think. On a day like this one, the cranes are everywhere, and they are quite active. But a whole bunch of things have to fall into place for it to work, and most of them are decidedly not under the photographer’s control. There must be some sort of good light, and the cranes must be flying in a good direction relative to that light. Their flight must take them near (and preferably over) my position, but cranes are notoriously finicky about flying directly over people. The individual birds must align themselves in aesthetic ways — not blocking one another or creating awkward shadows, wings in an interesting position, yet close enough to one another to fit in the frame. The truth is that a day of photography may not produce a photograph with the birds aligned as beautifully as this trio.

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: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Lava Lake Shoreline

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Lava Lake Shoreline
Reflected forest along the rocky shoreline of Lava Lake, Oregon

Lava Lake Shoreline. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reflected forest along the rocky shoreline of Lava Lake, Oregon

Today I am sharing another photograph from my family trip to Oregon this past week. Although it wasn’t primarily a photography trip, I did make a few photographs. I did head out one day with the specific intent of photographing in the Cascade Lakes area in the general area of Mt. Bachelor, but I ran into truly awful wildfire smoke. At times it was thick enough that the closest peaks were not even visible. That little photographic foray turned out to be less than fruitful… if that is an appropriate way to say that “I came back with no photographs at all!”

But one morning I was up reasonably early and most of my family members (brothers and sister and the families of their kids) were all off doing other things. So I wandered out of the campground and took a pleasant solo hike along the rocky shoreline of Lava Lake. I’m far from an expert on the geology and geography of Oregon, but I was struck by how different it is (with a few exceptions) from the California landscape that I know so well. Here, aside from the striking volcanic peaks and formations, the land has a much lower profile. In places you can travel for miles in forest (quite a bit of which has been logged) and never see much beyond the row of trees at the road’s edge. This lake, apparently like many others in this area, sits on top of a volcanic base, and the shoreline is clearly composed of volcanic rocks.

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: Southern California

Bandlands, Morning Light

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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.