Tag Archives: formation

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

Mustard Hills

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Mustard Hills - Evening light on the Mustard Hills, Death Valley National Park
Evening light on the Mustard Hills, Death Valley National Park

Mustard Hills. Death Valley National Park, California. January 4, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the Mustard Hills, Death Valley National Park.

This photograph was made in a fairly accessible and “civilized” part of Death Valley not far from Furnace Creek and the old Harmony Borax Works. I have passed these hills many times, barely stopping aside from a time or two when I did a little loop drive while on my way to some other place. I did photograph in the area once before and even got one or two interesting photographs.

This time I decided to use one of the small, rounded hills as a overlook for shooting some distant shots of various portions of the Valley near sunset. By walking away from the highway, one can end up on top of any number of hills which happily show little evidence of being visited even though they are relatively accessible. I first did a bit of investigation to find the “right” hill, then hiked back to my car to pick up my camera, tripod, and bag of gear. Once I got back to the top of the hill, the shadows of the Panamint Range were already well across the main Valley and moving east quickly. I made a few photographs of the shaded valley and the lower slopes of the range, and then I turned my attention to the nearby yellow-tinted hills, looking for interesting near/far juxtapositions. I found this one literally seconds before the oncoming shadow of the Panamints arrived – in fact, it is beginning to diminish the foreground light in this shot, and in the one I made a few seconds later the light is greatly diminished.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Morning Squall, South Tufa

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Morning Squall, South Tufa
Morning Squall, South Tufa

Morning Squall, South Tufa. Mono Lake, California. July 25, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The shoreline of Mono Lake as a morning squall drops rain over the Sierra Crest near Lee Vining, California.

This photograph is, in a number of ways, a sort of happy accident. I had been camped in the Tuolumne Meadows area for several days, doing photography in that area of the Yosemite National Park Sierra Nevada high country. On the previous day I had been caught out on a hike in a surprise thunderstorm without rain gear, so I was very conscious of the weather. That evening it occurred to me that given the approach of some monsoonal moisture and the already wet weather, that it was possible that interesting clouds might form in the Mono Lake area the next morning. (Mono at dawn is a spectacular place, but since I’ve photographed there quite a few times I don’t necessarily shoot there at dawn every time I’m in the area unless there is a chance of special conditions.)

That night I peered out of my tent from time to time to see if any clouds were interrupting the light of the full moon, thinking that this might be enough to get me to change my plans for morning photography and make the drive to Mono Lake. At one point a few clouds did dim the moon light, and a bit later a few showers came through. At this point I was pretty certain that the cloud potential would be there in the morning so I decided to get up a bit earlier and drive to South Tufa.

I thought I was up early enough. However, as I drove down highway 395 south of Lee Vining I realized that I had miscalculated and that the sun was already hitting the clouds! I experienced the photographer’s conundrum – shoot what I see here now, or race on hoping to shoot the planned thing. I decided to stop and shoot the very first light on the Sierra crest from 395 before heading on, but now my original plan for a pre-dawn visit to Mono was out the window. Soon I headed on down the road, turned off onto eastbound 120 and made my way to South Tufa just as the first sun was striking the lake shore. I quickly made it out to the tufa area and saw (how could anyone miss it!?) this giant cloud cell blowing up over the Sierra crest just north of Lee Vining.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Sunlit Gully, Zabriskie Point

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Sunlit Gully, Zabriskie Point
Sunlit Gully, Zabriskie Point

Sunlit Gully, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photograph of a sunlit gully in afternoon light at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

Zabriskie Point is a justifiably famous overlook in Death Valley National Park – arguably the iconic view of the park, with the pyramid-shaped Manley Point above amazingly folder patterns of hills and gullies and with Death Valley and the sometimes snow topped summit of the Panamint Range beyond. (OK, the dunes might compete with Zabriskie in the Icon department…)

Everyone photographs at Zabriskie, and I’m no exception. However, my approach to this location has changed over time. At first any Zabriskie sunrise seems worth photographing, and in all honesty sunrise there is an amazing experience in all but the worst conditions. Eventually, though, you become a bit more discerning and not just any sunrise will do. I’ll generally only shoot sunrise there now if I think that the conditions will be extra spectacular, usually meaning some combination of clear or otherwise interesting lower atmosphere, perhaps snow on the Panamints, and some interesting clouds overhead. But even that is starting to feel a bit overworked.

Recently I’ve been trying to figure out what (and how) to photograph here without doing “the usual thing.” Several ideas have come to mind. Earlier I posted a photograph of the Manifold formation made at night under a full moon, and I think there is still more potential there. As others have done, I’ve played around with trying to find shooting locations other than the familiar one near the overlook. This photograph is an attempt to combine two other approaches that I’m working on – detail shots of small elements of the scene made with a long lens and shots made during the day at times other than the “normal” sunrise time.

I first saw this small gully a couple years ago when I happened to stop at Zabriskie during the mid-morning period on my way back from shooting somewhere else. Initially I just thought I’d wander up the path from the parking lot, scout things out a bit, and move on. But as I looked at the scene I realized that not all parts of this spot are necessarily best lit at sunrise, and that some actually can become interesting during the less obvious times of day. This is one attempt at a further exploration of this particular twisting gully, here shot in very bright daytime sun light only slightly diffused by high thin clouds.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 400mm
ISO 100, f/16, 1/125 second

keywords: zabriskie, point, fold, gully, hill, pattern, light, shadow, ridge, brown, golden, wash, rugged, gravel, dirt, geology, landscape, nature, scenic, travel, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, desert, formation, afternoon, winding, stock

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

Person Atop the Grandstand, Racetrack Playa

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Person Atop the Grandstand, Racetrack Playa
Person Atop the Grandstand, Racetrack Playa

Person Atop the Grandstand, Racetrack Playa. Death Valley National Park, California. March 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A climber stands atop “The Grandstand” formation in the middle of the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California.

I got a short period of good light when I visited the Racetrack Playa in late March… followed by an evening, a night, and a morning of mediocre light. Win some – lose some! When I first arrived at the playa it was still relatively clear, with only the thin high clouds seen in this photograph. My first stop was at “The Grandstand,” this interesting rocky hill in the middle of the otherwise perfectly flat playa. As I wandered around looking for good angles from which to photograph the formation, a succession of visitors climbed to the highest point of the formation. I had never thought to do this, even though I had climbed over part of the Grandstand to get to the other side on a previous visit. After waiting some time for the climbers to get out of “my shot,” I finally figured out that the lone figure atop this large rock made an interesting subject.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/11, 1/320 second

keywords: death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, racetrack, playa, moving, rocks, the, grandstand, formation, man, person, climber, top, summit, atop, stand, brush, plant, sky, cloud, mountain, range, scenic, travel, nature, landscape, sport, active, adventure, drive, stock, blue