Tag Archives: formation

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

The Grandstand, Racetrack Playa

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The Grandstand, Racetrack Playa
The Grandstand, Racetrack Playa

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

Black and white photograph of “the “Grandstand” formation standing in the middle of the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley National Park, California.

The Grandstand is a striking formation located a distance out onto the flat expanse of the Racetrack Playa, the location of the famous “moving rocks” in Death Valley National Park. The formation is located not far from where the road first reaches the playa and it is only a short walk. As I recall, it is just the tip of a large “hill” that is mostly buried beneath the very deep silt that was washed down from the surrounding mountains to form the playa. It has a shape this is vaguely “castle-like,” with several “turrets” that tower above the flat surrounding terrain and invite quite a few visitors to climb to the top. (The Grandstand is located at nearly the opposite end of the playa from the location of the largest concentration of moving rocks.)

I think that the Grandstand makes an interesting photographic subject, even though the thing most people come to see and photograph is the phenomenon of the moving rocks. I often plan to stop there and photograph in mid to late afternoon – when light on the rocks is interesting and photogenic, but before the “good light” begins further south on the playa and it is time to photograph the rocks and their tracks. It can also be a compositional element in photographs of the rocks at the south end of the playa, especially when you shoot with a long lens.

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 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 55mm
ISO 200, f/11, 1/320 second

keywords: death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, nature, scenic, travel, landscape, the, grandstand, hill, rock, boulder, formation, race, track, racetrack, playa, sky, clouds, black and white, monochrome, geology, stock, light

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast, Photographs: Wildlife

Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach

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Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach

Three Pelicans in Flight, Waddell Beach. Pacific Coast, California. December 4, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Three pelicans, blurred by their motion, fly just above the wet sand of a Pacific Ocean beach.

It has been a busy week and it promised to remain busy next week as well, so I decided to make a quick trip over the hill to the Pacific coastline north of Santa Cruz this afternoon with a vague plan to shoot some seascapes and whatever else might come up. The weather today was a type of typical central California winter weather – some tule fog in the morning that cleared to hazy light… perfect for photography in my book! I was hoping for something like this on the coastline, too.

When I arrived I found that it was even more murky along the coast (and colder!) than back home. I finally ended up at the beach where Waddell Creek enters the Pacific and pulled over to stop before turning around and starting back. At just that moment two large groups of pelicans were coming in from the south and landing among sea gulls on the beach. I quickly put the long lens on the camera and very soon the group of birds took off and headed across the shoreline in front of me.

Most often I try to make wildlife photographs as sharp as possible, but at the moment the birds took off that just wasn’t going to be possible. I had a 400mm lens on the camera, the light was very murky, my ISO was still at 100… and the birds were in flight now! So I tracked them as they flew past, blurring the background surf and sand and letting their wings blur as well. In the end, I feel that this blurry shot in which everything seems to be in motion better suits the subject and perhaps conveys the atmosphere of the scene better than sharper photos might. (I later adjusted everything and captured a few more traditionally sharp pelican shots – and in this light they strike me as pretty boring!)

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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keywords: pelican, bird, marine, pelagic, brown, pacific, ocean, sea, coast, shore, shoreline, beach, sand, wave, surf, motion, fast, low, fly, blur, wing, formation, water, reflection, shadow, beak, bill, flight, california, usa, nature, travel, scenic, stock, waddell, big basin, state, park

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

South Tufa, Morning

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South Tufa, Morning

South Tufa, Morning. Mono Lake, California. June 7, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of early morning at South Tufa, Mono Lake, California.

This black and white panorama was photographed on my early June, 2009 visit to the South Tufa area of Mono Lake. Earlier that morning I had photographed the more typical early morning golden light of dawn on the tufa towers from a closer position. This photograph was more or less a last-minute afterthought, as I had completed the photography I had in mind on this morning and had pack up. I was actually leaving the shoreline when I happened to look back at this view that includes many tufa towers and I noticed the two small clouds (remnants of more extensive dawn clouds) centered over the towers.

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

G Dan Mitchell Photography

keywords: south, tufa, towers, mono, lake, water, reflection, black and white, beach, rock, geology, formation, ripple, dawn, day, break, morning, light, cloud, mountains, distant, atmosphere, silhouette, shore, waterline, foam, nature, landscape, scenic, travel, stock, sand, stark, panorama, pano

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Last Light, Tuolumne River

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Last Light, Tuolumne River

Last Light, Tuolumne River. Yosemite National Park, California. July 10, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The last light touches the top of Lembert Dome and the peaks of the Sierra Crest beyond and the light from lenticular clouds is reflected off the surface of the Tuolumne River, Yosemite National Park, California.

If you don’t like sunsets… you may want to check back in a few days – this is the second of what will be a sequence of at least four photographs taken on one amazing evening in Tuolumne Meadows in the Yosemite high country of the Sierra Nevada. I posted one from the series yesterday, so I won’t repeat the entire story, but here is a bit of background information.

There is a particular set of Sierra Nevada weather conditions that I’ve experienced only a few times in its perfect state – but when it happens the sky does absolutely astonishing and magical things. There is at least one photograph in this series that may make you think that I invented the colors in post, but I assure you I did not.

Sometimes in the afternoon a stable wind pattern sets up over the peaks on the Sierra crest. The clouds, in this case the curving lenticular clouds seem to just park over the ridge. If this continues, late in the day the number, height, and size of these clouds can increase dramatically. But, as spectacular as this may be, it isn’t quite enough for the conditions I experience this past week. For this to happen, some broken high clouds should extend to the west of the range – clouds to create color when lit by the last light of the setting sun, but broken so that the light can project east onto the lenticular clouds over the crest.

On this evening I saw all of the pieces falling into place and thought that maybe, just maybe, it might happen. With this in mind I was in Tuolumne Meadow nearly two full hours before the actual sunset. I spent the first twenty or thirty minutes scouting out my location – I needed to know exactly where I would shoot from since I didn’t want to be caught looking for a composition when/if this light arrived. With a composition scoped out I spent perhaps 30-45 minutes wandering around nearby shooting various subjects as the evening wore on. An hour before sunset I was back at “the spot” – covered in mosquito repellant! – and watching and waiting.

I won’t tell the whole story here – but this photo was made at just about the time it became apparent that the “magic light” was not simply possible but actually quite likely.

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

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