Tag Archives: gravel

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Sunrise Light, Twenty Mule Team Canyon

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Sunrise Light, Twenty Mule Team Canyon

Sunrise Light, Twenty Mule Team Canyon. Death Valley National Park, California. April 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of eroded formations at dawn in Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California.

This photograph is pretty much all about the light – though the interesting and varied patterns of the wildly eroded hills in Twenty Mule Team Canyon also help.

Twenty Mule Team Canyon is just a short distance up the road from the famous and iconic Zabriskie Point (a downright iconic photograph of which I recently posted here). But while the throngs gather at Zabriskie every morning before and at dawn – with good reason – almost no one is to be found here during this time of beautiful light, even though it is in some ways almost as amazing as Zabriskie. I made this photograph at that magic moment when the sun was just coming over a nearby ridge and we see full sun on the formations at the upper right but somewhat subdued light closer in the foreground.

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.

keywords: twenty, mule, team, canyon, death valley, national park, california, usa, sunrise, dawn, light, erosion, folds, gully, ridge, hill, geology, colors, rock, dirt, gravel, pattern, shadow, landscape, detail, scenic, travel, stock, abstract

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Morning

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Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Morning

Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Morning. Death Valley National Park, California. April 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A gravel road winds through the curved hills of Twenty Mule Team Canyon in early morning light, Death Valley National Park, California.

I had never visited Twenty Mule Team Canyon (located just up the road from Zabriskie Point) before this trip, but thanks to Edie Howe’s recommendation I spent an early morning shooting there on this trip. Except for the lack of a single dominant feature like Manley Point, in some ways this little loop has as much or more to offer than Zabriskie Point. Many of the same curved and twisted landscape features are found here, and there is even a wonderful early morning view down across low hills and peaks into the heart of Death Valley itself. In this photograph the early morning light is hitting what is, to be honest, a mud hill near a curve in the gravel road that passes through the canyon.

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.

keywords: road, dirt, gravel, turn, curve, berm, bank, 20, twenty, mule, team, canyon, death valley, national park, california, usa, hill, mud, wash, morning, light, golden, fold, scenic, travel, stock, nature, landscape, geology

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

Desert Sunflower

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Desert Sunflower

Desert Sunflower. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Blossoms of the Desert Sunflower (Geraea canescens) on a gravel fan in Death Valley National Park, California.

This is the first photograph I posted from my 2009 spring trip to Death Valley (March 32-April 3), from which I returned only yesterday. I’ll post more on the trip itself in the text accompanying additional photographs as I post them. I made this photograph on my last evening in the park. My basic daily plan in Death Valley is usually some variation on the following: shoot a location or two in the morning, “hang out” during the hot and harshly-lit midday period, and then shoot a couple more locations in the late afternoon and evening. On this afternoon I decided to first look for some of the colorful flowers that grow along the washes this time of year, and then to head over to Mesquite Dunes (aka “Death Valley Dunes” or “The Dunes”) to shoot at the very end of the day.

I drove to a point perhaps halfway between Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek where these flowers grow in profusion alongside the road when the timing and conditions are just right. Finding the flowers is almost embarrassingly easy – they grow right next to the road! Shooting them can prove to be a bit more difficult, especially in the typical Death Valley afternoon winds. While the late afternoon light was beautiful, the flowers were blowing so much in the wind that shooting them was almost impossible. I finally figured out that one key was in locating flowers with shorter, stronger stems that seemed to move less. Another key is using an appropriately fast shutter speed, which fortunately goes right along with using a large aperture for narrow DOF. Finally, once I found a flower or group of flowers, set up the composition, and focused (Live View rocks for flower photography!) it was a matter of patiently waiting for slight lulls in the wind and making several exposures as insurance against the inevitable motion blur from wind whipped plants.

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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: Central California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Weston Beach, Winter

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Weston Beach, Winter

Weston Beach, Winter. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. January 25, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Weston Beach in the wake of a passing Pacific storm, Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

After photographing shore birds for a couple of hours I started back toward the park exit, but when I saw these post-storm clouds on the horizon beyond high-tide-filled Weston Beach I had to stop and make another round of photographs.

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.

keywords: weston, beach, cove, point lobos, state reserve, park, california, usa, monterey, peninsula, big sur, carmel, pacific, ocean, coast, shore, shoreline, passing, storm, clouds, winter, weather, birds, gulls, wave, surf, rock, boulder, sand, gravel, landscape, seascape, stock