Tag Archives: haze

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

Desert Hills and Salt Flats, Morning

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Desert Hills and Salt Flats, Morning
Desert hills on a giant alluvial fan dropping to Death Valley salt flats

Desert Hills and Salt Flats, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert hills on a giant alluvial fan dropping to Death Valley salt flats.

Each time I visit Death Valley ‚ and when visiting certain other challenging landscapes, I’m reminded that my memories tend to focus on the most pleasant, easiest, and most beautiful scenes… and that there are a lot of intervening periods when the photography can be quite challenging. I had to remind myself of that on this morning, as it began with extremely unpromising light. The sky was largely overcast, there was some bluish haze in the air, and sunrise came with barely any warming of the color at all. But you (almost) never know whether such light may turn into something more interesting… so you try to stick with it and be ready.

A bit later, around the time when I might typically be starting to think of concluding my early morning photography on an easier day, the clouds began to thin and move into better positions, and areas of light started to play across the landscape. As I often do in such conditions, I remained in a high place with a panoramic view of the immense landscape, putting a long lens on the camera so that I could make photographs of small areas where the light seemed more interesting. The dark hills low in the frame sit on the giant alluvial wash leading down to the salt playa of death valley, where the landscape eventually fades into the distant haze.

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.

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

Desert Sand Storm, Mountains

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Desert Sand Storm, Mountains
A sand storm builds above Death Valley and the Amargosa Mountains

Desert Sand Storm, Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sand storm builds above Death Valley and the Amargosa Mountains.

Remarkable weather conditions frequently arise in the desert landscape, including those unfamiliar with these places might not expect, along with others that are perfectly obvious. In the “obvious” category are things like intense heat and strong winds that can produce dust and sand storms. The nearly opaque lower atmosphere in this photograph is due to precisely that — extreme winds were lifting sand and dust from the playa and dunes and sending them northeastward over the Amargosa Mountains. However, above the blowing sand are rain clouds that were dropping light showers around the area late in the day.

These are not easy conditions in which to make photographs, but the visual rewards often make it worth the attempt. I made this photograph from the just outside the limits of the blowing dust and sand clouds, though even here there was dust in the air and the wind was so strong that it was virtually impossible to complete stabilize my camera. After photographing here we continued on into the dust and wind, first going up into those distant mountains and finally heading down to the dunes that were the source of the cloud. There the conditions were both impressive and miserable as the day ended.

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.

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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.

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

Dunes At Dawn

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Dunes At Dawn
Dawn light and shadow patterns on sand dunes, Death Valley

Dunes At Dawn. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light and shadow patterns on sand dunes, Death Valley.

Other recent photographic posts here have mentioned the astonishing transition of desert light between the pre-dawn twilight and the post-dawn light of daytime, and especially the rapid changes that occur right around sunrise itself. I made this photograph during the first moments after the direct sun had made its way onto the dunes after rising above a mountain range far to the east. At this point the light is still warm, but significantly less so that during that first instant of direct light, and the shadows still are deeply blue from the color of early morning sky.

The small stand of foreground creosote is emblematic of one of the astonishing things about sand dunes, namely that there is so much living stuff in a place that first appears to be completely inhospitable to life. It is a challenging environment, and plants are few and far between, but they do manage to survive. In the springtime the permanent plants such as the creosote bushes are briefly embellished by the appearance of seasonal flowers, at least during years with sufficient rain.

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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast

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Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast
Cloudy, hazy atmosphere with dissipating fog and light ahead of an incoming Pacific storm along the Big Sur coast

Winter Clouds and Light, Big Sur Coast. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloudy, hazy atmosphere with dissipating fog and light ahead of an incoming Pacific storm along the Big Sur coast.

Every time I visit the Big Sur coastline, to be honest, I think that I’m going to discover that there isn’t much new to see. After all, I’ve been visiting for literally decades, since I was a child and my parents took us there on family trips. Yet every single time I find something I haven’t seen before — a new overlook, a different condition of atmosphere and light, a side road I hadn’t noticed, a cliff-side home where I had not see one, some new color in the water.

I’m pretty sure that I’ve stopped and photographed in this spot or close to it before, but this light was different from anything I recall. It was an unusual combination of conditions. In the far distance the clouds of an incoming weather system darkened the southern sky. (Typically, it remains light in that direction longer as fronts approach.) There was a bit of fog under an inversion layer… which I wouldn’t usually expect to see as an arriving front increases the onshore winds. Despite the darker clouds, a bit closer to me there was filtered sunlight reflecting off the water. And the entire scene was softened by a slightly opaque atmosphere.

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.