Tag Archives: haze

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

Dust Storm, Desert Mountains

May 24, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A spring dust storm obscures the Panamint Mountains, Death Valley

This was a remarkable day in Death Valley, from dawn until dusk, though it was not entirely an easy day to be there. We began very early on a ridge high in the Panamint Mountains, where we went to photograph sunrise. This was not the iconic brilliantly colorful sunrise that one might hope for, but it was more remarkable in many ways. There was a milky translucence in the atmosphere produced by some combination of light and dust, the latter being the precursor to a huge dust storm that would envelop the area later in the day. Later in the morning we explored other remote areas of Panamints before eventually deciding that we would start back down into Death Valley, where we were staying.

While still high in the mountains we began to notice the telltale signs that dust storms were imminent. Brown streamers of dust began to appear high above us, unusual for this high in the mountains, and though we could not see the Valley we began to recognize what was happening. As we descended the dust thickened, and by the time we joined up with the main road into the Valley the dust was thick, obscuring even nearby mountains such as those in this photograph. We continued on, and before long the wind was howling and dust was everywhere. I’ve been in dust storms before, but I was surprised when for a brief moment the dust turned to sand and then tiny pebbles began to fall from the sky! We got back to our room and closed up doors and windows — but dust still streamed into the room through any slight crack. Hours later the wind abated and we went outside. There were still clouds of blowing dust, but we could see some breaks… and rain clouds moving in! Before long showers were passing through the dust storm, creating one of the most apocalyptic landscapes I’ve ever seen.

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

Before The Dust Storm

May 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Just after dawn, the precursors of a day of Death Valley dust storms

I’ve been through a number of desert dust storms in and around Death Valley National Park — ranging from minor “dust blowing through the campsite” events to “damaging to my vehicle” events. (The latter was some years back as I left the park and headed out to highway 395 and, as I later found out, drove through record-breaking wind and driving dust and sand, to the permanent distress of my windshield.) It is fair to say that my feelings about such conditions are mixed. Frankly, they are very unpleasant — the dust gets into everything, from clothes to eyes to camera gear, and it is almost impossible to do much of anything if you are inside a really bad storm. In fact, near the end of the day on which I made this photograph we simply had to hunker down indoors for several hours and wait for it to stop. But there can be a kind of terrible beauty in these events as well, and if you are cautious you can photograph them.

I recall a day many years ago when I started to make sense of the antecedent conditions that lead to such storms. It was the final day of a Death Valley visit and I was down along the southeast part of the main valley, when I noticed a kind of fuzzy glow in the atmosphere. I made a few photographs and headed north to leave the park, and within an hour or so I was engulfed in a huge cloud of dust. On the day I made this photograph we went to a high overlook along the top of a mountain range to photograph dawn light. This time I recognized that strange, milky atmosphere, seen along and above the Black Mountains in the distance in the photograph. The morning was, indeed, quite beautiful. But it was only hours later that we began to see dust above us — even though we were thousands of feet up in the mountains — as a giant storm developed, and by the time we returned to the bottom of Death Valley in the mid-afternoon one of the biggest dust storms I have seen enveloped the area.

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

Desert Mountains, Evening Light And Haze

April 25, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Soft light and haze in the evening high in the Panamint Mountain Range, Death Valley National Park

From a high point along the ridge of the Panamint Mountains, there are stupendous views in all directions — north and south along the spine of the range, east into Death Valley and on to Black Mountains and beyond, west across the lower Panamint hills as they drop toward the Panamint Valley only to rise again and eventually culminate in the Sierra Nevada crest. Early and late in the day the low angle light sweeps across the terrain and reveals large and small features of the landscape.

On this evening it was quite hazy, probably because high winds had whipped up sandstorms in lower elevation areas. This dust filled atmosphere can seem to glow from within when back-lit, and as I pointed my camera down toward these western slopes I began to see that luminescence. In a way there is nothing special in this photograph — a nearby ridge, and intervening valley, and more ridges in the distance. But the further ridge is still in the warm-colored, evening light, whose color contrasts with the cooler blue tones of the shadowed ridges.

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

West From The Panamints

April 23, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early evening view looking west from ridge of the Panamint range, Death Valley National Park

I made this photograph on the evening of my arrival in Death Valley. The drive is always a long one, taking most of the day when I come straight from the San Francisco Bay Area. This time I had started in the Carrizo Plains National Monument, where I had stopped overnight to join friends for some photography of this year’s extraordinary wildflower bloom. That meant that even though I had a slightly shorter drive I got a later start — I wasn’t about the leave the Carrizo without making some morning photographs, and then I explored a slower route through the Temblor Range on my way out to the Great Central Valley before continuing on to Death Valley.

My Death Valley plans were not set in stone, so when I arrived in the park I wasn’t quite sure where I would go the first night. I had some thoughts of heading out to a remote canyon area to camp, but given the late arrival I started to consider simply camping at Stovepipe Wells. When I got there and it looked like the wind might kick up a dust storm I changed my mind again and headed up into the Panamint Mountains. (Anyone who has endured a Stovepipe Wells dust storm will sympathize!) In any case, I set up a camp in the mountains and then headed out to this remote ridge top location, a place from which I have often photographed in the early morning. The haze was a bit thick looking to the east, but what a view there was to the west! In that direction the same haze glowed in the backlight of the evening sun with ridges receding into the distance and culminating at the crest of the Sierra Nevada.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: haze

Before The Dust Storm

Desert Mountains, Evening Light And Haze

West From The Panamints

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.