Tag Archives: hills

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

Death Valley and Black Mountains, Evening

Image April 10, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early morning and evening are often the times of best light for photography in Death Valley. It isn’t that you cannot photograph throughout the day, especially if you get into the right kinds of canyons. But then the light can be harsh, the atmosphere hazy, and the colors and details washed out. So I usually follow a strange schedule when I go there to photograph — up well before dawn, back in camp by late morning, breakfast at 11:00AM, then off to photograph again in the late afternoon before I come back to camp after dark.

On this afternoon I had made a long drive up into the mountains, with my plan being to return this direction for the evening light. My timing worked out, and I got here just before the best colors appeared, found a good location, and was set up as the shadows stretched across the valley toward the Black Mountains.

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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Agriculture, Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Coastal Gully

Image March 9, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Recently a meme about California seasons has been circulating on social media. The idea is that our weather always tricks us — we see early signs of spring only to be hit with a cold winter-like storm. The end of winter is an odd one in the state. It is still the rainy (and snowy in the mountains) season, but unlike many other states, here it is the green season. This process of turning green accelerates in March, and it looks more like spring than winter.

This striking, zig-zag gully crosses a bit of level land above the Pacific Ocean along the Big Sur coast near Point Sur. In this season, it is a jagged and dark gash in a remarkably green landscape. A close look reveals the history of this spot as pasture-land, evidenced by the fact that it is criss-crossed by fencing.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Hazy Sunset, Florence

Image October 29, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A hazy summer sunset over the Arno River, Florence, Italy.

How about a quick return to Italy for today’s photograph? Perhaps on a warm summer evening, joining hundreds of others ascending the hills to the Piazzale Michelangelo to join the public party and watch the sun set over Florence and the Arno River. That’s what we did during our five days in Florence this summer. Despite our initial skepticism about heading to a touristy spot and seeing the crowd heading the same direction, this was one of the highlights of our visit.

This was not an easy subject to photograph. By the time we got there the most obvious camera positions were taken, besides which we really wanted to wander around a bit and take in the festivities… and purchase something from one of the several food and drink carts. The light was not initially promising, with haze obscuring the view. But as happens so often in such conditions, the haze began to glow as the evening went on, and the moments before and during sunset were filled with luminous light… and the music of nearby buskers.

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Mono Lake, Autumn Haze

Image October 24, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Haze settles over the expanse of Mono Lake on an autumn morning.

On this autumn morning I began photographing at Mono Lake well before dawn. My main idea was to work from a particular spot that has interesting shoreline contours and views towards distant peaks, starting when I could photograph the light of the intensely colorful pre-sunrise sky reflecting on the lake’s surface. I did that, and I stuck around just until the sun cleared those distant mountains — then I moved on to photograph the lake in more “normal” daytime light.

I initially went to this spot hoping to photograph some thin fog that was trying to establish itself along the lake’s shoreline, where cool autumn air flowed over the warmer lake waters. As I considered the scene I became more interested in the silhouettes of the distant island and hills, many miles away, and the textures and patterns formed by morning breezes on the surface of the immense lake.