Tag Archives: History

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

Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley

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Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley
Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley

Petroglyphs, Panamint Range. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Petroglyphs of bighorn sheep in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park.

If you keep your eyes open, think about your surroundings, and know where to look, eventually you will come across the signs of much earlier residents of Death Valley. From my basic knowledge, I understand that there is evidence that a series of native American cultures resided in and around the Valley for at least the past 11,000 years, a period over which the climate changed from one that was originally much wetter to the hotter, drier climate that we know today. Because many of these people apparently had to migrate locally to find food sources at different times of the year it seems that evidence of their presence can be found in a wide variety of locations.

I recall the first time I found an artifact of one of these cultures. It was on my first visit to Death Valley back in the 1990s. At one point I wandered away from a place where I was camped and walked out across a section of a very large gravel wash, where I found a comfortable rock to sit on and enjoy the view. As I sat there I happened to look down and notice an unusual rock. I picked it up and realized that someone had formed it into a shape that could be used for carving or cutting, and I later read that it was a sort of knife. As I held it, surprised by finding any human signs in such a place, I began to wonder about the life of the person who made it and used it – a life I could barely imagine. A few minutes later I returned the object to where I had found it and walked back to camp.

For me, an encounter with rock art such as these petroglyphs provokes a lot of deep thoughts about time and culture and the lives of people who seem about as far removed from my experience as I can imagine. I try to imagine myself in their lives, but know that I fail.

Of course, I won’t say more about where such things are located than what is on this page. If you know where this example is located, let’s keep it a secret, OK?

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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.

Commentary, History, Ideas

No Post Processing? Really?

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As I do from time to time, I’m reposting a response I shared in an online discussion somewhere else on the web. In that discussion, a proposal was made to come up with some sort of enforceable standard regarding what post-processing could be allowed in photographs. (In the context of the original discussion – wildlife photography – the idea wasn’t quite as crazy as it sounds here, but still…) It seems to me that there are always a few notions underlying these ongoing discussions: that the issue is one that comes up with “digital photography,” that there is some ideal photography that is purely and objectively “accurate,” and that we would actually want to do such a thing.

Here is what I wrote:

It seems so obvious that I’m almost embarrassed to point it out, but does anyone actually believe that there is such a thing as an objectively accurate photographic image, free of interpretation? Which acknowledged “great” photographers can you point to whose photographs are purely and objectively accurate? If digital post is a problem, what about camera movements, contraction/expansion of space via focal length, use of artificial light and reflectors, polarizing filters, graduated neutral density filters, choice of film/paper/chemicals based on color or contrast preferences, selective focus via DOF control, allowing motion blur with long shutter speeds, any night photography, and on and on…?

As I wrote somewhere else earlier this week:

If the goal of photography was to make objectively accurate reproductions of real things… I wouldn’t bother.

Have an opinion on this? Feel free to leave a comment…

 

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
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: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Schoolhouse Windows and Sky

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Schoolhouse Windows and Sky

Schoolhouse Windows and Sky. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Schoolhouse windows and sky – Rhyolite, Nevada.

Back in April 2008 my brother and I spent several days photographing in and around Death Valley National Park. (I try to visit DV every April, and I’m hoping to be there again this year.) On this morning we got up early and drove to the historic ghost town of Rhyolite before dawn and spent a few hours photographing the old ruins, starting with pre-dawn light and continuing well into the morning. (When we finished we headed over to nearby Beatty, Nevada to get breakfast and gas, the latter at a much lower price than back in DV.) The old school house is one of the buildings that has withstood the ravages of the desert better than others. Despite losing windows, roof, and much else the building still stands – among the destroyed ruins of many other buildings. This photograph, made very close to actual dawn, looks through the interior of the building by lining up windows on a couple walls, with the nearby hills and high morning clouds seen beyond.

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: ghost town, abandoned, school, rhyolite, mine, mining, nevada, death valley, national, park, structure, wall, window, sky, cloud, blue, light, morning, crack, stucco, wood, weathered, pattern, hill, mountain, ridge, shadow, travel, historic, history, scenic, architecture, frame, sill, stock

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Spring Snow Flurries, Bodie

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Spring Snow Flurries, Bodie
Spring Snow Flurries, Bodie. Bodie, California. May 27, 2006. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of late spring snow flurries in the ghost town of Bodie, California. Bodie is the famous and relatively well-preserved ghost town in the silver mining area of the high desert east of Yosemite National Park. (Posting the series of Rhyolite photographs made me realize that I have some older photographs of Bodie that haven’t been posted here yet.)

keywords: bodie, ghost, town, california, usa, desert, abandoned, buildings, mine, mining, state, park, houses, sheds, windows, walls, hill, cloudy, black and white, porch, landscape, scenic, travel, history, stock