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

Sunset Sand

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Sunset Sand
Sunset light, shadows, and sand dune textures, Death Valley National Park.

Sunset Sand. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light, shadows, and sand dune textures, Death Valley National Park.

In the evening I found myself in an isolated place. In fact, as near as I could tell, there was no one else in these dunes at all, despite a few parties being camped not far from my location. Taking stock of the orientation of the dunes and the surrounding topography, I decided that I wanted to be at the edge of the dunes about an hour before shadows from a tall ridge to me west would arrive there. I picked out a likely-looking destination in the distant dunes, waited in my “camp” for the right moment, and then headed that way.

The complex interplay between the warm-toned light angling low through the atmosphere, the hills that would inevitably cut off that light a bit before actual sunset, and the shapes, colors, and textures of the dunes plays out rather quickly. Sometimes the ideal light may last only minutes, though this can be extended a bit by looking for higher and lower spots to photograph and by paying attention to where the light will last a bit longer as it streams through low spots in the ridge. I thought that I was probably done for the evening until I looked toward this bit of dune texture, where the last bit of light was shining through one of those gaps in the mountains to the west.

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.

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

Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light

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Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light
Creosote plant in eveing light as wind-blown sand softens the contours of receding dunes.

Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Creosote plant in eveing light as wind-blown sand softens the contours of receding dunes.

This is (yet another!) photograph that demonstrates the conjunction of a range of things: planning, good luck, responding quickly to conditions, and more. Regarding the planning, I had made a long drive to a place a mile or so from this spot, where I set up a primitive camp and waited for the late-day light. A lot of good luck was involved — this was my first time at this location, so I had to make some guesses about where to be when the evening light arrived… and the guesses turned out pretty well.

As to conditions, several things were happening here. First, it was extremely windy, so I made some decisions about camera setup to deal with that. I made the exposure during a short interval of less wind. Second, there was only a brief interval when the light acquired the warm, evening color, and then the shadows from a low mountain range to the west “turned out the lights.” If you look closely you can already see some shadows starting to creep into the edges of the frame.

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.

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

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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 and Hills, Evening

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Dunes and Hills, Evening
Evening light on rocky desert hills and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Dunes and Hills, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on rocky desert hills and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

You may see a few photographs of this ridge and its low peaks over the next week or two. It was not my main reason for going to this location, nor was it my target when I set out on foot to photograph nearby. But as soon as I started walking I found myself intrigued by its form, the large valley beyond it, and the combination of rocky formations and a thin distribution of blown sand. I ended up photographing it on successive days on my way to and from another subject.

The ridge illustrates an important general fact about much of the Death Valley National Park geography, namely that there are a whole lot of ridges and valleys that trend roughly in a north-south direction. (Technically, the line tens to run sort of northwest to southeast.) It turns out that this is really important to photographers, since much of the early morning and early evening light either strikes features directly or else leaves them in shadow. If you are keeping track of my photographs of this feature, you’ll see a clear example of this. In a previously posted photograph made at one end of the day, the ridge is almost entirely in shadow, with just a bit of rim light near the top, and only the distant mountains are in the sun. Here the table are turned, and the ridge is fully illuminated while the distant mountains are in soft, shadow light.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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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

Creosote, Shadowed Dunes

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Creosote, Shadowed Dunes
Creosote plant in sunlight, backed by shadowed sand dunes.

Creosote, Shadowed Dunes. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Creosote plant in sunlight, backed by shadowed sand dunes.

Sand dune landscapes provide all sorts of surprises. After seeing many photographs of impressive blowing sand and dust storms, you might think that is the norm — but most of the time the dunes are quiet and still. In the daytime there often doesn’t seem to be a lot going on in a visual sense. But go there at the earliest and latest moments of the day, and the light changes so quickly that it is almost impossible to keep up. Here there was only a brief moment when the soft light fell on the dune and the creosote plant and left the further dunes in soft, cool-toned light.

It is common to think of landscape photography as a slow and deliberate process. In fact, at times and with certain subjects it can be, and the photographer may have a lot of time to look and contemplate. But in this edge-of-day light things happen so quickly that photography can become a kind of action sport. The light does something “over there” for a brief moment, but when I look up something new is happening elsewhere. I turn my attention, quickly make a photograph or two, and right away some new combination of form and light emerges. And this whole dynamic show itself only lasts for a short time between midday bright (and often harsh) light and darkness.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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