Tag Archives: landscape

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

Clouds, Sand Storm, Desert Mountains

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Clouds, Sand Storm, Desert Mountains
Clouds from a weather front above sand storm in dessert mountains

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

Clouds from a weather front above sand storm in dessert mountains.

At times during our early-April visit to Death Valley National Park we had some remarkable atmospheric conditions to work with. That was certainly the case on this evening, when we had a combination of low-angle sunlight (which became quite colorful right at sunset), a building sand storm that was filling the air above the Amargosa Range with thick dust, and a passing weather front that darkened the sky and dropped some light rain.

In this interpretation of the scene I chose to go with a black and white rendition. One reason is that, in some ways, monochrome interpretations actually allow more subjective flexibility with the scene. I think that black and white allows us to comfortably step a bit further away from the objective reality of the scene, since we start with something that is, by its monochromatic nature, emphatically not what we see in the real world. In this photograph I wanted to emphasize the powerful and monumental quality of the storm clouds above the masses of dust and sand covering the 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 and Amazon.

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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

Sand Storm, Virga, And Mountains

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Sand Storm, Virga, And Mountains
Sand storm and evening virga over Death Valley mountains

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

Sand storm and evening virga over Death Valley mountains.

Here is( yet another) photograph from an astounding early-April afternoon and evening of wind and sand storms, a passing weather front, desert landscape, and transforming light. We were south of this location in the middle of the day and had heard a forecast for high winds and blowing sand. Sure enough, the wind began to rise, and when I looked far to the north I could see the dust rising. We quickly headed that way.

There was a somewhat unusual conjunction of conditions. (I write “somewhat” because I have been lucky enough to experience it once before.) The high winds were whipping up sand and dust and sending it high into the air and far up into desert mountains to the northeast. At the same time the remnants of a passing weather front were building clouds above the dust and sand, and virga was falling from some of the clouds. Just before sunset I began to photograph this scene, and I kept photographing as the colors and light transitioned to sunset and then dusk.

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

Dunes, Sand Storm

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Dunes, Sand Storm
A sand storm sweeps across layered dunes

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

A sand storm sweeps across layered dunes.

Here I decided to offer a somewhat more subjective view of a sand dunes scene, photographed late in the day during a period of high winds and a sand storm. If you see this as a calm scene… imaging gale winds blowing across from left to right, carrying large volumes of airborne sand, and the distant views obscured by these clouds filling the atmosphere. It was a wild scene, and I was only able to photograph it for a short period of time.

I have long been intrigued by the question of what is “real” in photographs. Not only is the presentation of an objectively accurate rendering of the subject rarely the highest goal of a photograph, but it is virtually impossible for a photograph to do so. (I like to say, “All photographs lie.”) Some look to classic photography to support their belief that photographs must aspire to “realism”. However, if any mode of photography is amenable to subjective license, it is black and white photography! The ability to produce an expressively subjective image in black and white may be unsurpassed. In this photograph I “went there,” with an interpretation that aspires not to reproduce objective reality but one that hopes to evoke subjective truth.

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

Creosote Bushes, Dunes

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Creosote Bushes, Dunes
Creosote plants and soft, blue-tinted pre-sunrise light on Death Valley sand dunes.

Creosote Bushes, Dunes. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Creosote plants and soft, blue-tinted pre-sunrise light on Death Valley sand dunes.

No, I’m still not done with the Death Valley photographs! This shouldn’t be a surprise — I was there twice so far this year. Both trips were made primarily for the purpose of photography, and I had a total of about eight days to do this work. I made this photograph on the second visit, during the first week of April when the seasonal change takes off, the weather begins to noticeably warm, and when the plants tend to come back to life.

We were out in the dunes reasonably early on this morning, and I made this photograph before the sun had yet risen, in that quiet and still time before dawn when the light is soft and still has a bluish cast. Shortly after we entered this area of the dunes I climbed to a ridge of sand overlooking a large area and set up. Most of the photographs I made here on this morning came from essentially this one spot — I probably didn’t move more than 25 feet from the initial spot as I looked to refine compositions. I loved the foreground line of creosote plants. Most of them seemed to be dead or dormant, though the plant at the left was turning green and sending out new flowers.

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.