Tag Archives: landscape

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

Sand Storm and Dunes

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Sand Storm and Dunes
A sand storm darkens the sky above dunes in Death Valley National Park.

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

A sand storm darkens the sky above dunes in Death Valley National Park.

By now I’m perhaps starting to sound a bit like a broken record when I describe the experience of sand storms like this one, but bear with me (at least) one more time. We had arrived here after a couple of hours of chasing the atmospheric conditions produced by this sand storm. At this spot I stood in the shelter of our vehicle, with the strong winds at my back, and photographed straight into the area that was the source of the storm that was filling the terrain with dust all the way up into the Panamint Range.

This was an “awesome” experience in the classic sense of provoking a sense of awe in the face of the power of this event, and it was (as it always is) a reminder of how small we are by comparison. This photograph looks across a section of playa towards sand dunes being whipped by the winds. Clouds of sand and dust were being picked up and carried swiftly across the landscape and into the sky, nearly obliterating the sunlight coming from the other side of the cloud. (As you look at this, imagine the clouds of dust streaming from left to right across the scene.)

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

Receding Dunes

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Receding Dunes
A subjective interpretation of a scene of receding sand dunes.

Receding Dunes. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A subjective interpretation of a scene of receding sand dunes.

Sand dunes are a compelling subject for just about every photographer I know, and almost certainly for every photographer who has visited them. They are a virtual laboratory of forms and textures and the interplay of light and shadow. While their colors can be quite subtle, the daily cycles of light write a continuous cycle of change on them between the morning and evening twilight hours. And they are adaptable to a wide range of interpretations — ostensibly “realistic” views, views that emphasize the naturally occurring (and sometimes not so naturally occurring!) colors, effects of wind, and the freedom of monochromatic interpretations.

One evening we decided to visit the dunes, and we planned to investigate a location I had spotted from a morning shoot — an area where a playa led to the edge of low dunes that built up one after another toward the center of the dunes. By the time we arrived I was becoming concerned that I might not be where I wanted to be during the best evening light, so I high-tailed it across the playa without stopping, heading straight for the area where I made this photograph. What appealed to me about the location was primarily this stair-step arrangement of gradually higher dunes, but also the fact that it was backed by distant back-lit mountains rather than by sky.

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

Dusk Sand Storm

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Dusk Sand Storm
Clouds from a desert sand storm climb into the Amargosa Mountains at dusk

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

Clouds from a desert sand storm climb into the Amargosa Mountains at dusk.

Here is yet one more photograph from that wild early April evening in Death Valley National Park, when a sand storm was brewing in the upper Valley, starting near Stovepipe Wells and then moving northeast across the mountains of the Amargosa Range. Because I had advance warning of the conditions I was watching for this to develop, and I had a rough plan in place to make photographs of the event. That said, you never know exactly how these things will play out. For example, I had not anticipated the amount of “stuff” that would be blown up into the Amargosa Range, nor could I have predicted the potential for a last bit of twilight color.

During the first part of the event we headed up toward the Amargosa Range, taking the Beatty Cutoff toward the road to Daylight Pass. Up there the most impressive factors were the wind (it was howling!) and the general level of dust in the atmosphere. Eventually we worked out way back down into the valley and finally to near the source of the dust and sand near Stovepipe Wells. Often it such conditions I’ll try to stop just outside the worst of it and use a long lens to photograph into the conditions. That was the idea here, though there was a lot of wind and flying sand where I stopped, and I had to hide in the (slight) protection of the leeward side of my vehicle. Overall the scene was initially quite colorless, but at twilight a pink color came to the sky above and beyond 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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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

Desert Hills and Salt Flats, Morning

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Desert Hills and Salt Flats, Morning
Desert hills on a giant alluvial fan dropping to Death Valley salt flats

Desert Hills and Salt Flats, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert hills on a giant alluvial fan dropping to Death Valley salt flats.

Each time I visit Death Valley ‚ and when visiting certain other challenging landscapes, I’m reminded that my memories tend to focus on the most pleasant, easiest, and most beautiful scenes… and that there are a lot of intervening periods when the photography can be quite challenging. I had to remind myself of that on this morning, as it began with extremely unpromising light. The sky was largely overcast, there was some bluish haze in the air, and sunrise came with barely any warming of the color at all. But you (almost) never know whether such light may turn into something more interesting… so you try to stick with it and be ready.

A bit later, around the time when I might typically be starting to think of concluding my early morning photography on an easier day, the clouds began to thin and move into better positions, and areas of light started to play across the landscape. As I often do in such conditions, I remained in a high place with a panoramic view of the immense landscape, putting a long lens on the camera so that I could make photographs of small areas where the light seemed more interesting. The dark hills low in the frame sit on the giant alluvial wash leading down to the salt playa of death valley, where the landscape eventually fades into the distant haze.

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.