Tag Archives: landscape

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

Sand, Branches, Shadows

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Sand, Branches, Shadows
Shadows of dried branches on windblown sand dunes

Sand, Branches, Shadows. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Shadows of dried branches on windblown sand dunes.

A small group of photographers ventured into the dunes early on this late-winter morning, starting out from the nearby roadway in pre-dawn darkness. As we walked the sky began to get lighter and before long we could begin to make our our surroundings and our destination in an out-of-the-way area of dunes. Along the way we were surprised — though in retrospect we should not have been — by muddy areas still soaked by recent rains.

The sun still was not up when we arrived at the edge of the dunes. As a group of five photographers we encountered a slight challenge — compared to when we photograph such places alone, we found that we had to consider every step regarding how our tracks would potentially intrude on our partners’ photographs! While dunes are mostly sand, there is quite a lot of life there, too. Early in the morning it is common to find the tracks of lizards, snakes, birds, and even small animals. Here and there plant life can be found, too. These spindly branches mostly looked dead, though a few retained the color of living plants and might soon put out a few post-rain leaves.

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

Dunes, Shadows, Morning

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Dunes, Shadows, Morning
Patterns of morning light and shadows on dunes, Death Valley National Park

Dunes, Shadows, Morning. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns of morning light and shadows on dunes, Death Valley National Park.

I made this photograph early in the morning. A small group of us arrived while it was still dark out, anticipating a walk of perhaps a half hour to get to the area we wanted to visit. Since we wanted to be in position well before dawn, we were set to start walking before there was enough light to see our objective. Someone asked, “Which way do we go?” I looked into the murk, couldn’t really make out the dunes, and guessed, “That way! We’ll correct course when the light arrives.”

In the dunes you find yourself in a veritable photographer’s laboratory of of shapes, juxtapositions, textures, and colors. And it is not static scene either when you are there very early or very late in the day — the light changes quickly. Dusk light lends brings softer light and lens a blue cast to the scene. When the sunlight first arrives there can be stark differences between brightly lit highlights and deeper shadows with cooler tones. Before long the colors began to fade and the scene can become more subtle or even nearly monochromatic. When I made this photograph, warm and color-saturated light was coming across the top of the dunes, but the light in the shadows, still mainly from open sky, was of a cooler blue color.

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

Dunes and Desert Hills, Evening

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Dunes and Desert Hills, Evening
Evening light on dunes and eroded desert hills in Death Valley National Park

Dunes and Desert Hills, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on dunes and eroded desert hills in Death Valley National Park.

This view is probably at least somewhat familiar to most who have visited Death Valley, though some may have overlooked it while paying more attention to a more famous nearby feature. The scene incorporates several elements that are “classic” Death Valley: the low dunes in the foreground, the large expanse of low-angle on the other side of the dunes, and the denuded desert hills and mountains ascending beyond that.

I found myself in the particular location from which I made the photograph as the result of some last-minute scrambling to deal with problematic light. Originally I was planning to photograph in sand dunes in the late-day and evening light. However, when I arrived I found that a large cloud had “turned out the lights” on that scene, and I wasn’t sure if it would move in time. So I tried a different strategy — rather than focus on one small subject I found a place from which I could see the vast expanse of the entire upper valley, and then I waited for various areas to be spotlighted by beams of light breaking through the clouds. A brief moment of light slanted across the low dunes and onto the hills across the valley just before the sun dropped behind mountains to my 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 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 Meet Playa

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Dunes Meet Playa
Desert sand dunes meet the edge of a playa in evening light

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

Desert sand dunes meet the edge of a playa in evening light.

A late-winter or early-spring visit to Death Valley is always on my photographic agenda. This year I visited in early March, shortly after a big atmospheric river weather system had dumped tremendous amounts of rainfall all over Southern California. Years ago I became aware of the seeming irony that the effects of water are nowhere more visible than in Death Valley, and on this visit they were even more obvious. Playas were flooded, roads were washed out and closed, mud flows were everywhere, and the colors of the dunes were intensified by the remaining moisture.

I made this photograph in the evening of my final full day in the park. The light was challenging — late in the afternoon clouds began to arrive, and as the golden hour approached most of the color was drained from the light. I had traveled to this area of dunes hoping to find some interesting light — and a small group of photographer friends — but when I got there it did not look promising. I decided that instead of going directly to specific dune subjects I would find a high place with a wide panorama. From there I could see the entirety of the upper Valley and be ready to use a long lens to take advantage of any good light that might briefly appear, even if it should be at a distance. As dusk came on the sky opened a bit and glowing light from the west softly lit the boundary between playa and dunes.

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.