Tag Archives: landscape

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan

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Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan
Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

Morning Light on Creosote, Dunes, and Alluvial Fan. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low-angle early morning light on a clump of blooming creosote, sand dunes, and a huge alluvial fan, Death Valley National Park.

This is the second of two photographs made close together on this morning in the dunes. I made it just moments after the first direct sunlight had arrived here, illuminating the distant fan, the creosote plant, and the curving shapes of the dunes. This light lasts only a moment, and when I saw it coming I stopped here, found this composition, and waited for the show. I like the way that the foreground light aligns with the softly-lit alluvial fan in the distance, and how the implied line of the incoming light likely traces the angle of the bits of dune at the left edge.

It is still amazing to me that such well-developed plants can find a foothold in this terrain — and beyond that manage to thrive on a high point along the dunes. This is not a friendly environment for most plants — it can be tremendously hot, it is quite dry, and when the winds get going these plants are blasted by flying sand. (I’m a bit too familiar with that last issue!)

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Boulder and Cascade

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Boulder and Cascade
“Boulder and Cascade” — A subalpine brook cascades over rocks and past a small boulder.

No landscape photographer I know is quite able to completely resist the lure of photographing moving water cascading over rocks. I can imagine quite a few reasons for this. The miniature landscapes in Sierra creeks like this one hold an infinity of potential compositions. Unlike so much of the landscape, the water is in constant motion, to the point that one almost needs to make many exposures to get it just right. There are interesting technical questions to resolve, including just how much blur is the right amount.

Beyond all of that photographic stuff, these streams are just fun places to spend some time. Many years ago I still took fishing gear into the backcountry. I stopped once I realized that I didn’t need the excuse of fishing in order to justify time spend wandering up and down these creeks, with their attractions of wildflowers, green plants, and the constant sound of moving water.

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

In the Panamints, Morning

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In the Panamints, Morning
Patterns or early morning light and shadow on the ridges of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

In the Panamints, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns or early morning light and shadow on the ridges of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

There do not appear to be any icons whatsoever in this photograph, and you might be hard pressed to identify the scene as being in Death Valley. There are no visible sand dunes, no salt flats, no devils playing golf. But the fact is that terrain like this is characteristic of more of this immense national park, a place full of beautiful and spare desert mountain landscapes.

This scene is high in the Panamint Range, the mountains that run roughly north-south to the west of Death Valley proper and which separate it from the Panamint Valley. This is truly amazing country once you get to know it, a place characterized by plenty of evidence of its mining past, lots of country that is rarely visited today, and incredibly long views across a vast landscape stretching from Nevada to the Sierra.

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

Sea of Dunes

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Sea of Dunes
Sand dune forms extend into teh distance, Death Valley National Park.

Sea of Dunes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sand dune forms extend into the distance, Death Valley National Park.

From just the right vantage points, the terrain of sand dunes can appear to be entirely devoid of living things. (In truth, no landscape is, but the evidence is hard to see here.) And when looking in the ideal directions, the succession of curving shapes can suggest a sort of frozen seascape full of immense waves.

I made this photograph on a spring morning while exploring a favorite area of these dunes, one that isn’t quite as busy with people trying to get to the highest point. This area is mostly a landscape of parallel ridges and valleys that run toward the center of the dunes, so I tend to approach from the edge and work my way toward the center. The main dune in this scene is a remarkable one — it is long and has a face that is marked by an unusual rippled pattern.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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