Tag Archives: landscape

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

Desert Pinnacles

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Desert PInnacles
Tufa pinnacles in the middle of a vast desert valley.

Desert Pinnacles. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tufa pinnacles in the middle of a vast desert valley.

These lonely tufa tower pinnacles stand alone in the middle of a very large Southern California desert valley. If you passed on the nearby highway and did not know they were there you could easily overlook them — though when you do spot them they make a striking sight.

Beyond their austere and striking visual appeal, they also provide evidence of the remarkable ways that the landscape formed. Despite being in a location which today seems about as arid and unforgiving as you can imagine, they were formed by water. This entire basin was filled with a lake a long time ago, and the towers grew around submerged springs. When the lake disappeared the towers remained.

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: Nature

Tumbleweed Among The Wildflowers

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Tumbleweed Among The Wildflowers
An old tumbleweed settles in among a field of spring wildflowers in the Temblor Mountains.

Tumbleweed Among The Wildflowers. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An old tumbleweed settles in among a field of spring wildflowers in the Temblor Mountains.

One evening I ventured into the foothills of the Temblor Mountains, the range that traces the scar of the San Andreas earthquake fault through a portion of California. There are few places — perhaps no others at all — where the scale of this fault is visible. The range runs in an almost perfectly straight line, separated from the plain to the west, where valleys and streams are clearly offset by the north/south slippage along the fault.

I went there to photograph the intense Spring wildflower bloom that was underway that year. Over a period of a few weeks, hills and valleys that are brown and dry during the rest of the year erupted with new green growth and carpets of wildflowers. During this brief interval, unlike the rest of the year, the dry tumbleweed plant seemed like an interloper.

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.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Travel

Spring On The Plain

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Spring On The Plain
A lone horseback rider heads onto a California plain filled with spring wildflowers and backed by distant snow topped peaks.

Spring On The Plain. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone horseback rider heads onto a California plain filled with spring wildflowers and backed by distant snow topped peaks.

Continuing today with the bittersweet 2020 theme that is a combination of “wish I could be here” and “at least I can take a virtual trip,” here is a photograph from Spring back in 2019, when I was out and about and making photographs in several beautiful areas of California. (In truth, my current situation is much better than that of many other people — I don’t have that much to complain about — so let’s focus on the positive here!)

I had spent part of a couple of days exploring and photographing this area as I passed through on my way to a California desert location. Most of the time was spent making pure nature photographs, but I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a serendipitous moment when a group of horseback riders wandered into the foreground of this grand vista of flower-covered plain and distant snow-capped 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.

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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

Sand and Shadows

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Sand and Shadows
Sand dunes and shadows from early morning sun.

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

Sand dunes and shadows from early morning sun.

Sand dunes are the photographer’s playground, with a seemingly infinite range of shapes and lines and ever-changing light. They can be photographed on any scale, from the largest landscape down to tiny elements like flowers or the tracks of animals. No matter how often you have visited a particular set of dunes — and I’ve been to these scores of times — there is always something new to see.

Because of the relatively early hour of the day, when shadows are everywhere but changing quickly, it is likely that I made this photograph quickly. During the first and last few minutes of the day, the light changes so quickly that one often must work fast and complete a photograph before the light changes and the shadows move.

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.

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.