Tag Archives: landscape

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

Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains

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Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains
Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains

Dawn Light, Base of the Cottonwood Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn light on the based of the Cottonwood Mountains at the edge of Death Valley.

This is (yet another) one of those photographs that is the result of some odd combination of “planning” and serendipity. When I travel somewhere to do photography I often, though not always, have some ideas about certain types of subjects I would like to photograph or about ways I’d like to photograph them. On this visit to Death Valley I had a few such ideas in mind – one of them had to do with scenes that filled the frame with the rugged and forbidding and seemingly lifeless mountains and valleys and ridges of the place. Another had to do with photographing in the early light along the west side of the Valley, something I thought about but didn’t really try on my previous visit. This photograph and a few others like grew out of those ideas.

On the other hand, I wouldn’t have been in this spot at this moment if I had not had an electrical problem with my car! The night before I had returned to the campground from a bit of late shooting, parked the car, and went about my “camp business” before crawling into the tent and setting my alarm for an appropriate pre-dawn hour so that I could arrive at a particular location before the sun came up. The alarm went off at the appointed time, and a few minutes later I emerged from my tent and got into my car. It wouldn’t start. I soon realized that the car was electrically “dead” – no interior lights, etc. Since it was still completely dark, the idea of doing auto repair outside the tents and RVs of lots of other sleeping campers was out of the question, so I went back into my tent and speculated uncomfortably about the potential costs of towing and automobile repair in Death Valley.

Later, as the sky began to lighten, I heard other campers stirring. I got up – again – and opened the engine compartment to find that one of the battery cables had come off, perhaps as I drove a rather rough road the previous day! Relieved to find that this was something that I could fix, I reattached the cable, quickly got in the car, and figured I would see what I could salvage of the morning shoot. I headed west across the Valley toward Towne Pass, thinking about photographing some snow that was high on the ridge. As I drove I saw that the first light had still not quite reached the Valley floor along the base of the Cottonwood Range. I quickly found a slight rise along the road where the view wasn’t obstructed by desert plants, pulled over, put on the long lens, and made a few photographs as this beautiful light worked its way down the face of the range and began to work its way out across the giant wash along the edge of the Valley.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Red Rock Gully

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Red Rock Gully
Red Rock Gully

Red Rock Gully. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A red rock gully and wash in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park.

I have driven past this area along the road from Death Valley up to Wildrose Canyon quite a few times, and as I do I always am impressed by the many convoluted little canyons and odd and interesting rock formations. Most often I have been on my way to some other place or the light wasn’t quite right, but I always take a look and make a mental list of little spots to keep an eye on. This particular little canyon is one you might not even notice unless you were looking carefully as you passed it. It is in a narrow section of the lower canyon where it is one of many such little landscapes. On this morning I was coming back down from shooting up higher in the Panamints and I was watching carefully as I drove, frequently pulling over to stop and check things out more carefully. At first I almost drove past this spot, but it looked like the light might be interesting this time so I quickly stopped and backed up and made a series of photographs including this one.

The question of how to frame this scene was an interesting one. As is often the case I cover more than one base and shoot the subject in several ways. Initially I worked with a vertical orientation that includes a bit more of the rough terrain a bit higher in the canyon. That image may still see the light of day! But as I shot the scene I also realized that I could use a horizontal orientation too, more tightly frame the entrance to the small canyon, and give up some of the upper canyon formations.

With many subjects I would prefer softer light, and I would probably try to shoot much earlier in the day or come back in the evening. But this canyon, I think, works well in the light of a bit later in the morning when the sun has topped the ridge and direct light hits the top of the rocks and reflects into the recesses a bit more.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California, Photographs: White Mountains

From the Panamints to the Sierra, Evening

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From the Panamints to the Sierra, Evening
From the Panamints to the Sierra, Evening

From the Panamints to the Sierra, Evening. Death Valley National Park, California. March 30, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The Sierra Nevada in evening light as seen from Aguereberry Point in Death Valley National Park’s Panamint Range.

I made this photograph from Aguereberry Point shortly before sunset. Aguereberry Point is a lonely prominence over 6000′ above Death Valley, high in the Panamint Mountain range, a place of astonishing panoramic views – and often some significant winds. As I drove the gravel road to the point late in the afternoon I saw three or four other vehicles heading the other direction, but when I arrived at the point a bit more than an hour before sunset no one else was there.

Having photographed here a few times previously, I am becoming more familiar with the challenges and the opportunities of shooting here. One of the challenges – as is the case in many spots in Death Valley – is that certain subjects seem to be “photographable” at very specific times and only for short intervals. One of the most interesting views from Aguereberry is southeast down into Trail Canyon and on to the lower slopes of Wildrose Peak beyond. This is wild, rugged, austere terrain. However, because it lies on the east side of this range the light changes quickly from a washed out blast of daytime sun to sudden deep shadows as the sun drops behind the higher ridges of the Panamints. (Trail Canyon is not seen in this photograph.)

Another challenge is that, impressive and overwhelming as the scale of this grand scene is, it can be difficult to pull interesting compositions out of it. I tend to work with longer lenses here, both to isolate smaller areas out of the huge landscape and to compress distance. In this photograph, the silhouetted crest of the highest part of the Sierra Nevada range is on the horizon, with the intervening ridges of the Panamint Range and others probably including the Inyo Mountains and the ridge just west of Panamint Valley.

And, since I tend towards those large and long lenses… wind is an issue! And on top of Aguereberry Point there is nothing to stop the often strong winds of Death Valley. On this evening the winds were howling, so I found a spot below some rocks where it was a bit less windy and then spent a lot time waiting for momentary lulls in the wind when I could make photographs.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light

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Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light
Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light

Zabriskie Point Gully, Morning Light. Death Valley National Park, California. February 20, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun back-lights the dense pattern of folds in a small gully at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

In some ways I think this is one of the more subtle and complex of the various photographs I have made that isolate small sections of the Zabriskie Point landscape, especially the eroded patterns of the small gullies below the main viewing area. This photograph, like many in this series, was made after the normal “dawn light” time period, and at this time the sun is higher in the sky. It begins to back-light the tops of the furrows and gullies and the brighter light reflects down into the lower portions of the gully. There are a tremendous number of overlapping ridges and the color variations are quite large, though subtle at the same time. Some areas have a very blue cast, being in shadow and lit almost completely by the open blue sky. Others take on warmer tones, especially if they are illuminated by light reflected from the warm-tones earth. An area of thin clouds was floating above the scene and its shadow slightly softened and muted the light that otherwise might have been quite stark.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.