“Stick in the Mud” — Dead branches on a bed of dried and fractured mud, Death Valley.
As always, cracked desert mud turns out to be an irresistible subject. I photographed this little patch in the northern portion of Death Valley. We arrived as broken clouds were developing, and that gave us varied light as shadows moved across the landscape. I made this photograph in the “in between” light — not full sun, but strong enough to be directional. The mud patterns are interrupted by the pieces of old wood, but that’s not all to notice in this little scene. Look closely and you’ll see a variety of spring plants beginning to grow in this seemingly-barren terrain.
“Autumn Cottonwood Tree” — A small cottonwood tree with autumn foliage next to a sandstone cliff, Capitol Reef National Park.
Although it has been more than a decade since I made this photograph (yes, another “lost and found” photo), I have distinct memories of the circumstances surrounding it. That fall I spent a few weeks exploring the Southern Utah landscape, from the backcountry of Grand Staircase-Escalante to several national parks. Sometimes I photographed alone, but along the way I met up with various friends, relatives, and photographers.
A photographer friend and I camped for several days at Capitol Reef National Park. We explored areas near the campground. (Yes, we tried the pie…) But one day we took a longer trip into the park’s backcountry. At the end of the day we returned to the campground, and just before we arrived we stopped to photograph these autumn trees against a red rock wall.
Our late-February visit to Death Valley mostly focused on two subjects — Lake Manly and the wildflower bloom. At first I thought we might forego visiting the dunes at all on this trip, but on our last morning we decided to make an early-morning stop before we headed out of the park.
We arrived quite early — too early, actually. It was still dark when we got there, so we took our time getting our gear together before walking out into a quiet section of the dunes. The ight conditions were not promising, as the sky was rather overcast. While that wasn’t great for photographing the dunes themselves, the soft light was good for photographing small plants and other intimate subjects, like this brown-eyed evening primrose plant.
“Morning Fog, Autumn Forest” — Morning fog darkens a dense autumn forest.
Sometimes there are photographs in (almost) your own backyard. As much as anyone else, I enjoy traveling to beautiful places to make photographs. But I can’t go to such places all the time, so it is fortunate that there are plenty of interesting things to see close by. In my area that might include the redwoods or the Pacific Ocean… or just a nearby rural area at the right time of year.
I made this photograph along a road that is far from famous. (Perhaps the only people who would know about it are those who pass by on their way to a nearby local park with hiking trails). But around here, in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are lots of little spots where trees grow thickly and where fall colors continue right on into December.
Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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