Tag Archives: light

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

Desert Mountains, Stormy Sunrise

April 23, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Sun rises through the clouds of a developing storm over the Amargosa Range, Death Valley National Park

We arrived very early at this high overlook in Death Valley National Park’s Panamint Range, hoping to photograph a desert mountain sunrise. When conditions are good at this location, there is an almost 360 degree panorama of rugged and desolate mountain terrain, punctuated by deep valleys, especially the chasm of Death Valley itself which lies immediately below. Because the spot is so high, even further views abound—far out into Nevada to the east, and back to the crest of the Southern Sierra to the west.

But little of that happened on this morning. We arrived before dawn and I could tell that a cloud deck was coming over the Panamint crest behind us and extending out to the east over Death Valley. There was a gap in the clouds to the east, but it was a narrow one, and more clouds were beginning to build over the ridges in that direction. On a perfect morning here, beams of sunrise light play over the tops of the peaks and shine into valleys near and far. But on this morning things were rapidly tending toward gray. However, for a few moments there was a bit of brilliant color just over those eastward ridges, where the clouds had not yet closed down on their summits, and by using a very long lens I was able to isolate this scene just as the sun came up, backlighting the virga falling from the clouds above the silhouetted forms of the ridges.

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

Desert Wash, Evening Light

April 10, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Soft evening light shines on alluvial fan and a desert wash below Artist Palette, Death Valley National Park

Late on this April Fools Day, Death Valley played a bit of a trick on us. Earlier we had made a big trek through a back-country area, spending most of the day driving gravel roads and making photographs. Finishing this adventure we returned to our lodgings, took a brief break, downloaded some files from cameras, and started thinking about where to go for the evening. I find it very difficult to plan too far in advance in Death Valley, especially during the times of year when I typically visit. So much depends on the particular conditions of weather and light. An incoming dust storm suggests certain locations and certain ways of shooting, clouds suggest different approaches, and clear skies yet others. On this afternoon we had mostly clear skies, but with some clouds over ridges, notably above the high peaks of the Panamint Range.

Taking it all into consideration, it seemed to me like it might be a good evening to head south in the main valley and look for evening light on flats and hills. We drove a bit south and stopped to make a few photographs, and as I got out of the car I commented on how still the air was. As soon as these words left my lips a breeze began to stir, and by the time we finished and got back into the car the wind was becoming a bit more noticeable. As we headed south the wind continued to rise, and the shadow of the clouds above the Panamints began to stretch across the valley toward the eastern hills. As we continued south I stopped a couple of times for views that I caught out of the corner of my eye, and each time the wind was stronger, soon rising to the level where it was becoming difficult to photograph. I thought we might just outpace the oncoming cloud shadow and catch a bit of evening light along the base of the mountains along Artists Drive, so we headed up there. We stopped at a rise overlooking rugged terrain and stepped out… into what now felt like a full gale. But there was golden light glancing across the gravel wash, so we made a few photographs before getting back into the car to head toward Artist Palette. (Believe it or not, I have never photographed that feature before, and I really needed something for the archive.) But before we could get there the cloud shadow stretched to our position and the golden light was gone. I looked up at the clouds above the crest of the Panamints and saw a hole in the clouds below the band that was blocking the light and guessed that we might just maybe get one last beam of light, and with that in mind we high-tailed it to Artist Palette. Just as we got out of the car and set up cameras and tripods, that light did arrive in particularly impressive fashion, and we had about 1/12 of a golden hour before it was gone. I worked quickly, getting a few shots of the main feature but then focusing on other nearby hills and washes, including this one stretching below our location and toward the main valley.

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

Badlands, Morning

April 8, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning light on rugged badlands, Death Valley National Park

This was a different sort of Death Valley visit than usual. My typical visit takes a pretty uncivilized approach. I always camp, sometimes in the back of my vehicle so that I can be in the right places quickly. I virtually always work completely alone, aside from occasionally running into another photographer or two. With the exception of a restaurant meal or two, I typically eat one backpacker-style hot meal in the evening, usually after returning from an evening shoot after dark, and the rest of the time I “browse” on whatever I can have with me. To a non-photographer that may sound somewhat rough, but photographers understand that this keeps me mobile, “out there” in the field, and gets me to places I might not see and experiences I might not have otherwise. I’m fine with it!

But this time, my wife came along. Aside from the expected changes this brings—she isn’t a camper, so we stayed at Stovepipe Wells—it also presents the opportunity to see the area through a different set of eyes and to revisit some of the more familiar places that I might otherwise not photograph. In the “different set of eyes department,” she is an avid photographer of very small things, mostly wildflowers. A few years ago she began to come along on a few of my shoots and then to carry a camera. While I would be off photographing some Big Thing, she would be crouched down in the brush somewhere finding an amazing flower that I hadn’t even realized was there. (A bit later I’ll post a few wildflower photographs from this trip, including many photographs of flowers I would likely have overlooked if she had not been along for the ride.) In addition, since she had never been to Death Valley before, it was important to hit some of the iconic locations in addition to heading out to some of the less visited places that I know about. With this in mind, I planned a morning at Zabriskie Point. Zabriskie is, to borrow a phrase, an icon for a reason. Since I’ve photographed extensively in the park for a decade now, I don’t usually photograph there unless I expect something truly exceptional or unusual. But, let’s be honest, a new visitor to DEVA must experience a sunrise at Zabriskie, which is just what we did on this morning. This did give me an opportunity to engage in a little informal project that I’ve been playing with for a few years, one that has me pointing my camera away from the familiar grand view over Gower Gulch and Manley Beacon toward the Valley and the Panamint Mountains and toward some of the other geological features found here.

Commentary, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

April 6, 2014 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn light, fog, and high clouds over the northern shoreline of San Francisco Bay

This early morning late-winter view of San Francisco Bay looks back to the east from the Marin Headlands. The morning had started with somewhat murky conditions—high clouds above, atmospheric haze over the bay, and for along the San Francisco waterfront and across the bay toward Oakland. I was hoping for color, but the moment of sunrise was a bit disappointing in that regard. The probably was some color, but it was muted by the high clouds and haze and it happened mostly behind that fog bank floating above the East Bay.

But soon the high clouds began to pick up some color, and this pinkish glow reflected down towards the water, the fog, and the haze, gently coloring the scene. I thought that I might break up the many horizontal layers of light and color by including a it of the foreground land, and I experimented with several compositions: one that centered Angel Island in the scene, one that caught a bit of the edge of Angel Island and a bit of the Tiburon shoreline, and then this one which just included a bit of the north bay shoreline instead. Having watched so many sunrises, I still am struck by how this visual beauty arrives without a sound.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: light

Desert Mountains, Stormy Sunrise

Desert Wash, Evening Light

Badlands, Morning

Dawn, San Francisco Bay

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.