Tag Archives: light

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

Fractured Rock, Reflected Light

December 16, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A few plants grow on fractured pink and blue canyon rock illuminated by light reflected from nearby cliffs

In my experience, the geology of Death Valley mostly features relatively subdued coloration. While this geology is laid bare by the lack of thick vegetation, the colors are mostly shades of gray, white, tan, with occasional blues and greens from mineral deposits. But you rarely will see here the intense colors of, say, the sandstone formations of the Southwest. (Sorry to disappoint anyone, but if you have seen some photographs featuring intensely colorful deposits in places like “Artist Palette,” you may be a bit disappointed to see the real thing!) This is not entirely bad news, as subtle colors can also be very beautiful, and even these colors can become intensified in the right light… and that does occur in Death Valley.

This photograph perhaps tells a story that is partially about the color of rock and a bit about the light, and is also about keeping my eyes open for the fleeting and sometimes surprising examples of color. I was in a place that is not known for brilliant colors, at least not in the walls of this narrow canyon. As I passed through a narrow and twisting section, two things happened, and even though I’ve been there before this was the first time that I noticed them at this point. First, the steep, almost seems cliff-like wall has fractured layers and slabs that remind me a bit of exfoliating granite that I know so well from the Sierra. These layers alternate pinkish rock (that this non-geologist thinks look like some sort of sandstone) with inner layers that have a blue cast. Second, at the right time of day when the light strikes the upper walls of the narrow canyon, the light reflects down into its depths and warms the color of the light, emphasizing these subtle colors to produce what is, at least for Death Valley, some rather striking coloration.

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: Nature, Photographs: Pacific Northwest

Strait of Juan de Fuca, Evening

December 7, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light near Hurricane Ridge and over the Strait of Juan de Fuca

After shooting in the lowland rainforest earlier in the day, we planned to head up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park in the evening, hoping for some interesting late day light. I’ve been “skunked” (frustrated by poor conditions!) on more than one occasion here, including one notable visit when the clouds reduced visibility to a distance that might have been measured in yards. An earlier web cam check and what we could now see from down below encouraged us to think that we might get something better this time, so into the park and up the road we went.

When we arrived the conditions were not quite stupendous, but they held the promise of becoming better, so we stuck around and photographed. Although it was mostly somewhat hazy and cloudy, every so often the sun would come through an opening in the clouds to the west, and the beams of light would move across the rugged landscape of the Olympic Mountains spread out in front of us – and on one occasion this light crossed through rain showers and produced a momentary rainbow. As things wound down – without there ever having been a real climactic moment of light – I decided to walk over to a low ridge from which there was a view to the north and the Strait of Juan De Fuca, with Canadian territory beyond. Again, the atmosphere was murky, though there were potentially interesting clouds about. I made this photograph near the very end of the day when a bit of filtered though direct light swept across the foreground ridge.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Flight, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Wildlife

Taking to the Air

December 3, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A group of snow geese take to the air in early morning light above a San Joaquin Valley marsh

I never know exactly what I’ll find when I go out to shoot a subject like that which I focused on today, namely migratory birds out in the San Joaquin Valley of California. While there is a certain amount of knowledge and technique that goes into photographing this subject in this place, there is also a whole bunch of guesswork, luck, and happenstance. The part that I can chalk up to planning includes the choice to be in this place on a cold morning before dawn, enough familiarity with the place to know where to look for the birds and where the light might be good at certain times of day, and enough experience photographing these birds to have developed some knowledge and instincts that I can put to work.

However, so much is not in my control. On this morning I found a good size flock of (mostly) snow geese in a place where I don’t usually see so many of them, and they were closer to the place from which I can photograph than they usually are. So I stopped and photographed them and waited. Not much seemed to be happening at first – the birds mostly just sat in the shallow water – but the light was interesting, slanting in from the right where the sun had just cleared the horizon. When things seem static, there is no clear answer to the question of whether to wait for something to happen or to move on and look for something else. This time my hunch was that it might be worth waiting. And this time that hunch turned out to be the right one. (Just as often it isn’t!) As I waited I found some slightly better angles to shoot from, and eventually additional geese began to arrive and settle in with the group already there. Often some of the most interesting shots are during very brief instants of action, such as the sudden and unexpected lift-off of a flock of birds. So, after standing and watching and seeing little happen for some time, suddenly a lot may happen almost too quickly to photograph it. It pays to be ready to respond quickly. This group of snow geese was not too far in front of me, and when they suddenly took to the sky I was ready to track them as they lifted off. If you look closely you may be able to see water droplets falling from them as they leave the pond.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Riverbank, Cottonwood Trees

December 1, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cottonwood trees with fall foliage reflected in the calm surface of the Merced River in late afternoon light

It is barely a month after I made this photograph, and the feeling is now more that of winter than of autumn. (Though where I live some autumn leaves are still falling for a few more days.) But back at the end of October I spent two days photographing fall color in Yosemite Valley. Sierra weather can be almost anything at this time of year, but aside from some leftover snow high up along the Valley’s walls, down below it was sunny and bright with the warm autumn light that can characterize the season in these mountains.

The main leaf color in the Valley comes from black oak, big leaf maple, cottonwoods, and dogwood, each providing its own variations of color and timing. When I was there the maples were a bit past their peak, and at least some of the dogwoods were still becoming more colorful. It seemed like cottonwoods were very close to their most colorful and the black oaks were also quite good. On the first afternoon I spent some time wandering along a section of the Merced River, photographing the cottonwood trees with the Valley’s cliffs as a backdrop and occasionally with the autumn-smooth waters of the Merced reflecting their colors.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: light

Fractured Rock, Reflected Light

Strait of Juan de Fuca, Evening

Taking to the Air

Riverbank, Cottonwood Trees

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