Here is another morning photograph on Manly Lake. I know — that is a LOT of photographs of this feature! But I had several beautiful mornings there this season, and each produced quite a haul of pictures portraying different moods and surroundings. At the moment I made this one, a band of light was striking a ridge descending toward the lake, while the foreground and more distant shadows were in muted light.
Continue reading Desert Mountains and Reflection, Morning
I have visited some remarkable cathedrals in Europe, and I obviously have seen stained glass windows. But I paid less attention to the light shining through them until we visited Sagrada Familia in Barcelona a few years ago. We entered late in the day as light streamed though that church’s remarkable windows, and the effect was simply astonishing. After that I began to notice similar, though subtler, effects in other big churches.
Continue reading Stained Glass Light
This is not the first time that I have photographed this same subject, more or less, in evening light. Corkscrew Peak stands out in this scene of rugged, furrowed desert mountains. Because the location is on the eastern side of Death Valley, late light angles across the landscape just before the sun drops behinds mountains far to the west, and this light emphasizes the textures of the eroded landscape.
Continue reading Corkscrew Peak and Desert Hills
There are a few unusual things in this Death Valley photograph featuring Telescope Peak. Superficially, snow at Death Valley might seem unusual, but while it is at lower elevations that usual, these peaks are often snow-capped in winter. More unusual is the band of water at the bottom of the frame — that’s Lake Manly, which may temporarily form in Badwater Basin during wet years. The photograph includes the lowest elevation in the park (Badwater Basin) and its highest (Telescope Peak.)
What lies between those extremes is remarkable, too. That is a rise of over 11, 300′ from below-sea-level Badwater Basin to the summit of the peak. Between those two is some extremely rugged terrain that ranges from low desert to the alpine zone, with everything in between.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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