Tag Archives: light

Sunset, Death Valley Dunes and Funeral Mountains

Sunset, Death Valley Dunes and Funeral Mountains

Sunset, Death Valley Dunes and Funeral Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2008. Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of sunset at Death Valley Dunes with the Funeral Mountains in the distance.

Yet another photograph from this evening shoot at Death Valley Dunes near Stovepipe Wells. Here the foot of the rugged mountain range along the east side of the Valley (variously called the Amargosa Range or the Funeral Range?) can be see in the distance beyond the dunes.

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Transverse Dunes, Death Valley

Transverse Dunes, Death Valley

Transverse Dunes, Death Valley. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Color photograph of transverse Death Valley Dunes at sunset.

This is another photo from the shoot I described in yesterday’s post – a quick shoot from a roadside pullout as the day came to an end. We just barely arrived here in time (having arrived in the park just hours earlier) and ended up shooting with long lenses from this roadside vantage point.

While many people focus on the taller section of these dunes a bit further west (I’ve shot them also) this section of smaller “transverse dunes” further into the valley provides some very interesting shapes, textures, and colors.

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Rhyolite Bank at First Light

Rhyolite Bank at First Light

Rhyolite Bank at First Light. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 2, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

My brother and I photographed these bank ruins and surrounding artifacts in the abandoned ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada – starting before dawn and continuing for the next few hours. This photograph was made just as the first light began to illuminate the town site through high clouds. This bank building is one of the least damaged buildings in the town.

I’m fascinated by how these buildings have weathered over the past century, being situation in a very hostile environment. In some ways it is amazing that they have proven durable enough to remain partially standing, but in other ways they remind me of very ancient ruins.

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Morning, Death Valley Dunes and Funeral Mountains

Morning, Death Valley Dunes and Funeral Mountains

Morning, Death Valley Dunes and Funeral Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Photograph of curving Death Valley Dunes in morning light with the Funeral Mountains in the background.

Perhaps closer to the classic “dune photographs” from this area, shot along the top of one of the highest dunes with the line of the dune summit leading toward the Funeral Mountains along the east side of Death Valley. I hadn’t actually intended to shoot a scene like this one, but I ended up on top of a rise in the dunes after shooting the area behind them… and one feels almost obligated to photograph a scene like this one when visiting Death Valley. :-)

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