Tag Archives: light

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

Colorful Strata

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Colorful Strata
Colorful badlands strata in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Colorful Strata. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful badlands strata in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

This subject may look familiar if you have been following my posts recently. It is a portrait-orientation composition of a feature that I also photographed in landscape orientation. (You might also think it looks a lot like a different iconic feature in Death Valley — it does, but it is not the thing you may be thinking of.) This is a sort of photograph that I make frequently, a small “excerpt” of a much larger landscape scene, photographed with a long focal length lens. The just-arrived early morning light warmed the colors a bit and brought out the pink and blue tones of the layers.

Photographing these kinds of desert colors can be challenging They are fascinating, but they are also often quite subtle, at least to my eye. In all but the best light they seem almost too faint to come through in a photograph. Some photographers compensate by significantly enhancing the intensity of the colors, but the result rarely appeals to me. Some particular qualities of the light made it work this time. Because it was shortly after dawn the light retained a warmer coloration. Some high, thin clouds muted and softened the light a bit. The band of darker material at the bottom contrasts with the lighter tones and with the colors.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Desert Mountains and Wash, Evening

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Desert Mountains and Wash, Evening
The last of the day’s light illuminates a wash descending though desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains and Wash, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The last of the day’s light illuminates a wash descending though desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

This feels like a “quiet photograph” to me — a desert scene that appears to be almost entirely static. In fact, one of the most powerful desert experiences I have had in the desert comes from moments in lonely, quiet places where it seems that nothing is moving and that it has been that way for a very long while. It is as close to the feeling of time stopping as we’re likely to experience.

The truth is that I made this photograph in a location that is not exactly quiet and still. Very close to my position there were dozens of people lined up to photograph one of the icons of Death Valley. (This particular icon is interesting but not photographically compelling to me, but as I mentioned in another recent post… my perspective can change!) The photograph illustrates another useful idea in photography, that when you are faced with an obvious subject it is still good to look around at all of the other things that might be worthy of your attention.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Sea of Dunes

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Sea of Dunes
Undulating patterns of overlapping sand dunes extending into the distance.

Sea of Dunes. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Undulating patterns of overlapping sand dunes extending into the distance.

Sand dunes occupy a tiny fraction of Death Valley National Park but are one of the most common photographic subjects. They loom large in our sense of the place, perhaps because sand dunes evoke of a sort of alien landscape. But they also present a visual blank slate that is open to diverse interpretations. We can approach them as “grand landscapes” or as intimate landscapes, as abstractions of shape and color, as backdrops for photographs of people and wildlife, and more. I think I began by seeing them as grand landscapes but now find it more interesting to seek out little fragments of form and light.

Perhaps because it makes everyone a bit uneasy we don’t speak a lot about the extent to which photographers treat dunes as a photographic starting point for visual experimentation. By this I mean to acknowledge that most interesting, compelling photographs of sand dunes involve a lot of “interpretation,” much of it done via post-processing techniques. To be sure, I regard this as conceptually legitimate and even necessary, and I embrace it in my own photography— I egard post-processing to be as integral to photograph-making as setting up the camera and clicking the shutter.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Winding Canyon, Morning Haze

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Winding Canyon, Morning Haze
Morning haze mutes the features of a distant mountains beyond a winding desert canyon.

Winding Canyon, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning haze mutes the features of a distant mountains beyond a winding desert canyon.

I am not sure how many times I have photographed in this location over the past fifteen years or so, but it may have been dozens. There are striking features here, and I’m sure that they are what attracted me at first. I recall many years ago setting up on a high spot before sunrise and photographing for the next hour or two from within perhaps a 25-foot radius. Since then I’ve gone back on every visit, which at this point is perhaps twenty or more times. The fascinating variety of the spot attracts me, but part of the story is that it is relatively easy to get to, even when I only have a few hours on a morning when I’m about to start the long drive home.

Due to the nature of access to the area, I start at the same end every time I photograph there. At some point the early morning light comes over mountains from the east and lights up the formations, and I typically stop and intensively photograph wherever I am at that point. As a result, I always seem to arrive at the end of this little loop too late for the best light. I’ve often looked up this canyon and others like it, hoping to photograph their winding paths with the mountains in the background… and too often realized that the light was gone. But this time I arrived at a lovely high spot in good light and photographed into the morning haze that muted the details of the mountains beyond the twisting canyon.

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” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.