Tag Archives: low

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

Argus Range Clouds

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Argus Range Clouds
“Argus Range Clouds” — Low clouds hug the edge of the Argus Range to the west of Panamint Valley.

The typical assumption is that Death Valley and its surroundings are hot and dry. That is often the case — not much rain falls there in a typical year, and it can be unbearably hot. But the climate in and around the park is a lot more varied than many realize. I’ve been snowed on there several times, and not just in the mountains. I even recall seeing a few flakes one early April at Scotty’s Castle! This photograph — on a day with rain and snow in the mountains — comes from the last week of winter.

I made the photograph in Panamint Valley, on the west side of the Panamint Mountains, the tallest range in the park. Those mountains were at my back as I looked to the west. The high clouds marked the receding edge of a weather system that was producing rain and snow on the higher peaks. The fascinating band of “high fog” was forming over the edge of the snow-capped Argus Range in the wake of the front’s passage.

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

Dunes at Dusk

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Dunes at Dusk
Soft dusk light on low sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Dunes at Dusk. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Soft dusk light on low sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

This subject is going to appear in several photographs from our late-March visit to Death Valley National Park. Some of them will focus on the astonishing power of a dust storm that swept through near the end of the trip. However, this one comes from a different evening, a quiet one with gentle winds and soft light.

The conditions make all the difference when photographing dunes, More than almost any other sort of landscape, the appearance of sand dunes varies greatly depending upon intensity, quality, and color of light. Here I photographed in the early twilight just after the sun had dropped behind distant mountains in the west. The dunes picked up the pink of the sunset, the blue of the sky, and the softness of indirect light.

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

Evening Dunes

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Evening Dunes
Low dunes in soft evening side-light, Death Valley National Park.

Evening Dunes. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Low dunes in soft evening side-light, Death Valley National Park.

Rather than being the result of a carefully planned and scheduled shoot, this photograph was a last-minute photograph of opportunity. We had spent the day in a remote location in Death Valley National Park, at the end of a long and rough backcountry road, where we had parked and hiked a few miles further into a canyon. The light in deep canyons tends to be best while the sun is still high in the sky, so we finished in the late afternoon and then drove out. We decided to stop for an early dinner and not worry about evening photography.

We finished dinner and as walked back to the vehicle it occurred to me that there was just enough light to squeeze in a bit of photography if we hurried to a nearby spot. We immediately parked and set up equipment as the last direct sunlight began to fade on the landscape below. I exposed three frames before the light was gone, and the soft light enhances the sensuous quality of all of those sand formations.

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

Dusk Dunes

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Dusk Dunes
Soft evening light on low sand dunes

Dusk Dunes. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft evening light on low sand dunes.

Sand dunes are perhaps the most classic “desert” photography subject. For most people, they are their first association with these places, and their dry, bare (or so it seems), and utterly dry features are some combination of beautiful, intriguing, and dangerous. I am certainly not immune to their appeal, and photographing them can be an endlessly challenging activity. One reason is that as photographic subjects they are much more varied than you might initially imagine. While they have their own shapes and colors, these are changed radically by wind, color and intensity of light, and more. They provide one other challenge, too — when I first look at them it always seems like they will be easy to photograph, but they always end up presenting more challenges than I expected.

I love photographing dunes in the marginal light at the start and end of the day, and especially the time right around and just after sunset. At these times the dunes undergo sometimes-astonishing color transformations. The warmer tones, which are sometimes sun-blasted into neutrality during the day, begin to emerge in the softer light. And the dunes pick and reflect a wide variety of colors — blue from darker sky; reds, yellows, and even purple from sunset clouds. I photographed these smaller dune formations from a distance in the early evening.

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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

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