Tag Archives: mesquite

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Dust Storm…

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I can report with some authority that doing photography in Death Valley in the middle of a dust storm (of the sort that almost turns day to night) is not easy. :-)

I’ve been in Death Valley since Tuesday, shooting a variety of subjects – some iconic and some not. I had contemplated staying through until Saturday morning, but I decided late Thursday that I’d go ahead and leave after shooting on Friday morning. My initial plan was to get up at my usual 5:00 a.m. time and head out somewhere to shoot a dawn subject, after which I would return to the Stovepipe Wells campground to break camp and head out. I got up quickly and decided I might have time to quickly break camp before doing photography, so I quickly knocked the tent down and loaded everything into my car.

After shooting at Zabriskie Point (can’t get much more “iconic” than that!) I started back toward the Towne Pass exit – and spotted a huge ugly dust cloud forming up near Tucki Mountain, which rises right above Stovepipe Wells near the Mesquite Dunes (a.k.a “Death Valley Dunes). As I got closer the already strong wind became even more violent and I soon entered the fringe of the dust storm. By the time I turned across the Valley toward the Dunes and Stovepipe the cloud had turned into a malevolent beast, with wind whippped sand streaming across the roadway and the sun completely blotted out.

The scene was very nasty as I drove past Stovepipe Wells… and I was extremely glad that I had made that early morning decision to pack up at 5:15!

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Mesquite Dunes, Dusk

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Mesquite Dunes, Dusk

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

Mesquite Sand Dune folds recede into the distance into the distance beyond foreground desert plants in Death Valley National Park, California.

This is a slightly different take on a scene that I have posted previously. The photograph of the Mesquite Dune complex near Stovepipe Wells was shot near twilight on the first evening of my 2008 visit to Death Valley. My brother and I had just met up at the Stovepipe Wells campground, set up camp and eaten dinner, and noticed that it was far closer to the end of the day than we had realized. We quickly hightailed it down the road a couple miles to an area close to the dunes and had just enough time to make some long lens photographs from the road side as the light faded.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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