Tag Archives: morning

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

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze

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Desert Mountains, Morning Haze
Glowing morning haze delineates a series of ascending ridges in desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Glowing morning haze delineates a series of ascending ridges in desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert haze has become my friend. I used to be frustrated by it — the desert light I wanted was the crisp light of perfectly clear skies. I struggled with haze, with its effects on colors, its lower contrast, and its muted details. (To be honest, sometimes it still challenges me!) But, as is often the case, when I live with something for a while I start to figure out how to see it, and I often end up attracted to it. Now I actively search for just the right kind of soft atmospheric haze.

I had plenty of it on this morning. I was out before dawn, of course, and after finishing with my initial early morning subject I traveled to a higher location with immense and panoramic views of the landscape. The bright light beyond these mountains was making the haze luminous and almost eliminating fine details, leaving the outlines of the successive ridges receding toward the morning sky.

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

Eroded Badlands Hills

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Eroded Badlands Hills
“Eroded Badlands Hills” — Deeply eroded badlands hills and more distant mountains in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Special Note: Patty and I are presenting a Silicon Valley Open Studios event on May 21 and 22. Look us up (Dan | Patty) or contact us for information. Come and see our prints!

You could look at this photograph in several ways, but I think the complex patterns of this landscape are the main attraction. Recently I read an article about photography that suggested (to paraphrase) that landscape photography aspires toward abstraction. I like that idea a lot. I feel there should be more to a landscape photograph than an ostensible “record” of things in front of the camera. Ideally photographs can be viewed on multiple levels simultaneously — our relationship to the place and the way we see it, the sum of compositional elements, some level of mystery, suggestions of things not contained in the frame, emotional implications, and more.

This feels like one of those photographs to me. You could respond to the remarkable nature of the landscape that was in front of the camera. You could also consider the visual forms from an abstract perspective — the complex patterns of elements in contrary and parallel motion. You are free to ponder where this portrayal of the landscape fits into the larger scheme of landscape art. And who am I to try to stop you from looking for relations to other, larger things?

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Layers and Folds

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Layers and Folds
The complex geology of badlands terrain, Death Valley National Park.

Layers and Folds. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

The complex geology of badlands terrain, Death Valley National Park.

The landscape of Death Valley National Park is extremely varied. The popular imagination first focuses on scenes of sand dunes, the classic signifier of “desert.” But the place is full of canyons, stream beds, surprising instances of water, mountain peaks, and even forests of several types. All of these are special, but scenes like this one may embody one of the the most common elements of this landscape, the exposure of its underlying geology.

The area of this photograph is incredibly complex. It is a maze of small, eroded formations and canyons, all of them interconnected. Underlying this are uplifted layers of material in colors ranging from nearly black to nearly white, interspersed with surprising bits of red, blue, and green. I photographed here early in the morning because the light was softer and richer and because the low angle of the sun entering the scene from the side delineated the eroded features.

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

Badlands Valley

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Badlands Valley
A small wash passes beneath badlands terrain in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

Badlands Valley. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A small wash passes beneath badlands terrain in morning light, Death Valley National Park.

There is a lot going on in this photograph of the Death Valley National Park landscape. Early morning light is coming from behind and to the left of the camera position and striking the eroded landforms from the side. Although it is sometime after dawn, it is early enough that the light still has a warm, post-sunrise color. All of the complex structures in the scene are interconnected — they all drain toward the desert wash at the bottom of the frame.

More than almost any other landscape that I know, the appearance of the desert changes radically depending on the direction, quality, and color of the light. I have sequences of photographs made over a half-hour period in which the transition is striking. At first, before dawn, the light is soft and blue-toned. At first light it may become intensely colorful if the sunrise cooperates. A half hour later the color fades toward that familiar desert midday harshness.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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