Tag Archives: mountains

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Sky, Mountains, and Wash

Image Leave a comment
Sky, Mountains, and Wash
A dry wash, barren mountians, and morning desert sky.

Sky, Mountains, and Wash. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dry wash, barren mountians, and morning desert sky.

One of the things I always think about in desert landscapes is water. Not for the reason your are probably thinking — that it is because there is no water or that I’m thirsty because it is hot and dry. In fact, the reason is that evidence of water is almost everywhere in these dry places. This is one of the great ironies of desert terrain — it is so affected by the power of water and that effect is more visible because the landscape is barren and dry.

Consider this scene. There is almost nothing in it that doesn’t reflect the power of water. The foreground wash, while dry at the time of the photograph, is covered with patterns created by flowing water. Beyond, the low hills are smoothed by water and incised with gullies made by flowing water. Although those far mountains rose because of forces that are not directly about water, the shapes of the peaks and ridges are the result of, yet again, water. And in the sky we have clouds — more water.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Dunes and Mountains, Evening

Image 2 Comments
Dunes and Mountains, Evening
Soft evening light on Death Valley sand dunes and desert mountains.

Dunes and Mountains, Evening. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Soft evening light on Death Valley sand dunes and desert mountains.

This is (yet another) end-of-the-day photographs from Death Valley National Park, made during the soft light time after the sun had dropped behind the Cottonwood Mountains behind me to the west. As wild as the sunset light is, I think I’ve come to love the softer and more subtle quality of this time of the day.

The photograph looks east across low dunes that stretch across a wide section of the valley here, in a place where nearby mountains disrupt the wind patterns and cause the winds to drop their load of sand. Beyond the dunes lie arid desert mountains, with strata and erosion laid bare.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Photographer In The Landscape

Image Leave a comment
Photographer In The Landscape
A solitary photographer works the evening light in a dust storm, dwarfed by an immense landscape of dunes and desert mountians.

Photographer In The Landscape. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary photographer works the evening light in a dust storm, dwarfed by an immense landscape of dunes and desert mountians.

You may wonder about the title of this photograph: “What photographer?” You’ll need to look closely, especially if you are looking at a smaller version of the photograph. The photographer is small! Or, more accurately, this landscape is very big.

There are some experiences in the landscape that are particularly powerful. Some are hard to articulate. Once, many years ago, I wandered away from the rest of my party at a timberline camp, sat on the ground and just looked, and I experienced a sudden sense of connection and content in that landscape that I’ve been unable to describe in words. On another occasion — halfway through a two-week solo backpack trip — it seem like the right thing to just sit atop a 12,000′ pass for a couple of hours. Many of these moments seem connected to the experience of being a very small figure in a very large landscape like this one.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Dry Desert Flowers, Winter

Image Leave a comment
A crop of dry winter desert flowers, Panamint Mountains.

Dry Desert Flowers, Winter. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A crop of dry winter desert flowers, Panamint Mountains.

This may the be the final example in the small series of photographs of dry winter flowers I made in Death Valley this past January, when I spent a few days poking around odd corners of the park. I found this flower — not hard to do if you just stop and look! — during a brief stop along a gravel road. I had paused to take a look at old signs of a mining camp, and as I wandered the area I noticed that these flowers were everywhere.

When I think of desert wildflowers I am usually contemplating the brief (and variable) late winter and early spring bloom that comes when there has been sufficient rainfall. In January, as you can imagine, wildflowers were just about the last subject on my mind. But once again, after all these years of going to such places, I was reminded that there is always something new to discover.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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