Tag Archives: mountains

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

Desert Mountains, Dust Storm

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Desert Mountains, Dust Storm
A desert dust storm obscures Amargosa Range mountains and ridges, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Dust Storm. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A desert dust storm obscures Amargosa Range mountains and ridges, Death Valley National Park.

Death Valley dust storms are beautiful and terrible things. They are, from an objective point of view, very unpleasant. The wind alone can make it difficult to do much of anything, especially photography. The dust gets into everything, including camera equipment and your eyes, and is a constant, uncomfortable presence. A really bad dust storm is one of those things that helpfully remind us of how small and insignificant we are in this grand landscape.

The dust storm on this late afternoon was approaching that level. Having seen a few of these in Death Valley, there were a few things that were different about this one, most notably that the wind was carrying the thick dust into place where I don’t usually see it, including far up into the Amargosa Mountain range. It was so windy and dusty in the spot where I stopped to make the photograph that I was only able to cower behind the shelter of my vehicle just long enough to make a few exposures.

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.

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

Dust Storm, Desert Hills

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Dust Storm, Desert Hills
A dust storm begins to envelope desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Dust Storm, Desert Hills. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dust storm begins to envelope desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Last year we spent nearly a week in Death Valley in the Spring, photographing landscape and plants and flowers. I go every year, usually camping, but this time we stayed in one of the lodging facilities in the park, heading out from there on various one-day adventures. (I like camping in the park… but I don’t mind sleeping in a bed and eating good food either…)

We experienced some fairly big dust storms during this visit — not the biggest I’ve seen by far, but powerful enough to make an impression. One was building on this afternoon, so we headed in that direction to see what photographic opportunities might arise. Near the end of the day the sky was almost apocalyptic, with clouds above, raging dust storm below, and sunset color. But this photograph comes from earlier in the day when the effect was more subtle. We stopped close to these rounded desert hills and photographed the landscape as the more distant mountains gradually were obscured by the increasing dust.

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.

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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

Pinnacles And Desert Mountains

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Pinnacles And Desert Mountains
Distant desert mountians rise beyond rocky pinnacles in midday light.

Pinnacles And Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Distant desert mountians rise beyond rocky pinnacles in midday light.

Photographers would typically not photograph a subject like this one on a day like this or at this time of day — close to the middle of a perfectly clear day, with stark desert light. But that’s when I typically pass through this area, always on my travels to and from Death Valley. On this spring day I had gotten on the road very early to start the long drive, planning to arrive in the park by mid-afternoon, so being in this spot was a secondary effect of that planning

But this challenging midday desert light is perhaps more typical of such scenes, with their stark contrasts between bright light and deep, sharp-edged shadows. Here the foreground pinnacles are backlit and almost in silhouette, while in the distance the lower reaches of a giant desert mountain range begin to rise from this broad valley.

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.

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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

Desert Pinnacles

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Desert PInnacles
Tufa pinnacles in the middle of a vast desert valley.

Desert Pinnacles. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tufa pinnacles in the middle of a vast desert valley.

These lonely tufa tower pinnacles stand alone in the middle of a very large Southern California desert valley. If you passed on the nearby highway and did not know they were there you could easily overlook them — though when you do spot them they make a striking sight.

Beyond their austere and striking visual appeal, they also provide evidence of the remarkable ways that the landscape formed. Despite being in a location which today seems about as arid and unforgiving as you can imagine, they were formed by water. This entire basin was filled with a lake a long time ago, and the towers grew around submerged springs. When the lake disappeared the towers remained.

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.