Tag Archives: mountains

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

Branch, Water on Salt Flats

February 28, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 10 Comments

A forelorn branch sits near pools of reflecting water on salt flats of Death Valley National Park.

After the brief dawn light on the Panamints ended (see the photograph I posted yesterday) and the world went gray over in that direction, I noticed this odd log or branch sitting out on the mud in the salt flats between some of the ponds that streak this section of the flats. While the two minutes of beautiful color on the Panamints had ended, the increasing light was transforming what had been a fairly solid covering of gray into a transparency that revealed interesting layers and patterns of clouds in the morning sky.

I moved a bit closer and made one final sequence of Death Valley photographs before heading back to Stovepipe Wells to take down my camp and start the long drive home. I tried a couple different compositions, including some in which I was closer to the log, but in the end I prefer this one that put some distance between it and me and, I think, suggests the huge spaces that are among of the most compelling characteristics of this landscape.

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

Dunes, Cottonwood Mountains, and Dust Storm

February 26, 2011 G Dan Mitchell 5 Comments

Afternoon winds whip up a dust storm over Death Valley between sand dunes and the high ridges of the Cottonwood Mountains.

Following my typical routine of “get up ridiculously early and shoot until I can’t stand it any longer, hang out during the middle of the day, and then head out for late afternoon and evening shooting,” I had been watching some interesting clouds developing far to the north of Stovepipe Wells during the day and decided that I might head up that way in the evening if they continued to hold promise. After crossing the Valley to the Scotty’s Castle road junction I could see a curtain of virga falling from those clouds to the north, so I decided to head that way.

The wind had been picking up from the south during the afternoon as another weather front approached. As I headed up along the edge of the main valley I could see that this wind was starting to pick up dust and sand from the Mesquite Dunes area near Stovepipe and from areas just north of that. I’m more familiar with the dust being carried south by winds out of the north, so this was a bit of a different site as sand/dust were being picked up from the dunes rather than being deposited there.

The dunes at the bottom of this photograph are not the familiar “main” dunes near Stovepipe, but are instead smaller dunes running north/south up the Valley. While a larger version of the photograph shows some blowing dust on these foreground dunes, the main cloud is coming from further south down the Valley. Beyond the dust and across the Valley are the hills of the Cottonwood range ascending to a ridge that still holds a bit of snow from storms over the previous couple of days, with building clouds above that would bring another dusting on this evening.

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

Two Hikers at the Summit of Death Valley Dunes

December 28, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

Two hikers take in the evening landscape of Death Valley National Park from the Summit of the dunes.

Many times I might have been disappointed to have two hikers enter “my” scene in such beautiful dusk light, but here I feel like they crystalize the scene. In a larger version of the photograph the two of them seem to stand silently facing the rugged vastness of Death Valley – and I think their presence invites us to think of ourselves in the scene and to imagine our own reaction to it.

My favorite time to photograph these iconic dunes near Stovepipe Wells is in the evening during a brief interval right around sunset and lasting a while after the sun drops behind the peaks to the west. The light softens, especially if there is a bit of haze in the sky, and the dunes that are so bright and harsh at other times of day take on a smoother and softer quality and their subtle colors become visible.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Winter Evening, Big Sur Coastline

December 22, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 8 Comments

Last light of a winter evening shines on a shoreline bluff along the Big Sur coastline.

As the very end of 2010 approaches, here is a photograph from the very beginning of 2010, made back on January 2. It very similar to a photograph of this scene I posted back then, but it is not the same photograph, and I know like this one at least as much as the earlier selection. (And I feel justified in using two photos from the shoot after the case of poison oak rash I picked up making them!)

As I recall, this was another of those evenings that first looked very promising, then turned gray as the sun dropped behind clouds over the ocean, but held out hope for a last moment of color as the setting sun dropped to the horizon and beneath the clouds. And, as sometimes happens, it actually worked! I had seen this spot before but not stopped to photograph it quite this way. As I passed by while heading south earlier in the afternoon I had made a mental note about the possibilities for the scene, and when I turned back to the north to start my drive home I had decided to stop here. The scene is impressive, with the coast curving inward and then back out the left where a creek comes down to the sea, and with bluffs, sea stacks, and higher hills beyond. And on this evening the sky was full of pastel colors. So I stopped, unloaded the camera gear, and headed out (through the poison oak!) onto the bluff above the cove where I waited for light. And just at sunset a band of beautiful, warm, diffused light touched the bluff across the cove.

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

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.