Tag Archives: mud

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

Brown-Eyed Evening Primrose

Image March 28, 2026 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Our late-February visit to Death Valley mostly focused on two subjects — Lake Manly and the wildflower bloom. At first I thought we might forego visiting the dunes at all on this trip, but on our last morning we decided to make an early-morning stop before we headed out of the park.

We arrived quite early — too early, actually. It was still dark when we got there, so we took our time getting our gear together before walking out into a quiet section of the dunes. The ight conditions were not promising, as the sky was rather overcast. While that wasn’t great for photographing the dunes themselves, the soft light was good for photographing small plants and other intimate subjects, like this brown-eyed evening primrose plant.

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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

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

Displacement

Image March 10, 2026 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Those who photograph in the desert inevitably end up photographing… mud. I was attracted to many things in this little scene. The fractal patterns themselves, are always fascinating. (Finding just the right patterns is more difficult than it should be!) In this case I also liked the disruption of the expected pattern by the displacement of material from one of the dried cakes of mud. It appears that something has broken the top layer, left shards to the right, and interrupted the overall coloration of the little scene.

I cannot quite say why it is that photographers are so interested in desert mud — but we definitely are. There is something about the patterns themselves, but also the way light plays across these textures. I recall one time walking down an Utah canyon with a half dozen photographer friends. We encountered a little patch of nearly dry mud, and our progress immediately halted as all of us unloaded packs, set up tripods, and went to work for the next half hour… photographing mud.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Subalpine Meadow, Lake, and Peaks

Image October 31, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Subapline Meadow, Lake, and Peaks — “Subalpine Meadow, Lake, and Peaks” — Alpine peaks stand beyond a subalpine meadow and lake, John Muir Wilderness.

This monumental string of peaks running west from the Sierra Nevada crest was our companion during a two-week late-summer base-camp here a few years ago. A group of nine photographers packed in and set up basecamp for a week. This gave us plenty of time to extensively explore and photograph the surrounding area. It is rare — and quite special — to get to focus so thoroughly on one small area of the wilderness like this.

Our camp was down in forest near a small lake, perhaps a ten or fifteen minute walk from the location of the photograph. A short walk up through the forest brought us to the edge of the alpine world at the timberline, where streams meander through open meadows, the views are uninterrupted by large trees, and it is possible to simply walk wherever you want to go — no need for trails.

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.

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Broken Branch and Wildflowers

Image October 25, 2024 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

We were camped on a low hill covered with trees — likely an old lateral moraine of some sort. A subalpine lake below our hill was surrounded by meadows, and the wildflowers were still in bloom even though it was late in the season. On several occasions I just wandered slowly around and through the meadow, and on one of those walks I found this broken branch lying on the green grasses next to a few colorful wildflowers.

We had been base-camped at this Sierra Nevada backcountry location for the better part of a week when I made this photograph. Working in a limited area for an extended period reveals details that we miss on shorter visits. With less time I tend to focus on the most spectacular and dramatic elements in the landscape. But given more time I slow down and start to notice the small things like this.