Tag Archives: national

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

Beneath Desert Mountains, Morning

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Beneath Desert Mountains, Morning
Desert mountains and morning light spreading across an alluvial fan.

Beneath Desert Mountains, Morning. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert mountains and morning light spreading across an alluvial fan.

This is more or less where I had hoped to be in January, even up until a couple of months ago. At that time, careful travel into lonely places was still a reasonable option, especially since I stop only for gas and would have camped well off the beaten track, barely interacting with anyone at all. But wanting to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem, I’m following the guidelines to not travel more than 120 miles from my home, and I’m also not going to play games and try to sneak into the Death Valley backcountry… regardless of how appealing that sounds and of how badly I miss the place right now.

This photograph is one of those that illustrates the advice to look all around while making photographs. Sometimes the thing you came to see isn’t the only thing to attend to. I had come to this spot before dawn to photograph a subject that lies directly behind the camera position of this scene, and had worked on it as the scene transitioned from soft, pre-sunrise light through a somewhat colorful sunrise to light that was becoming more harsh than I desired. So I turned around. Here the backlit atmosphere glowed in the light streaming over the rugged desert hills to the east.

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: Nature

Desert Mountains, Blowing Dust

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Desert Mountains, Blowing Dust
Immense desert mountains partially obscured by blowing dust.

Desert Mountains, Blowing Dust. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Immense desert mountains partially obscured by blowing dust.

For some reason, this week I seem to be reviewing photographs from Death Valley and many of them want to be monochrome. This is the second in two days. Recently I’ve been thinking about the subject of rugged, desert ridges receding into distant haze, and when I came across this old raw file it seemed to fit right into that theme.

My recollection (not completely certain, since the photo was made nearly eight years ago) is that we were headed up Death Valley towards a dust storm rising in the flats and dunes north of Stovepipe Well. That’s not an uncommon occurrence at this time of year. The atmosphere was filled with that diffuse haze that often develops around dust storm, and as we approached the source of the blowing sand we began to see clouds of dust rising above the landscape in the center of the 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, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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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

Dunes, Sandstorm

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Dunes, Sandstorm
Diffused light and atmosphere as a sandstorm rises above desert dunes.

Dunes, Sandstorm. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Diffused light and atmosphere as a sandstorm rises above desert dunes.

This photograph comes from a memorable early spring visit to Death Valley National Park back in 2013. (I know… what visit to Death Valley isn’t memorable, right?!) This day brought a fairly big sandstorm to the Valley, and I worked on photographing it in different locations and in a variety of ways — trying to focus on the atmosphere itself, on subjects made nearly opaque by the dust and brilliant light, attempts to capture the power of the dust-laden wind. This photograph perhaps comes closer to most of them in representing a subject that might be recognizable.

Photographing in these conditions is quite an experience, one that I’ve had more than a few times. On one hand, the scene can be overpowering and quite astonishing. Typically, aside from heat, these desert scenes can seem quite benign, mostly nearly static and quiet — in fact, immense stillness and quiet are among the most characteristic qualities of the desert landscape. But when such storms arise the experience is completely different and quite overpowering. It becomes difficult — sometimes bordering on impossible — to do much besides hunker down and wait for the conditions to subside.

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

Winter Mist, Tomales Bay

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Winter Mist, Tomales Bay
Morning mist rises above Tomales Bay on a cold winter morning.

Winter Mist, Tomales Bay. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning mist rises above Tomales Bay on a cold winter morning.

One advantage of living near iconic locations (in this case, the Point Reyes National Seashore) is that I can go there on short notice at times when few other visitors are around. Being only a short distance north of San Francisco and less than an hour’s drive from some populated areas of the greater Bay Area, a visit here on a summer weekend can be considerably less than a solitary experience. But on a freezing cold (literally!) late-winter weekday morning you might find yourself all alone in such a place.

I have passed by this spot many times, and this was not the first time I stopped to make photographs here. (Nearby and just out of sight are a couple of iconic regional photographic subjects.) On this morning it was the light that stopped me, along with the new grass on the coastal hills along the far shore. (Winter is our green season in much of California.) As I worked, the thin morning fog above the waters of Tomales Bay drifted slowly, backlit by the low-angle morning light.

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.