Tag Archives: national

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

Creosote, Sea Of Dunes

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Creosote, Sea Of Dunes
A sea of sand dunes extends to distant desert mountains behind a cluster of creosote bushes

Creosote, Sea Of Dunes. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sea of sand dunes extends to distant desert mountains behind a cluster of creosote bushes

This photograph comes from those moments just before sunrise on the dunes, when there is not yet any direct, intense light. Instead the light is soft and diffused, and blue tones are seen in the distance and in shadows. We had arrived in this area earlier, after perhaps a 20 minute walk that began in near-darkness. This is not necessarily time for slow and contemplative photography — conditions evolve quickly, and I often have to make some fairly quick decisions before the light changes or is gone. Moments after making this photograph, for example, that direct light did arrive from the right, and the scene was completely transformed.

Sand dunes are remarkable and surprising places. I think the first impression for most people is of the sand itself — its extent, its shapes, the variations and texture and color, and (of course!) how difficult it is to walk across it. It is hard to imagine a more perfect canvas for the play of light. The dunes are not intrinsically very colorful, but they do a remarkable job of picking up color and light from their surroundings. Beyond the sand itself, the things that appear in the dunes are also fascinating. A close look reveals evidence of the passage of unseen animals, in spring flower blossoms may collect in hollows, and somehow plants manage to survive and sometimes prosper in this forbidding environment. In Death Valley creosote bushes grow throughout many of the dunes. Some of them can appear almost lush at certain times of the year — with new leaves and many small, yellow flowers. Others, like those on this small hill, seem to be barely hanging on to life.

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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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

Kit Fox Hills

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Kit Fox Hills
Evening light on the Kit Fox HIlls, Death Valley

Kit Fox Hills. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the Kit Fox HIlls, Death Valley

This photograph was a bit of a lucky catch. I had gone to an elevated location where I had a more commanding view of a wide section of Death Valley, but late-afternoon clouds had drifted in above the Cottonwood Mountains to the west and the light ranged from filtered to “blah.” I try to “read” the clouds to predict what may come, and my reading on the conditions was that a small gap between the bottom of the cloud bank and the top of the mountains would produce a brief bit of good light just before the sun dropped beyond the peaks. These predictions don’t always pan out, but this one did. The light first appeared a great distance away at the upper end of the valley, but soon worked its way south across the Grapevine Mountains and then flowed across the low Kit Fox Hills.

I’ve been intrigued by this small row of furrowed hills for a long time. Their coloration and patterns let them stand out from the less differentiated material of the washes above and below them. I did a bit of reading about them during this recent trip, and I understand that they are a remnant of a very old earthquake fault along the west side of the valley. (There are fault zones along the sides of Death Valley, separating the rising mountains from the valley, which is largely filled with material washed down from the mountains.)

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

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Nature

Desert Mountains

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Desert Mountains
Desert mountains rise above Death Valley in evening light

Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert mountains rise above Death Valley in evening light

This view takes me back to something I believe I understood the very first time I saw Death Valley. It was close to twenty years ago, and I had gone there as an adult with a group of middle school and high school kids who were planning a long hike in the park. (The event did not come off quite as planned, but that is a long story that I’ll have to tell some other time.) We arrived at the park boundaries after dark and made camp at the first possible place, a small and mostly unimproved campsite right off the road between the pass we had come over and the valley itself. In the dark I could tell little about the place: it was warm, the wind was blowing, I didn’t see much in the way of plant life. We climbed into tents and sleeping bags for the night.

Early the next morning I crawled out and got my first view of Death Valley. There’s nothing quite like suddenly coming upon your first view of such an iconic place. I recall the specific view even today, looking down across massive alluvial fans, across the valley itself, and at these rugged and bare hills and mountains on the far side so many miles away. This photograph, made from a different location this spring, includes a small section of the scene I looked at back then. It also illustrates one of my strongest impressions of Death Valley — it is a place where the geology is laid bare with virtually no forests or water to obstruct the land itself, even more so than above timberline where there are still lakes and where snow may linger all year. It is also a place, perhaps to our surprise, in which one of the largest factors shaping the landscape has been… 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.
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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, First Light

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Dunes, First Light
First light on Death Valley sand dunes

Dunes, First Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First light on Death Valley sand dunes

No matter how many times I experience it — and I’ve experienced it a lot! — the instant when the first sunlight suffuses the landscape is always magical. Invariably, it sneaks up on me, even though I plan to be there for it and have probably calculated the precise time of the light’s arrival. Perhaps it is because I’m engaged in photographing the pre-sunrise light, a phenomenon that also is transitory. To this day, it still somehow surprises me when this light arrives in complete silence and stillness. Somehow it seems like there should be music or a rising wind… but it is just the light.

Sand dunes provide unending possibilities for photography, and they are a remarkable canvas on which the light can paint. In the middle of the day this sand would be a sort of bland off-white color. But for a few moments at the start and end of the day the sand takes on almost gaudy colors of sky and sunlight, and the soft shadows both emphasize the forms of the dunes and produce their own shapes and lines. Non-photographers probably wonder how we can force ourselves out of bed a couple hours before dawn and drive or hike long distances the pre-dawn darkness. We wonder how the rest of the world can sleep through it!

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 | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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