Tag Archives: nature

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Sunlit Outcropping and Erosion Patterns, Zabriskie Point

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Sunlit Outcropping and Erosion Patterns, Zabriskie Point

Sunlit Outcropping and Erosion Patterns, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A stratified outcropping catches the morning sun light with eroded earthen patterns in the background – Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

Yet another in my series of explorations of the details of the amazing geology at Zabriskie Point in Death Valley National Park. Here a small outcropping of harder, stratified material remains along the top of a very eroded hill between two gullies with more typically eroded textures extending into the distance in the background – all lit by early morning sunlight.

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

keywords: zabriskie, point, death valley, national park, california, usa, outcropping, strata, stratified, sun, lit, light, rock, earth, eroded, erosion, patterns, folds, shadow, texture, viewpoint, scenic, travel, landscape, geology, morning, nature, stock

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Morning

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Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Morning

Road, Twenty Mule Team Canyon, Morning. Death Valley National Park, California. April 2, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A gravel road winds through the curved hills of Twenty Mule Team Canyon in early morning light, Death Valley National Park, California.

I had never visited Twenty Mule Team Canyon (located just up the road from Zabriskie Point) before this trip, but thanks to Edie Howe’s recommendation I spent an early morning shooting there on this trip. Except for the lack of a single dominant feature like Manley Point, in some ways this little loop has as much or more to offer than Zabriskie Point. Many of the same curved and twisted landscape features are found here, and there is even a wonderful early morning view down across low hills and peaks into the heart of Death Valley itself. In this photograph the early morning light is hitting what is, to be honest, a mud hill near a curve in the gravel road that passes through the canyon.

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

keywords: road, dirt, gravel, turn, curve, berm, bank, 20, twenty, mule, team, canyon, death valley, national park, california, usa, hill, mud, wash, morning, light, golden, fold, scenic, travel, stock, nature, landscape, geology

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point

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Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point

Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun lights the folded earth of a gully at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

I know Zabriskie is an “iconic” photographic location, and it has “been done” many times, but somehow I find myself unable to complete a Death Valley trip without an early morning visit to shoot a Zabriskie sunrise. (When I think of photographing Manley Beacon I’m reminded to the joke about photographing Yosemite’s Half Dome – it goes something like this: “When you photograph Half Dome be sure to open up about one stop to compensate for all of the light that has been used up by previous photographers.”) But for me the real interesting subject at Zabriskie is found in the nearly infinite variety of shapes, textures, and shadows of the tortured terrain below and to the left of the Point. Long after the sunrise is over and almost all the other photographers have left, I’m still there photographing the continuously changing light as it picks off the top of this small ridge, creates a reflection that lights up that fold, and so forth. I’ve photographed the gully that is shown in this photograph as late as 9:30 in the morning.

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

keywords: gully, valley, fold, texture, pattern, wash, runoff, zabriskie point, death valley, national park, california, usa, land, form, geology, scenic, travel, nature, desert, stock, shadow, morning, light, bend, twist, icon

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

Desert Sunflower

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Desert Sunflower

Desert Sunflower. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Blossoms of the Desert Sunflower (Geraea canescens) on a gravel fan in Death Valley National Park, California.

This is the first photograph I posted from my 2009 spring trip to Death Valley (March 32-April 3), from which I returned only yesterday. I’ll post more on the trip itself in the text accompanying additional photographs as I post them. I made this photograph on my last evening in the park. My basic daily plan in Death Valley is usually some variation on the following: shoot a location or two in the morning, “hang out” during the hot and harshly-lit midday period, and then shoot a couple more locations in the late afternoon and evening. On this afternoon I decided to first look for some of the colorful flowers that grow along the washes this time of year, and then to head over to Mesquite Dunes (aka “Death Valley Dunes” or “The Dunes”) to shoot at the very end of the day.

I drove to a point perhaps halfway between Stovepipe Wells and Furnace Creek where these flowers grow in profusion alongside the road when the timing and conditions are just right. Finding the flowers is almost embarrassingly easy – they grow right next to the road! Shooting them can prove to be a bit more difficult, especially in the typical Death Valley afternoon winds. While the late afternoon light was beautiful, the flowers were blowing so much in the wind that shooting them was almost impossible. I finally figured out that one key was in locating flowers with shorter, stronger stems that seemed to move less. Another key is using an appropriately fast shutter speed, which fortunately goes right along with using a large aperture for narrow DOF. Finally, once I found a flower or group of flowers, set up the composition, and focused (Live View rocks for flower photography!) it was a matter of patiently waiting for slight lulls in the wind and making several exposures as insurance against the inevitable motion blur from wind whipped plants.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.