Tag Archives: obscure

Photographs: Nature

Wildfire Smoke, Early Morning

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Wildfire Smoke, Early Morning
layers of thick wildfire smoke obscure the morning light

Wildfire Smoke, Early Morning. Along US 395, California. September 18, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

layers of thick wildfire smoke obscure the morning light

This was the culmination of more than twelve hours of observation of a developing wildfire located east of the Sierra Nevada, roughly between Lee Vining and Mammoth Lakes. The previous evening I finished a hike into the Sierra backcountry not far from Tioga Pass, returning to my car well after sunset. As I drove back down Lee Vining Canyon in the near-darkness I saw a big tower of smoke to the southeast and the tell-tale glow of fire on the bottom of the cloud. The next morning I woke up and headed straight back toward Mono Lake, from which I figured I could photograph conditions related to the fire.

I began photographing Mono Lake itself, where the lake was still mostly visible with only a few thin smoke clouds floating over it. But very soon this changed as winds brought the smoke right over Mono Lake, casting a pall over the scene all the way up to Conway Summit. My goal was to head south along the eastern escarpment, but as I did so the smoke only became thicker. I made this photograph at a point closer to the fire, where the smoke was very, very thick, enough so to take away most of the sunlight and add a post-apocalyptic quality to the scene.

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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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Wetlands Island, Fog

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Wetlands Island, Fog
Thick tule fog obscures the view of a San Joaquin Valley wetlands island

Wetlands Island, Fog. San Joaquin Valley, California. February 15, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Thick tule fog obscures the view of a San Joaquin Valley wetlands island

I can’t think of nicer weather for California’s Great Central Valley! (Well, unless you really need to get somewhere by car, in which case this kind of pea soup fog will slow you down, drive you nuts, and make you worry about those drivers who insist on traveling through it at high speeds.) I had a pretty good idea that it was going to be “this kind of day” as I approached this favorite bird photography location. Most of the drive had been clear, but a few miles away the fog suddenly thickened and soon I was creeping along narrow back roads at low speeds.

Our photography begin in fog so thick that we really could not see any of the birds that we heard, even though they were obviously not that far away. Finally it began to thin enough that we could see a few birds, dimly, though the mist. We photographed them for a while, and then I decided to make another circuit of the spot before the fog dissipated. Partway along the fog became less thick and it began to glow from above. I stopped, switched gears from bird photographer to landscape photographer, and made several photographs of these mostly obscured islands and trees and bushes.

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

Dust Storm, Desert Mountains

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Dust Storm, Desert Mountains
Dust from a desert sand storm fills the air and obscures mountains

Dust Storm, Desert Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dust from a desert sand storm fills the air and obscures mountains

You’ll have to look closely to make sense of this one. Made on April 1st, there is a certain sense about this photograph of a minor April Fools joke played at my expense. I had experienced several days of very dusty conditions in Death Valley. On the first day I was way up in the Panamint Mountains at dawn, only to discover that I was still within a cloud of dusty air the extended up to well above 8000′ of elevation. I never did figure out where it was coming from, as the Valley itself certainly wasn’t producing it. That night the winds came to the Valley and blew a decent sand storm through my camp. The next day I figured that I would try to find a way to evade the blowing dust.

I got up very early — as always — and headed out of Death Valley and to the east toward Nevada. I then took a long back road route back into the park. This route took me on back-country gravel roads through the Amargosa Range, eventually dropping down into a deep canyon before heading back to Death Valley. Driving in these mountains and down this canyon, I forgot about the dusty conditions — here there wasn’t more than a bit of hazy atmosphere and the wind didn’t work its way into this canyon either. At the bottom of the canyon the route finally emerged from a narrow canyon and arrived at the top of a huge gravel fan stretching down toward the Valley. And here I saw the extent of the dust and wind, as the entire Valley was full of dust that was well-distributed yet thick enough to almost completely obscure the mountain range on the other side. My day of clear weather came to an abrupt end as I descended into the dust and wind and headed back to my camp.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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, Photographs: Southern California

Dust Storm, Dunes

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Dust Storm, Dunes
An afternoon desert dust storm obscures sand dunes

Dust Storm, Dunes. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

An afternoon desert dust storm obscures sand dunes

Where there are dunes, there will be sand storms and dust storms. The dunes are largely the result of geography that interrupts prevailing winds and causes them to drop their load. When unusually high winds blow through these areas and through dry playas, they inevitably pick up the loose sand and dust and it becomes airborne once again. The immediate effects on a visitor to such places at these times are several. There is dust and sand everywhere — you simply cannot escape it. The night before the wind and sand came through my camp. Fortunately I use a very strong mountaineering when I visit Death Valley since I’ve seen these winds and what they can do. So I used every stake I had, attached stabilizing lines to the tie-out points on the fly, and zipped everything up tightly. I heard the wind and the sand, but my tent was snug and secure. Others were not so lucky (or so prepared?) and all night I heard people outside in the campground trying to tie down flapping tents, recover blowing gear, pound in more tent stakes… or giving up and crawling into their cars. As tight as my tent is, in the morning there was a thin coat of dust everywhere inside.

The next day I headed up into the mountains where I figured it might be less windy. I spent a lot of the time in a deep canyon, and I did escape the wind. In fact, I was pretty much cut off from the outside world — and, therefore, a bit surprised to emerge from the bottom of the canyon into Death Valley to find that the dust was still blowing like crazy. The air was so thick that mountains on the far side of the valley were almost completely obscured, and as I drove south down the valley there were strong cross-winds and blowing sand. I stopped at this slightly elevated spot off to the side of some dunes, put on a long lens (in the relatively dust-free confines of my vehicle) and photographed the dunes, aiming the camera straight into the blowing dust. Yes, this is what a sand storm looks like. (And, yes, I’ve seen worse. Much worse.)

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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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.