Tag Archives: outdoor

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills

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First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills
First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills

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

The first morning light touches hills at Zabriskie Point with ridges of the Panamint Range visible in the distance, Death Valley National Park, California.

When I visit Death Valley – typically, at least once each year – I usually try to seek out some of the less iconic scenes. However, I still do visit the icons, too. And Zabriskie Point at dawn may be the best known and perhaps the most photographed “icon” in the park. When I do go to Zabriskie it is usually for one of two reasons. First, if the light or conditions are truly special, I’ll be there with everyone else when the sun comes up! Second, I have a vague project to try to photograph aspects of Zabriskie that are different from the icon views across Gower Gulch or of Manley Beacon. This photographs sort of fits into that second category.

Those who have photographed here more than once become acquainted with the way that the morning light typically unfolds at Zabriskie. The pre-dawn light begins to softly light the entire scene, and before long the very first dawn light strikes the highest ridges of the Panamint Range on the opposite side of the Valley to the west. This light works its way down the face of that range, gradually illuminating the ridges and valleys of the range and spreading horizontally. It then begins to hit the Valley floor and works its way east and closer to Zabriskie and the rest of the ranges along the east side of the Valley. Although the closest hills are in shadow, one can almost sense the beams of light over head that are reaching into the Valley and sense that the angle of this light is gradually working down toward the closest ridges. Then the first light appears on the higher features around Zabriskie Point, at first soft but quickly increasing in intensity.

This photograph was made at this moment when that firs light arrives. The subject is a darker and rugged ridge that rises between the usual vantage points and the backdrop of the distant Panamint range, which in this photograph is somewhat obscured by the hazy atmosphere on a day when giant dust storms were just beginning to develop further north in the Valley.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Southern California

Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek

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Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek
Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek

Afternoon, Upper Bubbs Creek. Kings Canyon National Park, California. July 31, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Late afternoon light on the forest and distant peaks on Upper Bubbs Creek, Kings Canyon National Park.

Since this photograph comes from an entirely different adventure, a bit of background information is probably in order. Among my summer pack trips, each year I join my friends from the talusdancers, a loosely connected group of folks who like to backpack, for at least one “big trip” in the Sierra. I’ve been doing this for nearly 15 years now. This year’s trip revisited some familiar spots (Tyndall Creek in the upper Kern), some that I had not visited for quite a few years (Forrester Pass), and one area that I have never before visited despite thinking about it for over 30 years (Milestone Basin and the Lake South America area). Near the end of July we headed out of Onion Valley to cross Kearsarge Pass, turned south to enter the Upper Kern River drainage via Forrester Pass, explored there for a few day, and then exited by way of brutal Shepherd Pass.

Forrester Pass is the second-highest point on the John Muir Trail (or “the JMT,” as most refer to it) at 13,200′, and we planned to cross it from north to south on the third day of our trip. At the end of day two we dropped down to Vidette Meadow and then headed up canyon to upper Bubbs Creek where the old Center Basin trail splits off from the main JMT where we made camp. This photograph was made in the late afternoon as we lazed about, doing a bit of laundry and thinking about the big climb ahead of us the next day. The view beyond the foreground and the closer trees is back down the canyon of Bubbs Creek, with the lowering sun lighting the canyon walls.

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

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

Beach Walkers, Winter Sunset

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Winter Sunset, Panther Beach

Beach Walkers, Winter Sunset. Pacific Coast, California. January 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A group of beachwalkers cross the sand before sunset at the end of a winter day.

I made this photograph last winter, but didn’t rediscover it until yesterday when I had the opportunity to go back though some work from early this year. It is probably another case of initially viewing the photograph from the perspective of what I thought I was shooting at the time – and it wasn’t successful from that perspective – versus coming back to it with some aesthetic distance and seeing it for what it is. It also helped, I think, to lose some of the sky and present it as a 2:1 ratio panoramic format.

This was actually my first visit to this particular beach. I had driven past many times without stopping, but for some reason on this evening I pulled over and wandered down to the beach, shooting there and from the bluffs above the beach.

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.

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Commentary

Workshop on the Business of Outdoor and Nature Photography

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This looks interesting: Gary Crabbe and Charlie Borland are presenting a Business of Outdoor and Nature Photography Workshop this November in the Bryce Canyon area. They say that the workshop takes place during the day, leaving photographers time to do photography during the “good light” before and after. Of course, any photographer knows that this means completely packed 18 hour days starting at 3:30 a.m. and concluding when you can no longer keep your eyes open. :-)