Tag Archives: panorama

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Black Point and Negit Island

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Black Point and Negit Island
Tufa formations, Black Point, Negit Island, and distant hills in sunset light at Mono Lake.

Black Point and Negit Island. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Tufa formations, Black Point, Negit Island, and distant hills in sunset light at Mono Lake.

Yes, this is yet one more — but probably the last — of the photographs of this lovely autumn evening at Mono Lake a few years ago. Most of the others feature the rising full moon, but I made this one a few minutes before that event, while the last of the day’s sun was still streaming over the Sierra crest and striking the tops of the mountains to the east of Mono Basin.

Besides being a photograph of a beautiful time of day at the lake, the scene includes a number of important little elements that might not be immediately obvious. In the foreground we see a few of the ubiquitous tufa formations that dot the border of the lake, quite a few of which were revealed when Los Angeles’ thirst for Sierra Nevada dropped the lake level. This also reveals sections of the curving lake shore that would have been underwater some decades ago. At the far left is the dark bulk of Black Point, and intriguing formation that few get to actually visit. Just of Black Point’s shoulder is Negit Island, one of two volcanic islands in the lake. to its right you can barely see the low north side of larger Paoho island. And those far mountains where a bit of sun still shines are a very long ways away, and it a location that is pretty close to inaccessible.

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: Germany, Photographs: Travel

Heidelberg Altstadt

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Heidelberg Altstadt
Heidelberg Altstadt and the Neckar River, from the Heidelberg Castle

Heidelberg Altstadt. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Altstadt Heidelberg and the Neckar River, from the Heidelberg Castle

Before I write about this photograph, a little story. I have been posting daily photographs for close to fifteen years straight now. (I need to dig into the archives and determine the exact date — there may be an anniversary coming up.) I do this partially as a matter of discipline related to my music background… where we refer to this as “practice.” Generating a continuous flow of photographs, even if not every one is a masterpiece, is more a matter of exposing this process of practice. But I almost missed today! I had several photograph ready to post, but just before dinner I realized that I had not yet posted one for today! Close call, but here it is.

I made this photograph from the Heidelberger Schloss (castle) nearly a decade ago on one of our several visits to this city. (We’ve come to think of Heidelberg as home base for Europe visits as we have relatives who live there.) The photograph looks out across the old town (Altstadt) of Heidelberg toward the Neckar River and the flatlands in the distance.

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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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

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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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

Pinnacles And Desert Mountains

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Pinnacles And Desert Mountains
Distant desert mountians rise beyond rocky pinnacles in midday light.

Pinnacles And Desert Mountains. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Distant desert mountians rise beyond rocky pinnacles in midday light.

Photographers would typically not photograph a subject like this one on a day like this or at this time of day — close to the middle of a perfectly clear day, with stark desert light. But that’s when I typically pass through this area, always on my travels to and from Death Valley. On this spring day I had gotten on the road very early to start the long drive, planning to arrive in the park by mid-afternoon, so being in this spot was a secondary effect of that planning

But this challenging midday desert light is perhaps more typical of such scenes, with their stark contrasts between bright light and deep, sharp-edged shadows. Here the foreground pinnacles are backlit and almost in silhouette, while in the distance the lower reaches of a giant desert mountain range begin to rise from this broad 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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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