Tag Archives: park

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

Dunes and Mountains

2 Comments
Dunes and Mountains
Dunes and Mountains

Dunes and Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. March 31, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low dunes and the base of Tucki Mountain in evening light

At the end of my first full day photographing Death Valley this spring I headed out onto the nearby sand dunes to look for whatever might show up in the evening light. I was close to one of the most iconic dunes in the park, but I found an out-of-the-way spot far enough away from that landmark that I had this area of the dunes completely to myself. Interesting things happen to the light and colors on the sand dunes during the short period of time leading up to sunset and for a short time afterwards. The dunes pick up low angle light that makes the textures of the dunes more visible and the light changes colors — first going toward warmer colors before the sunset, and gradually transitioning toward softer and more blue tones shortly after the sun goes down.

At first I wandered straight out into the dunes — well, perhaps not quite straight, as I tend to follow my instincts and an observer might think that my path looked a bit aimless. At one point I found some higher dunes from which I could see a bit farther of toward the northeast and from which I could look down on the complex patterns of the sand. After photographing there I turned back toward the direction from which I had come, and I saw this section of lower dunes dropping toward the edge of the sand, with the background of the lower folds of Tucki Mountain in late light.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Creosote Bush, Dunes, Evening

Leave a comment
Creosote Bush, Dunes, Evening
Creosote Bush, Dunes, Evening

Creosote Bush, Dunes, Evening. Death Valley National Park, California. April 2, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A lone creosote among sand dunes in evening light

This photograph is the product of repetitive evening dune wandering, often of a somewhat random nature. Since I had been out and about for many hours earlier on this day, I didn’t get back to camp from my “morning” adventures until close to 4:00 PM. This left me with less time to travel for my evening shoot, so I picked a nearby location with plenty of sand dunes and headed out toward the dunes a bit more than an hour before sunset.

I started with only the most general of plans, but with confidence that there is always plenty to see in such places — small abstract patterns, the larger curves and tonal variations of the sand, tiny subjects including the tracks of animals, the many plants that grow here, and the changing light itself. As I wandered into an out-of-the-way area of these dunes where no one else was photographing I simply slowed down, looked, and followed my instincts and interest. As I moved along I found myself on the top of a small dune and saw some possible views across the ocean of sand toward the far mountains. Looking for compositions in this landscape I spotted this solitary creosote bush in a low area, softly illuminated by a bit of remaining evening light. I moved a bit to position it against a lighter area of sand below the curving shadow that crosses the frame and then made a few exposures in the post-sunset light.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Sunrise Haze, Panamint Mountains

Leave a comment
Sunrise Haze, Panamint Mountains
Sunrise Haze, Panamint Mountains

Sunrise Haze, Panamint Mountains. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Haze from airborne dust above the crest of the Panamint Mountains at dawn

I suppose that I was the “victim” of a sort of natural April Fool’s joke on this April 1 morning. I woke up very early, thinking I might photograph from high along the spine of the Panamint Mountains east of Death Valley. I was on the road in the dark, and as I got closer to my goal and the light began to increase enough to see a bit I noticed that it was hazy — the sort of haze that I associate with dust storms in this part of the world. But there was no dust storm, at least not where I was — just a lot of stuff in the air. Since there were no clouds, I figured that I would get above it by the time I reached my goal at over 6000′ of elevation. I topped the final climb onto the ridge where I could look into Death Valley… and was greeted with haze so thick that it almost looked more like fog (almost an impossibility here), and the floor of the Valley was completely invisible.

Such conditions could be disappointing for someone looking for a “sunrise shot,” but I actually love unusual conditions, especially when they involve mist and haze and fog and clouds. I covered the short distance remaining to reach the end of the road, parked and unloaded camera gear, and looked around to try to figure out how to photograph in these unexpected circumstances. A few minutes later the sun rose thought the haze, and I made a few photographs. I decided that I would likely have to remain here a while and observe the landscape gradually become visible as light penetrated down to lower elevations and as the dust-filled atmosphere thinned a bit. I turned my attention away from the deep valley and towards the ridge leading away to the north, where the thin light illuminated a landscape of shadow and light gradually fading into the distance.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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

Trail Canyon, Dust Storm Haze

Leave a comment
Trail Canyon, Dust Storm Haze
Trail Canyon, Dust Storm Haze

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

Trail Canyon and Death Valley obscured by dense morning haze from desert dust storms.

I had never seen a view quite like this one from this spot before, and I don’t recall seeing conditions quite like this in Death Valley National Park. I awoke very early — well before dawn — and headed up into the Panamint Mountains to the west of Death Valley, aiming for a familiar high location with panoramic views. I had several sorts of photographs in mind, including detail photographs of very small components of the larger landscape, the possibility of shooting directly into the light of the rising sun, and photographs of this deep canyon cutting down from the ridges toward the valley floor.

As I headed toward this spot I was surprised by the amount of haze in the air as the first light arrived. When I’ve seen such conditions before dust storms almost always followed, but I didn’t see any evidence of their development on this morning. (Later someone suggested to me that high winds farther to the west might have raised dust there and that it may have travelled over this direction.) I arrived at the summit ridge at around 6000′ expecting to see the view across and perhaps down into Death Valley, but instead I found myself looking down into a soupy haze that filled the Valley to this level and perhaps a bit higher. A short time later the sun rose through this murk and began to backlight it, creating an intense glow in the atmosphere and muting the small details of the mysterious landscape. The great Valley itself was virtually invisible in the thick haze, luminous with the morning backlight slanting in from the east.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

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.