Tag Archives: peak

Landscape of Brick and Glass

Landscape of Brick and Glass

Landscape of Brick and Glass. San Francisco, California. May 26, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Urban landscape black and white photograph of brick buildings in downtown San Francisco, California.

Another photograph from AT&T Park, and again right around sunset. In this case I am shooting towards the downtown San Francisco skyline, which at this time of the day is intensely lit by the setting sun – hence the high key effect on the buildings in the distance and the sky gone all the way to white. With a bit of pondering it becomes apparent that this scene containing many different (mostly brick) walls and odd sized windows on buildings topped with skylights and ventolation systems is almost as complex a landscape as you can find. I like the glow inside the upper window of the closest building.

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: brick, building, wall, roof, vent, skylight, peak, window, gutter, door, light, air conditioner, interior, arch, old, dish, antenna, glow, skyscraper, tall, distant, high key, sky, white, bright, san francisco, california, usa, travel, scenic, urban, street, downtown, landscape, cityscape, skyline, stock

Ruins, Dawn, Rhyolite

Ruins, Dawn, Rhyolite

Ruins, Dawn, Rhyolite. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Cloud-filtered dawn light washes over crumbling ruins in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada with Death Valley National Park, California and snow-capped Telescope Peak in the distance.

(More of my Death Valley photographs)

Looking back through my photos from Rhyolite in early April of this year, I found this image of several ruined and crumbling buildings against the backdrop of Amargosa Valley, Death Valley National Park and Telescope Peak, and an cloudy interesting dawn sky. One reason I thought I’d share this one is that it is a somewhat different image of the Rhyolite ghost town in that it doesn’t really include any of the iconic structures – just a more typical scene of buildings in a state of ongoing desert decay.

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: cloud, filtered, sky, blue, morning, dawn, sunrise, light, wash, abandoned, building, structure, wall, window, school, crumbling, ruins, ghost, town, rhyollite, nevada, mining, desert, amargosa, valley, mountains, panamint, range, telescope, peak, death valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, scenic, travel. stock, sage, brush

Sunrise – Telescope Peak, Amargosa Range, Bank Ruins of Rhyolite

Sunrise - Telescope Peak, Amargosa Range, Bank Ruins of Rhyolite

Sunrise – Telescope Peak, Amargosa Range, Bank Ruins of Rhyolite. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise on Telescope Peak and the Amargosa Range of Death Valley with the ruins of the Rhyollite Nevada bank building in the foreground.

This photograph attempts to pull together three iconic elements of the Rhyolite ghost town experience: the ruins of the old bank building, the view across the Amargosa Valley to the Amargosa Range (just inside Death Valley National Park), and the snow-capped summit of Death Valley’s Telescope Peak in the first light of dawn. This photograph was made just a moment before one that I earlier posted that showed the first direct light hitting the front of the bank, and in this one I was trying to nestle the distant mountains in the curve created by the top of the old wall of the weathered bank building.

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: rhyollite, ghost, town, mining, abandoned, ruins, nevada, california, usa, death valley, national park, telescope, peak, amargosa, range, mountains, valley, desert, wall, brick, sage, sky, pink, firsts light, sunrise, dawn, stock, landscape, scenic, travel

Rhyolite, Desert Mountains, Sunrise

Rhyolite, Desert Mountains, Sunrise

Rhyolite, Desert Mountains, Sunrise. Rhyolite, Nevada. April 1, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunrise light on the ruins of the bank building and other old structures in the ghost town of Rhyolite, Nevada with the Amargosa Range and snow-covered Telescope Peak beyond in Death Valley National Park, California.

I was very lucky to get almost (more on that in a moment) perfect conditions for photographing the ruins of Rhyolite, Nevada when I visited there at dawn on April 1 this year. I’ve visited twice, and both times high thin clouds were in the sky before sunrise. On the previous trip the clouds interfered with the sunrise light, but time beautiful warm light came beneath the clouds right at a dawn and washed the old ghost town with color. Better yet, this same light also illuminated the Amargosa Range across the valley and even snow-capped Telescope peak, the highest point in Death Valley National Park at over 11,000′ elevation. And there is more – the high clouds added a slightly dark texture to the early morning sky. There were only two of us there to witness this beautiful morning at Rhyollite – and I regret not getting the name of the other photographer. (I think he may live in the area. He started out shooting a Nikon SLR system and soon moved to a MF system. I’d love to see the photos he got of this scene!) So, what made it almost perfect as opposed to just plain perfect? In a word, “wind.” The wind was howling on this morning, to the point that camera shake was an issue even on the tripod!

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: sunrise, dawn, rhyolite, nevada, ghost town, ruins, bank, building, wall, tower, brick, door, window, rock, wall, abandoned, amargosa, range, mountains, desert, valley, panamint, telescope, peak, snow, capped, sky, clouds, blue, gully, light, death valley, national park, california, usa, landscape, travel, scenic, historic, stock