Tag Archives: photographer

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People

Desert Canyon Hiking

May 7, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Hiking down a narrow desert slot canyon

We (Patty and I) spent some good time in Death Valley earlier this spring, hiking and photographing in many interesting places in Death Valley. This trip brought some, uh, “special” weather on almost every day: huge dust storms, strong winds, rain, you name it. On a couple of days we escaped into narrow desert canyons, where the steep walls cut off most of the wind and produce the stillness and quiet that are so special in these places.

The hike into this canyon began along the upper edge of one of the giant alluvial fans that spread out into the valley from the lower ends of almost all canyons at the base of the desert mountain ranges. We hiked across to a wash, dropped in, and headed up into the canyon, replacing the expansive views of the giant valley with the constrained and intimate views of the interior of the canyon. In a few spots this canyon became quite narrow — never close to a squeeze, but narrow enough that we could not see beyond the next bend.

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: Photographers

Photographer, Death Valley

April 22, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Photographer Patricia Emerson Mitchell at work in Death Valley National Park

Patricia Emerson Mitchell at work in the desert landscape of Death Valley National Park in morning light. Our morning here started much earlier, well before sunrise, and we walked out across the playa and around the side of dunes before sunrise. We arrived at the dunes just as the first light arrived, hitting the mountains to our west and then working its way down to the valley floor and across to us. Landscape photography might seem like a rather leisurely pursuit — after all, mountains don’t move much! — but at these times of marginal light things can happen very quickly.

We continued photographing after sunrise, enjoying the chance to explore the nearly endless subjects among the forms and colors and textures of the dunes. Eventually the sun would rise high enough to diminish the beauty of the light and it would be time to leave. It was perhaps approaching that time when I stopped atop a low dune and saw Patty photographing across the landscape, with her long shadow extending in front of her camera and the distant mountains of the Panamint Range rising in beyond.

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

Photographers, Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People, Photographs: Photographers

Macro Photographer, Death Valley

April 16, 2016 G Dan Mitchell 3 Comments

Photographer Patricia Emerson Mitchell at work photographing the small things in Death Valley

This is perhaps the typical photographic pose for my wife, Patty Emerson Mitchell, when out photographing — down on the ground, intently photographing some small thing that I probably wouldn’t have even noticed. Her speciality is in “seeing” flowers, often not as literal objective depictions of these things but as vehicles for exploring color and line and texture and shape and curve. A flower is a wonderful thing, but sometimes it can be many other things, too. On this morning we had stopped near a section of the Death Valley playa where there is a bit of water, and I had wandered off to photograph mountains and sky and the playa. She walked down toward the playa, photographed that stuff a little bit and then headed back toward the car as I continued to work.

Eventually the sun was high enough and I and had photographed here long enough that it was time to head back myself, too. I figured that she might be waiting in the car, but then I remembered, “No, she will be crouched down in the gravel, lens an inch or two from something interesting that I probably stepped over, making photographs.” I had photographed in Death Valley for quite a few years, not unaware that there were flowers, but not paying them all that much attention. On the first trip there that she took with me, for the first time I saw — or, more accurately, was shown — that there are small flowers and plants almost everywhere you look, even on the apparently rocky surface of a dry playa or even under a light snowfall.

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

The Photographer, Queens Plaza

March 18, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A photographer waits for subway train, Manhattan

I actually was not stalking this photographer, though he ended up in more than one of my photographs from this morning, and it two subway stations. We had taken the holiday historic subway train uptown and were waiting in a station for another train, so I spent a little time photographing my surroundings and the very interesting people — a combination of the usual subway riders and a slightly different crowd that came out for this event.

Standing on the platform I kept my eyes open for anyone who “looked like a photo,” and this fellow, standing apart and not interacting much at all, caught my attention. When I saw him here the only thing that gave him away as a possible street photographer was the camera bag, but no camera came out of it. However, later, as I photographed out the train window as it stopped at another station, I made a photograph of several women lined up near a turnstile plus other assorted people arranged in the scene — and I realized later that the same fellow appeared in the shot, this time taking out his camera as he headed to the station exit.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: photographer

Desert Canyon Hiking

Photographer, Death Valley

Macro Photographer, Death Valley

The Photographer, Queens Plaza

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.