Tag Archives: photography

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

Star Trails, The Manifold, Zabriskie Point

April 1, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 7 Comments

Star trails above the Manifold, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

One of my goals on my late-March trip to Death Valley was to do some night photography, in particular to take advantage of the nearly full moon near the end of my visit. Some of my plans did not quite work out – for example, on the night when I intended to do night photography of the moving rocks at the Racetrack Playa it was cloudy all night! However, on the final night of my visit the weather gods cooperated and I was able to make a few exposures from Zabriskie Point as the moon rose. As if to partially make up for messing up the intended Racetrack shots, the “cloud gods” were kind enough to provide me with a few high thin clouds at Zabriskie. This was one of those wonderful occasions when things actually did go as planned!

Anticipating the full moon at Zabriskie, I made a point of camping in the vicinity of Furnace Creek at the Texas Springs campground. (I expect that my habits mystified a few nearby campers. I drove in at about 2:00 p.m., grabbed a site and “marked” it by leaving a chair and a tarp, and almost immediately left – not returning until nearly 10:00 p.m. Then I was up and gone well before sunrise.) In any case, I headed down to the Badwater area in the late afternoon to photograph sunset light on the salt flats and evening clouds – following an impromptu “dinner” at the back of my car at the Badwater parking lot. It was getting fairly dark by the time I finished up at Badwater, so I headed straight up to Zabriskie. By the time I arrived the moon was just coming up over the mountain range to the east, with its light at times filtering through high clouds. During the hour I was there I made three exposures. With exposure times in the 8 to 12 minute range and followed by “dark frame exposures” of equal length, this was a slow and quiet process.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM
ISO 200, f/8, 787 seconds (not a typo!)

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

Dusk, Death Valley Dunes

March 31, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 9 Comments

Dusk light on plants and wavelike patterns of Death Valley Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

The drive to Death Valley from the San Francisco Bay Area is a long one, and even though I try to leave early I almost always arrive at Death Valley in the middle or late afternoon. This was the case on my visit during the past week. I arrived just before dinner time, set up my tent at Stovepipe Wells (or “Stove Pipe Wells” according to some of the literature at the lodge), grabbed a quick bite, and headed over to nearby Death Valley Dunes (sometimes a.k.a. “Mesquite Dunes”) to do a quick shoot in sunset and dusk light from a position along the road using a long lens. Some of the other photographs show a more “traditional” dune view, focusing on some of the larger dunes, the transverse dunes, and even the foothills of the Amargosa Range to the east, but for this one I decided to focus closer and photograph the plants growing along the closest dunes – plants greener than usual from the recent rains in the park.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 260mm
ISO 200, f/11, .5 second

keywords: death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, landscape, nature, desert, mesquite, dunes, evening, dunes, dusk, sunset, evening, light, plants, sand, pattern, wave, folds, travel, scenic, landscape, nature, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

UFOs and Their Mission

March 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Black and white photograph of a Mission District storefront with UFO flyer in the window, San Francisco, California.

The intricate and curved wrought iron work on the front of this building in San Francisco’s Mission District first caught my attention. As I came closer I thought that the underlying textures and patterns of blinds and stuff in the store and the street reflections might be interesting. Then I notice the small pamphlet taped to the window: “UFOs and their Mission.” The mystery deepens… :-)

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/80 second

keywords: the, mission, san francisco, california, usa, north america, street, urban, city, store, window, storefront, wrought, metal, iron, curves, ufos, their, mission, sign, flyer, flier, reflection, newspaper, sill, blinds, sky, columbia, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Textures, Photographs: Urban/Street

Painted Brick Walls

March 29, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Green and pink painted brick walls in San Francisco, California.

Several things catch my eye about this little scene: the contrast between the sharply defined monochromatic green bricks on the left and the wildly pink and badly painted bricks on the right, the old light fixture with its small shadow, the almost completely black line in the middle of the image where the two buildings don’t quite meet, the sliver of blue sky near the top of this shadowed area, and the very stark and harsh light.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/11, 1/400 second

keywords: san francisco, california, usa, north america, travel, urban, downtown, city, street, brick, wall, pattern, structure, architecture, light, lamp, pink, green paint, geometric, shadow, tenderloin, stock

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