Tag Archives: playa

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

Evening Clouds Above the Panamint Range

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Evening Clouds Above the Panamint Range
Colorful evening clouds above the Panamint Range and Death Valley.

Evening Clouds Above the Panamint Range. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Colorful evening clouds above the Panamint Range and Death Valley.

In previous posts about this Death Valley trip I mentioned that storm-related closures forced me to modify my plans when I arrived in the park. I ended up visiting a few out-of-the way locations on foot, areas not far from central attractions of the park, but perhaps less visited. (In one case, barely visited at all from what I could tell.) But I also made a last-minute decision to drive up to Dantes View one evening, and the sky cooperated.

Quite often the Death Valley sky is… just plain blue. So I was surprised and pleased to spot this interesting cloud formation building over the Panamint Range. Since this is more traditionally a morning photography location, I was pretty happy to see the clouds, since otherwise much of the landscape is in rather deep shadows in the evening. The view is familiar, but remains astonishing — from this location we look down more than 5000′ to the otherworldly features of Death Valley, up to the 11,000’+ Telescope Peak topping the Panamints, and in the far distance a few snow-covered Sierra peaks are sometimes visible.

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

Playa Patterns

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Playa Patterns
Patters of earth, water flow, and salt deposits in Badwater Basin, Death Valley.

Playa Patterns. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Patterns of earth, water flow, and salt deposits in Badwater Basin, Death Valley.

In a roundabout way, this photograph is the result of last-minute changes to my plans during my recent Death Valley visit, changes necessitated by the closure of other places I intended to visit there. I took advantage of this situation by more carefully exploring some popular (and some less popular) locations in my central portions of the park. And that led to me being being at Dantes View on a rather cold evening. This is a location with some rather remarkable views, stretching from distant Sierra peaks to mountains near Las Vegas.

I arrived while there was still direct light on the salt flats and other features in Death Valley, and then I continued to photograph right on through sunset until early dusk. I made this photograph was the sun-shadow line was just passing over this area of salt deposits in, more or less, Badwater Basin. From Dantes View, more than 5000′ above Death Valley, these features look quite different than what we see when we are among them, and I used a long lens to isolate interesting sections of this otherworldly landscape.

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

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains

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Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains
In dawn light, the Panamint Mountains rise from Death Valley to snow-covered Telescope Piak.

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

In dawn light, the Panamint Mountains rise from Death Valley to snow-covered Telescope Piak.

At the current time many road (and the locations they access) in Death Valley National Park are closed as a result of earlier flooding and washouts. Before I went there this past week I was aware of some closures, but when I arrived I discovered that some of my planned destinations were unavailable. I changed plans, improvised, and still found plenty to see and do in the park, and my list of planned locations remains for my next visit.

If plans had not changed, I would not likely have come back with this photograph. I often make relatively last-minute decisions about where to photograph based on light and sky conditions, and when I noticed that the air was clearer than usual — important given the vast distances in this park — I headed to a location with a view of the first morning light on the Panamint Mountains and their snow-capped summit of Telescope Peak. To give some idea of the distances, the highest peak is perhaps roughly twenty-five miles from my camera position.

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.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Alkali Flats and Dunes, Morning

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Alkali Flats and Dunes, Morning
A solitary creosote bush on sand dunes above remnants of old alkali flats, Death Valley National Park.

Alkali Flats and Dunes, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A solitary creosote bush on sand dunes above remnants of old alkali flats, Death Valley National Park.

Perhaps this scene looks a bit familiar? It is the same subject as in another black and white photograph that I shared recently, though this time composed a bit differently to fit the portrait orientation and include the curving alkali flats in the foreground. I often photograph such a subject in more than one way. At a minimum I’ll try to find a portrait and a landscape mode version of the scene if possible. In the landscape version of this scene I omitted most of the lighter foreground material, but by using portrait mode here I was able to use the leading curve in the foreground.

These old alkali formations among the dunes fascinate me. So far I have not found too much information about them, though it seems that they are layers of material that must have been created from silt that was once liquid and which dried and cracked. In places the formations are thick and quite solid, but in others they are incredibly thin and fragile. (I may walk on the thicker formations occasionally, but I always try to detour around the thinner ones so as to avoid damaging them.) Unlike other playa surfaces, these are often also shaped by the forces of wind-blown sand.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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.