Tag Archives: rain

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

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga

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Sand Storm, Sunset Virga
Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm

Sand Storm, Sunset Virga. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Virga drops from sunset clouds above a desert sand storm.

This photograph represents Death Valley as a place of “apocalyptic beauty.” Most of the time this landscape is quiet, and the predominant impressions it makes on me are about stillness and immense space. But it can also produce incredibly dynamic, powerful, and even intimidating conditions, sometimes without a whole lot of prior notice.

This scene is a conjunction of three conditions that I’ve only experienced together a few times there. A weather front was moving through and trying to drop rain on the landscape — here the clouds are releasing virga, curtains of rainfall that don’t make it to the ground. Extreme winds from the southwest were whipping up a sand storm that was rising into the Amargosa Mountains to the east of the valley. (I was standing in tremendous winds and blowing sand when I made this photograph.) Then all of this came together with a brief moment of sunset light as the rain was clearing from the west to leave an open sky in the direction of the setting sun.

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 and Amazon.

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

Stormy Evening, Sunset Light

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Stormy Evening, Sunset Light
Sunset light on peaks of the Amargosa Mountains, backed by stormy skies and sand storm dust.

Stormy Evening, Sunset Light. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Sunset light on peaks of the Amargosa Mountains, backed by stormy skies and sand storm dust.

This is yet one more photograph from a wild Death Valley afternoon and evening in early April. Beforehand I was already aware of weather forecasts that included dust storms, and I anticipated both strong winds and perhaps other challenges… but also the possibility of some very special conditions of the atmosphere and light. Late in the afternoon, as the winds rose, we headed up the valley in the direction most likely to be affected by the combination of wind, sand, and rain. Sure enough, we soon ran into strong winds and blowing sand, and the mountains ahead were largely obscured by a sand and dust cloud blowing northeast out of the valley.

Photographing in these conditions is not easy nor particularly fun, to be honest. Most often the winds are too strong for even a stout tripod, and lens changes are very problematic. I often empty a set of strategies based around photographing from in or near a vehicle, of shooting handheld, and exposing myself to the worst conditions just long enough to get the shot — though I often quickly make several “safety shot,” given all of the variables in play. Just before sunset we ended up near the dunes that were the source of most of the sand. Here the winds were extremely strong and the conditions hellish. I got out briefly and worked from the shelter of the leeward side of the vehicle. This was one of the last photographs of the day, made as sunset light fell on some peaks of the Funeral Range, against a backdrop of storm clouds and with a bit of dust and virgo beginning to intrude on the right.

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 and Amazon.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: People In Landscape, Photographs: Southern California

Water Tanks, Mountains and Plain

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Water Tanks, Mountains and Plain
Two abandoned water tanks at Carrizo Plain National Monument in spring

Water Tanks, Mountains and Plain. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Two abandoned water tanks at Carrizo Plain National Monument in spring.

These old and apparently abandoned water tanks sit over a small seasonal stream a good distance up above the floor of the Carrizo Plain. You would think that the purpose of the tanks would be obvious, but I’m not so sure. I did a bit of (less-than-diligent) research to try to discover their purpose, but what little I came up with seemed to have less of the character of being based on primary sources and more than of something reportedly heard by someone who was told something by someone who thought they remembered that… You get the picture. I can think of two possibilities. As some sources report, they could have been built to ensure a year-round water supply for cattle operations. It also seems possible that they could have been connected to resource extraction operations, such as those at Soda Lake.

The presence of the tanks is a reminder that this landscape (like most landscapes, to be honest) has a strong human element — it isn’t exactly wilderness! When people visit the Carrizo today they most likely come to see the natural phenomenon of the springtime wildflowers. But the place has been shaped by oil exploration and (nearby) extraction, cattle ranching, “mining” of various sorts, and more. All of that aside, the backdrop for these remnant structures, especially on a spring day when rain showers alternated with sunshine, is an immense and spectacular 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 and Amazon.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Evening Clouds, Winter Wetlands

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Evening Clouds, Winter Wetlands
“Evening Clouds, Winter Wetlands” — Dissipating rain clouds at dusk above winter wetland landscape

This past weekend I was doing the long drive back from Death Valley National Park to the San Francisco Bay Areas. This is quite a drive — a long one that takes the better part of a full day, and a route that begins in one of the most arid locations in North America and ends in the cool and moist Bay Area. I have various ways to break up the long drive, and one of them is often to make a final stop at one of the great Central Valley wetland areas a couple of hours from my destination.

In fact, that was my plan on this trip. I wasn’t sure of the weather of my timing, but as I came to the base of Tehachapi Pass in Bakersfield it looked more like my schedule and the weather might cooperate, so I eschewed the usual I-5 homebound route and instead headed up Route 99, with a plan to cut over to wetland further up the Valley. I arrived to find… not too many birds (it was, after all, late in the season) but ponds full of welcome water reflecting a sky filled with dissipating rain clouds.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer

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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email


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