Tag Archives: range

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

Winter Dawn, Panamint Mountains

Image Leave a comment
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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Eastern Escarpment

Image Leave a comment
Eastern Escarpment
A section of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada.

Eastern Escarpment. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

A section of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada.

This is another in a short series of photographs I made of a section of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra Nevada this fall. I had spent several day photographing aspen color — with a side trip up to the White Mountains to visit the bristlecone pine forest — and as I started home I noticed somewhat unusual conditions for midday that seemed like they might just work for photography. Specifically, there were high, thin clouds muting the harsh sun just a bit. So I wandered off the main route a bit and poked around looking for interesting views pack up toward the peaks.

This scene encompasses a range from the lowest hills right above the valley all the way to the peaks at the summit of the range. This particular cross section is a bit unusual, as it really includes hills and mountains from bottom to top — desert hills in the foreground and the alpine zone far above.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: White Mountains

Inyo Sunrise

Image Leave a comment
Inyo Sunrise
Looking south from the White Mountains toward the Inyo Range at sunrise.

Inyo Sunrise. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Looking south from the White Mountains toward the Inyo Range at sunrise.

On my aspen photography trip to the Eastern Sierra during week three of October I took one day off from photographing the autumn leaves and headed east into the White Mountains to visit the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. It had been a few years since my last visit, and it seemed like time. I left the town of Bishop in predawn darkness, planning to be at an overlook of the High Sierra at dawn. Dawn on the Sierra is always impressive, though the photographic challenges on this morning were many. But just at sunrise I looked back to the Southeast, across the Inyo Range and all the way to the peaks of Death Valley, to see an impressive sequence of silhouetted peaks..

From here I continued on to the higher reaches of the White Mountains, an alpine moonscape of round and very high peaks, covered in many places by the remarkable bristlecone pine forest. These trees survive in one of the most challenging environments in California, at high elevations in these dry and barren mountains. At this late-season date there was hardly anyone else there. I saw a couple of cars at the (closed) visitor center, and I was entirely alone for an hour or so at the highest, most-distant grove of trees.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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

Photographs: Nature

Stream, Boulders, and Alpine Meadows, Evening

Image Leave a comment
Stream, Boulders, and Alpine Meadows, Evening
Evening comes to boulder strewn alpine meadows to the west of high Sierra Nevada peaks.

Stream, Boulders, and Alpine Meadows, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Evening comes to boulder strewn alpine meadows to the west of high Sierra Nevada peaks.

This photograph comes from I might characterize as a “group hike” up into the high country from our “photographers’ base camp” in the Sierra backcountry back in August. My recollection is that this was the first full day if good weather after some challenges on the first two days. Most often we sort of wander off individually or in small groups to photograph, but on this late afternoon we all headed the same direction, following a stream up toward some high country locations that we knew about.

As we walked that way we frequently stopped at various points of photographic interest. First there was a cascade, then a waterfall that was flowing impressively following the previous day’s rain. Above this the trees became smaller and more widely separated, and too we were walking though timberline country, where meadows and boulder strewn terrain predominated. A tall ridge to our west eventually cut off the evening light, and I made this photograph just before I reversed course and started back towards camp.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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