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

First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills

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First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills
First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills

First Light on Zabriskie Point Hills. Death Valley National Park, California. April 3, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The first morning light touches hills at Zabriskie Point with ridges of the Panamint Range visible in the distance, Death Valley National Park, California.

When I visit Death Valley – typically, at least once each year – I usually try to seek out some of the less iconic scenes. However, I still do visit the icons, too. And Zabriskie Point at dawn may be the best known and perhaps the most photographed “icon” in the park. When I do go to Zabriskie it is usually for one of two reasons. First, if the light or conditions are truly special, I’ll be there with everyone else when the sun comes up! Second, I have a vague project to try to photograph aspects of Zabriskie that are different from the icon views across Gower Gulch or of Manley Beacon. This photographs sort of fits into that second category.

Those who have photographed here more than once become acquainted with the way that the morning light typically unfolds at Zabriskie. The pre-dawn light begins to softly light the entire scene, and before long the very first dawn light strikes the highest ridges of the Panamint Range on the opposite side of the Valley to the west. This light works its way down the face of that range, gradually illuminating the ridges and valleys of the range and spreading horizontally. It then begins to hit the Valley floor and works its way east and closer to Zabriskie and the rest of the ranges along the east side of the Valley. Although the closest hills are in shadow, one can almost sense the beams of light over head that are reaching into the Valley and sense that the angle of this light is gradually working down toward the closest ridges. Then the first light appears on the higher features around Zabriskie Point, at first soft but quickly increasing in intensity.

This photograph was made at this moment when that firs light arrives. The subject is a darker and rugged ridge that rises between the usual vantage points and the backdrop of the distant Panamint range, which in this photograph is somewhat obscured by the hazy atmosphere on a day when giant dust storms were just beginning to develop further north in the Valley.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

From the Panamints to the Sierra

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From the Panamints to the Sierra
From the Panamints to the Sierra

From the Panamints to the Sierra. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2009. © Copyright 2009 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A landscape of high desert ridges and mountain ranges extends from Death Valley’s Panamint Range to the peaks of the southern Sierra Nevada in late afternoon light.

This lookout, high in the Panamint Range at the end of a gravel road, is one of my favorite places to be at the end of the day in Death Valley National Park. Perhaps because it is a bit less well-known, because it has a name that is harder to pronounce and remember than “Dantes View,” due to its location at the end of this gravel road which at one point passes along a very exposed section of the ridge, and because it is farther from some of the popular places to stay in the park the number of visitors here remains small. I frequently have the place completely to myself or perhaps share it with one or two others.

Behind the camera position is a stupendous view down into Death Valley itself, many thousands of feet below. But in the other direction, looking back towards the west, a series of rugged high desert valleys and mountain ranges extends all the way to the highest peaks of the southern Sierra Nevada range. In the morning, the front light can show the details of snow and rock on the summit of the Sierra, but in the evening the light crossing the intermediate ridges picks up late-afternoon haze and mutes the details of the scene.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning

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'Rim of the World' Overlook, Morning
'Rim of the World' Overlook, Morning

‘Rim of the World’ Overlook, Morning. Sierra Nevada, California. May 7, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The view toward Yosemite and the High Sierra from the ‘Rim of the World’ overlook above the Tuolumne River canyon along highway 120.

‘Rim of the World’ is the name given to a scenic overlook above the deep valley of the Tuolumne River along route 120, the northern route into Yosemite National Park. It is something of an odd place. It is a fairly pedestrian traffic pullout, though it overlooks the immense and impressively deep canyon of the Tuolumne. But the view is at least partially obstructed by things like power lines. However, it is a view that on clear days can extend great distances to very high Sierra peaks.

I most often simply blow past the spot on my way to or from the park. However, on this morning as I passed I thought the low morning light looked interesting so I found a spot to turn around and drove back. There was a bit of high cloudiness, and the light was coming across the folds of these foreground hills from the right, lighting up various bits of ridge and trees and illuminating the morning haze enough to amplify the effect of distance. If I’m not mistaken, the further ridge with its faintly seen snow fields is in the area of Mount Hoffman.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Rocky Creek Bridge, Big Sur Coastline

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Rocky Creek Bridge, Big Sur Coastline
Rocky Creek Bridge, Big Sur Coastline

Rocky Creek Bridge, Big Sur Coastline. South of Monterey, California. May 13, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Bluff, cliffs, seastacks, and fog-shrouded coastal hills along the Big Sur coastline of California.

The bridge in the distance beneath the rounded, fog-topped hill is the Rocky Creek Bridge. (It is sometimes mistaken for the famous Bixby Bridge, which is a bit further south along the coast highway.) I’m very familiar with this area, having photographed from here many times. In fact, later on this morning I was up in the hills beyond the hilltop home while investigating a gravel road that heads back up into the mountains here.

I wanted to juxtapose a range of near and far bits of the bluffs above the shoreline cliffs in this scene. While the coastal meadows will turn brown very soon, on this mid-May date and in this relatively wet year they were still green. The coast highway travels along the upper part of the bluffs, often between the cliffs and the hills rising above. Beyond the bridge you can see the roadway rise to pass around another hill before descending toward the next creek to the south.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter (follow me) | Facebook (“Like” my page) | LinkedIn | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.