Tag Archives: reflection

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

Distant Mountains, Reflection

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Distant Mountains, Reflection
“Distant Mountains, Reflection” — Manly Lake reflects distant mountains and morning haze.

The scale of Death Valley is monumental. It is one of the few National Parks where you encounter distances so great that faraway features disappear into the light and haze. The absence of familiar reference points like trees makes it harder to comprehend these distances. It is perhaps a mile to the nearby hills in this photograph, but the distant mountain range is many tens of miles away.

We arrived before sunrise to photograph the colorful dawn light. Later I turned my camera away from the main scene and back toward these hills whose forms were reflected in Lake Manly. Beyond, the distant Amargosa Range glows softly through the haze in the early morning light.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Manly Lake Reflections

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“Manly Lake Reflections” — Manly Lake reflects peaks of the Panamint Range, Death Valley.

We arrived before sunrise to photograph at Badwater Basin, featuring Manly Lake, and we continued to photograph well past the golden hour. As the day continues, the colors of the desert landscape soften and become less intense. That was the effect I was looking to capture in this photograph. The light on the mountains is still warm, but the dawn color is gone from the cloud-filled sky and its reflection.

I chose to include a bit of the playa material breaking the surface of the water in order to anchor the scale of the scene. While the mirrored forms of distant mountains and clouds are almost abstract, those bits of material emerging from the shallow water remind us of the reality of the scene.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Shoreline and Reflected Ridge

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Shoreline and Reflected Ridge
“Shoreline and Reflected Ridge” — A Sierra Nevada ridge reflected in a subalpine wilderness lake.

If you are a Sierra Nevada backcountry traveler, you recognize this a a classic Range of Light scene. It was early morning, and I had been photographing since before sunrise. I walked the shoreline of this subalpine lake, following terrain like that in this photograph. The sun’s light angled across the high peaks and talus slopes as it rose above ridges to the east.

When I first backpacked many years ago, I was astonished by the mere existence of such places and the idea that I could wander through them. Eventually I slowed down and no longer thought of scenes like this as just staging for the higher peaks, but as important places on their own. These days I’m happy to linger with my camera gear, often pausing just to look.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.

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

Telescope Peak, Lake Manly

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Telescope Peak, Lake Manly
“Telescope Peak, Lake Manly” — Panamint Range and Telescope Peak reflected in Lake Manly, Death Valley.

This photograph incorporates at least two elements that might surprise people unfamiliar with Death Valley National Park — a large lake and snow-dusted mountain peaks. Telescope Peak, the highest point on the Panamint Range summit ridge, rises just above 11,000′, putting its summit in the alpine zone. It is normal to see snow there during the winter months.

Lake Manly, the body of water reflecting the mountains, is a different matter. Its appearance is somewhat rare, occurring only in years of exceptional rainfall. Although this is now a dry winter in California, a big storm a year ago primed the pump, a monumental November storm re-formed the lake, and there was another storm around Christmas Eve Day. The broad but shallow lake forms on the playa of Badwater Basin, the lowest point in the continental United States.

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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

All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.