Tag Archives: ridges

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

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze

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Desert Mountains, Morning Haze
Glowing morning haze delineates a series of ascending ridges in desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert Mountains, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Glowing morning haze delineates a series of ascending ridges in desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Desert haze has become my friend. I used to be frustrated by it — the desert light I wanted was the crisp light of perfectly clear skies. I struggled with haze, with its effects on colors, its lower contrast, and its muted details. (To be honest, sometimes it still challenges me!) But, as is often the case, when I live with something for a while I start to figure out how to see it, and I often end up attracted to it. Now I actively search for just the right kind of soft atmospheric haze.

I had plenty of it on this morning. I was out before dawn, of course, and after finishing with my initial early morning subject I traveled to a higher location with immense and panoramic views of the landscape. The bright light beyond these mountains was making the haze luminous and almost eliminating fine details, leaving the outlines of the successive ridges receding toward the morning sky.

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

Morning, Desert Ridges

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Morning, Desert Ridges
Morning haze obscures the details of receding desert ridges and mountains.

Morning, Desert Ridges. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

Morning haze obscures the details of receding desert ridges and mountains.

Visits to places like this (and most travel, in my experience) have a sort of familiar life cycle. I’m fascinated by how many trips conclude. There’s something different about the final hours (or days on longer trips) when things are winding down and I begin to adapt to this. I was having that experience on this morning, the final one of my January Death Valley visit. As I went out to photograph, I didn’t wander too far from camp, and my mind was on packing up and the long drive I had ahead of me. I photographed one location that I had been meaning to get to and then I took a detour up into the hills before heading back to camp.

Although the day started at a location that I hadn’t really photographed, I ended up in this very familiar area. The location has a very long view of a large portion of the immense landscape of Death Valley. Even on a clear day — and this was a clear day — the haze still affects how we see the furthest distances. I paused here and made a series of photographs that used the haze to mute the details of the landscape. Then I was done. I headed to camp, finally had some breakfast, packed up, and headed home.

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, Photographs: Southern California

Ridges and Light

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Ridges and Light
Morning light on curved ridges, Death Valley National Park.

Ridges and Light. © Copyright 2022.G Dan Mitchell.

Morning light on curved ridges, Death Valley National Park.

There are many ways to tell the story of a landscape. One approach is to go for the whole thing, the epic landscape, the big view, and to put everything in the frame. This can work, and it may produce impressive and powerful images of great scale. And, to be sure, Death Valley National Park’s landscape lends itself to this with its expansive vistas, immense mountains ranges, and other striking features.

Another way to say something about a landscape is to go in the opposite direction and let small “excerpts” from the larger scene present aspects of it. The more I photograph a place the more I trend in this direction. You’ll still find me looking at those big views, but more and more I look for small bits and pieces. The texture of these rounded ridges is found all over Death Valley and is usually eroded into some combination of gullies and small, smooth hills. Here the warm-colored early morning light is sweeping across these hills, contrasting with the cooler tones of the shadows.

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.

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

Desert Ridges, Morning Haze II

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Desert Ridges, Morning Haze II
Desert ridges disappear into distant morning haze.

Desert Ridges, Morning Haze II. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Desert ridges disappear into distant morning haze.

While the light of the very early morning and the very late afternoon is the most obviously appealing, there are ways to photograph at almost any time of the day. Because the distances in the Death Valley landscape are often so immense, there is almost always some amount of haze in the air. Not only does it obscure distant features, but it also shifts the color balance toward blue. In all honestly, sometimes this doesn’t make for the most appealing landscape photography, especially when distant features are included. But it is also possible to make the blue haze your friend, especially where it can enhance the sense of distance and scale.

I had finished up my sunrise photography at a different location on this morning of my early 2022 visit to Death Valley. My daily routine is usually to bet up very early — well before sunrise — and head to a first location, arriving well before the good light appears. You may have noticed that I didn’t mention things like coffee. Or breakfast. I usually skip them and get right to work. Later, after finishing with that first subject of the day, it would be easy to give in to the call of breakfast, but I usually continue on to a second location that holds some promise in later light. So on this morning I headed up into the hills to find a spot with a broad, long-distance view. From here I photographed across rows of intervening ridges as the haze gradually hid the landscape details to the point that haze and light and land merged in the distance.

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.