Tag Archives: road

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

Moving Rock, Overcast Morning Sky – Racetrack Playa

April 4, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

A “moving rock” beneath overcast morning skies at the Racetrack Playa, Death Valley.

First a bit of background about “the Racetrack,” the location of the famous “moving rocks” in Death Valley National Park. About 25 miles out in the desert back-country of the park on a very bad gravel road there is an isolated and desolate playa known as “the Racetrack.” (For those considering a visit, getting to the Racetrack is no trivial matter. The drive takes nearly two hours one-way and the road is awful, with some of the worst wash-board surface I’ve ever encountered. There are absolutely no services along the road or at the Racetrack – no water is available and your cell phone won’t work.) The name of the place comes, in some circuitous way, from the mysterious rocks that have clearly traveled across the playa, sometimes many hundreds of yards, and left tracks gouged into the playa surface. The most likely explanation for the phenomenon involves a combination of a periodically flooded playa, extremely high winds, and rare occasions when it is cold enough to freeze the surface of collected water, locking the rocks in place and allowing the wind to move them. I’ve never heard anything concrete about the frequency of this alignment of conditions, but as far as I know no one has ever observed the rocks actually moving, nor is there any indication that they have moved recently.

I’ve been out there three times in the past, and had great conditions for doing photography. On this visit I had plans to photograph in sunset and sunrise light and to attempt night photography of the rocks under the full moon. (I did the latter once before, but was less familiar than I am now with how to best do this with a DSLR.) Since I’ve had such good luck with weather and lighting conditions in the past, I suppose I was due for less than optimum conditions… and that is what I encountered. Shortly after arriving at the playa the sky was covered by high, thin clouds. Except for a brief moment close to sunset this made late day photography difficult. The overcast stuck around until I left then next morning, making the planned full moon night photography an impossibility, and the morning light was also challenging.

That said, I’m still glad I went. Standing in the middle of this empty playa completely alone as the day ends or begins is an amazing experience that few people get to have. And I did manage to bring back a few photographs that I think will “work.” This one was shot fairly early in the morning at what might have been around sunrise, if a sunrise had actually occurred.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 17-40mm f/4 L at 17mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/8 second

keywords: moving, sliding, rock, race, track, racetrack, playa, death valley, national, park, california, usa, north america, morning, cloudy, sky, earth, cracked, dry, arid, desert, mountain, snow, covered, inyo, landscape, nature, travel, scenic, mystery, track, trail, phenomenon, lippencott, mine, road, stock

Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: People, Photographs: San Francisco, Photographs: Urban/Street

Woman Walking, Red Awnings

March 16, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A woman walks past red shop awnings and downtown building wall along a San Francisco Street.

This shot was made on a very shaded side street not too far from Union Square in San Francisco. The blurred figure is intentional – part of a series I’m working on – since this handheld shot was made at a slow shutter speed of 1/20 second using a 50mm lens on a full frame body. Part of the idea was to place the walker (or allow her to place herself!) in an interesting location relative to all of the other objects spread horizontally across the wide frame: the display windows with the red overhands, the green trash can, the tall black lamppost, and the two manhole covers in the street. The games for me on this type of image include finding the basic composition and then finding and timing the shot of the right passer-by.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM
ISO 200, f/8, 1/20 second

keywords: street, urban, san francisco, california, usa, north america, travel, woman, walking, sidewalk, street, manhole, cover, light, pole, garbage, trash, waste, can, concrete, wall, pattern, red, awning, store, shop, window, person, downtown, road, geometry, pattern, stride, stock

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Building 631, Mare Island

February 16, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 6 Comments

Building 631, with badly peeling paint and illuminated by garish artificial lighting, Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

For some reason I often find myself down around the old power plant and in the alley next to Building 631 near the end of my nighttime shoots at Mare Island. The railroad tracks curve through this alley – though they aren’t particularly visible in this photograph – and the bizarre and garish light and grossly peeling paint on this wall seem different from many of the other subjects around here.

One of the fun things about this sort of night photography is that “white balance” is more or less impossible! This scene includes light sources ranging from some kind of bizarre blue-green lighting that I can’t identify (fluorescent?) to sodium vapor to tungsten to sky lit by the glow from Vallejo, across the bay from the island. When it comes to the right color balance… pick one! Or several! Or make one up! In the end, no matter what you choose it won’t really “look like” what you saw in the dead of night – but for me that isn’t really the object. Long-exposure night photography lets us reveal things that we cannot see with our own eyes and present them in ways that are imaginative and different from our usual reality.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: mare, island, naval, ship, yard, historic, vallejo, california, usa, nocturnes, night, photography, structures, building, 631, peeling, paint, wall, door, light, lamp, garish, artificial, window, road, track, sky, plants, old, abandoned, industrial, north america, conduit, boarded up, downspout, no parking, wire, perspective, convergence, stock

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Titus Canyon

February 3, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Black and white photograph of Titus Canyon, Death Valley National Park, California.

This photograph was made on a trip to Death Valley a couple of years ago – I pulled it up recently while working on a post about photographing Death Valley at my web site. Titus Canyon is known for the lower section which is a very narrow and deep slot canyon with a road through it. The road is a spectacular drive, starting east of Death Valley near Rhyolite and Beatty, crossing the mountain range along the east side of Death Valley, descending steep canyons on the west side, passing though the very deep and narrow lower section, and finally emerging into Death Valley. I regard the route as one of the most spectacular drives that I’ve seen – though it isn’t an easy drive. You’ll want a vehicle with good ground clearance, 4WD is advised, and those unnerved by steep and winding gravel roads that sometimes pass across very exposed areas might think twice about driving it. (As of this writing, Titus Canyon has been closed by flooding during the recent southern California storms.)

This photograph was made in the lower portion of the canyon, but above the slot canyon section near where the canyon emerges into Death Valley. The mountains seen in the distance are on the other side of Death Valley and far to the west.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: titus, canyon, road, cliff, rocks, sky, clouds, trees, bushes, plants, desert, grapevine, mountains, landscape, scenic, travel, drive, california, usa, death valley, national park, stock, curve, rugged, desert, road

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.