Tag Archives: rugged

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

Desert Canyon, Evening Light

Image April 13, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light shines into a very rugged and colorful desert canyon.

Late in the afternoon the light was dying quickly. Clouds were coming in from the north and creating a lid across most of the sky. We saw a bit of sunlight on the desert floor to the south, so we drove in that direction, hoping to get there before that light also was lost. Unfortunately, as we got closer that light also began to be cut off by the clouds and by the mountains to the west, as the lowering sun reached the summit ridge.

Looking up at those mountains, it appeared that there was a thin spot in the clouds a bit north of our position, so we took one more chance and now headed back to the north. The potential was there for a few moments of light as the sun emerged from behind those clouds, shining through the thinner clods, and casting soft but directional light on this area of colorful geology. Sure enough, as soon as we arrived in this area that soft sunlight appeared. We knew we had only a short time to work before the sun dropped behind the mountains again, and the wind was blowing like crazy, so simply made a few careful handheld exposures as the light shining into this colorful canyon peaked.

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 and Amazon.

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

Big Sur Coast, Evening Haze

Image January 18, 2019 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening winter haze and mist at sunset along the rugged Big Sur coastline

This is perhaps a fairly “typical” winter view of this coastline — if such a landscape can ever by described using that term. We were on the return leg of a visit to the Los Angles Basin, and we decided to take the long route back, following US 1 up the Big Sur coast. (There is an inverse relationship between speed and rewards when traveling between northern and southern California. Racing up and down I-5 in the Central Valley has its place, but you miss a lot. US 101 is slower but more interesting, and US 1 is a lot slower and a lot more interesting!)

By the time we got out of the LA Basin — which took three hours even on a post-holiday morning — it was clear that the winter sunset would occur when we were somewhere north of Ragged Point and south of the town of Big Sur. We did not know precisely where, but along this coast it is usually possible, when you realize that the day is ending, to find a good spot fairly quickly. I picked this one perhaps 10-15 minutes before sunset, mainly by intuition as we came around a headland and saw the foreground bay, the layered headlands, and the long view to the north. I quickly got out and set up to photograph in the warm, sunset light… and then watched it “gray out” as the sun dropped behind low haze sitting on the horizon!

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Alpine Rock Garden

Image November 27, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

An outcropping of shattered rock in the Sierra Nevada alpine zone

My favorite Sierra Nevada backcountry terrain is just a bit lower than this scene — it is the country right at tree line, where small, scattered trees are separated by meadows and rocky areas. But when it come to exhilarating “high and wild” country, places like the one in this photograph cannot be beat. They are so rugged and unadapted to our human way of living that they remind us that this is not entirely “our” world. Yet, with care and persistence, you can enter this country, pass through it, enjoy and even be changed by the experience.

Here I found this outcropping of weathered and shattered stone at the base of a huge talus slope that led up toward the highest peaks. One of those higher ridges blocked the sun, and the scene is softly illuminated by gentle light reflected from nearby high peaks. Looking at this scene it might seem completely impassable. Yet I watched a couple of backpackers slowly make their way across it. This is the sort of country where progress is no longer measured in miles per hour — it is more likely a matter of hours per mile. I recall one such place I crossed a few years ago where our progress dropped to perhaps a quarter-mile per hour as we picked our way past boulders, along benches, and across talus. It was one of the most memorable hikes I’ve had.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Snow Field, Reflection

Image November 7, 2018 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A late-season snow field at the base of rugged cliffs, reflected in the surface of a High Sierra lake

I can say a few things concerning both the objective facts about this scene and about my subjective reaction to it. The facts: We walked to this lake frequently during our September photographic sojourn in the Eastern Sierra backcountry. It wasn’t far from our base camp at another nearby lake, and if we walked directly there it might take all of 10-15 minutes — though, as photographers, our walks are hardly ever direct, more often devolving into stop-and-go affairs as we are distracted by various subjects. The snow bank and the steep wall above the lake were most often in shadow, and by evening the light could become quite dim.

There are many ways I could (and perhaps did) photograph this subject, but here I wanted to focus on the contrast between the form of the bright snow field and the much darker surroundings of cliffs, talus, and shadowed lake. Late in the day a long shadow began along the talus field and gradually advanced across the lake, darkening the water and the surrounding forest and rocks. After sunset, my impression of the place was of stillness and oncoming darkness, and I wanted this version of the photograph to suggest these things.