Tag Archives: sand

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

Dunes, Clouds, Morning

April 29, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Curving dune forms beneath spring clouds, Death Valley

This turned out to be a very productive morning for photography — from scenic photographs of beautiful light on the Cottonwood Mountains to abstract and expressive photographs of the dune forms. I had several conditions that appeal to me. The sun in this photograph was almost directly in front of the camera, creating a somewhat stark effect and producing myriad sparkles in the sand. There were clouds from a passing weather front, and in a typically cloud-free place like Death Valley it is wonderful to get them. Not only were there clouds that I could include in the composition, but at times other high, thin clouds softened the light.

When I made this exposure I was pretty certain that I was heading toward a monochromatic interpretation. I also had a mental image of layers stacked up vertically: the light-colored lower band of sand, the softer middle ground with the streak of light passing across the darker textured sand, and the clouds above. In the end, as I presumed from the start, black and white seemed more likely to let me take this image where I wanted it to go, emphasizing the abstract nature of the elements more than their objective nature. If it is somewhat difficult to see this as a purely “real” subject… I’m fine with that.

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

Dunes, Evening

April 28, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Evening light comes to desert sand dunes, Death Valley National Park

I made this photograph on the evening of our arrival in Death Valley this past March, when we spent the better part of a week photographing in this desert park. We took a slow drive into the park from Ridgecrest, stopping at Trona and then in the Panamint Valley before crossing Towne Pass and dropping into Death Valley itself. It was early enough that we decided to take a “little” side trip to some slightly remote canyons in the afternoon and go for a short hike. We returned to the Stovepipe Wells area and then headed out along the dunes in the evening.

The evening light, especially when softened a bit by clouds or else just after the sun sets, paints the dunes and the surrounding terrain in marvelous and subtle colors. Mountains that are blue-gray in daylight and dunes that are almost colorless take on the colors of the haze, the sky, and the evening light, with shades of pink and yellow and blue and purple and more. This little vignette adds the green of the lush plants growing atop this sand dune, though the dead plants at the right betray the harsh conditions that are found her much of the time.

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

Sand and Shadow

April 25, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Patterns of light and shadow on desert sand dunes

This was just about the last photograph I made during this year’s spring photography trip to Death Valley National Park. Our plan was to get up and be on the road to the Los Angeles area in the morning, but I couldn’t resist one more early awakening, so I was up and down the road before sunrise, parking my vehicle a half hour away from a location I had been thinking about for some time. I headed out across the flats in the pre-dawn semi-darkness and hiked toward low dunes as the sky began to lighten. It was very quiet and the air was still as I arrived and climbed up onto low sand hills and dunes.

I was surprised to find the wind blowing stiffly in the dunes, and as I photographed the foot or so above the sand was filled with blowing sand, occasionally muting the otherwise distinct patterns of rippling sand. I began by photographing some longer views across ranks of dunes rising toward the east, but I gradually shifted my attention to closer and smaller subjects, looking for interesting patterns and conjunctions. This deep shadow fell across a low spot in the sand, and contrasted starkly with the higher dunes that were already in full sun, creating a sort of yin-yang pattern. A few more minutes of photography, and then I packed up, walked back the way I had come, returned to our lodgings, and soon we were on the road once again.

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

Exposed Playa, Dunes

April 23, 2016 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Old playa surface exposed among sand dunes

I recall being fascinated by these old (how old I do not know) bits of old playa surface that poke out from under shifting dunes in Death Valley from the first time I wandered in the sand dunes. Walking toward the dunes from the roadway, the route almost invariably passed among these features. (I usually try to step between or around them, as many of them are quite fragile.) Although they appear now in places where it seems very unlikely that we will find water, the cracked mud surface betrays the fact that it was here once.

This example was a bit of a surprise. We had photographed around the periphery of the dunes at sunrise, and then walked up the sand to photograph their textures, forms and colors. Mostly I look for juxtapositions of the curving shapes of dunes, and contrasts between sunlit and shadowed areas, especially where the wind has created fine rippling pattern. Wandering a bit further into the dunes I came over a sand ridge and saw a group of potential photographs, with this outcropping sticking out from under the sand at the bottom of a low spot surrounded by higher dunes.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: sand

Dunes, Clouds, Morning

Dunes, Evening

Sand and Shadow

Exposed Playa, Dunes

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