Tag Archives: shadows

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

Shadows on Dunes

Image May 25, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning shadows lie across Death Valley sand dunes.

Yes, I know. More dunes. As I wrote earlier, it is almost impossible to visit Death Valley National Park and not photograph sand dunes at least a little bit. To be sure, they comprise only a small portion of the park, and there is much more to see there. But they are a compelling subject, with infinite variations of light, texture, form, and color. I photographed these in the early morning just after sunrise when the shadows were still long.

While photographs often show the actual features and forms of the dunes, photographers “interpret” the subject, too. We seek out the most fascinating bits and pieces, the best light, and then we go to work to present them in the most interesting and appealing way. Here I wanted to show the directionality of the early light, but also maintain at least some details in the deep shadow areas.

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

Entering the Dunes

Image May 4, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Footprints lead into the sand dune landscape.

Most of our landscape photographs try to present the landscape without obvious human presence. I write “obvious” because it is hard to find any place where no human effects are present. Sometimes photographers are criticized for presenting the illusion that this isn’t so. While I think the point is important, the criticism is unwarranted and based on its own untenable notion of what wilderness is. In any case, the inclusion of a more overt human element in photographs can encourage us to think of these places in a different way.

We often strive to photograph dunes after sand storms, when footprints have been erased. But including such things can also engage us in the landscape in useful ways — if nothing else they urge viewers to imagine themselves in these places. The footprints here are somewhat subtle, but I think that we relate to the scene differently when we see a line of footprints leading into it.

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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

Dunes, Plants, Sand Storm

Image May 1, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Desert plants in late-day sun. backed by dunes receding into sand storm haze.

This photograph is a different “take” on the late-March evening sand storm I photographed earlier this year in Death Valley. The forecast was for afternoon wind, so we were not surprised when the dust started to rise a few miles away from san dunes. I’m often a bit torn in situations like this — operating in the strong winds and blowing sand is not pleasant, but some very interesting photographic opportunities tend to crop up in these conditions. So I went out and got to work.

Fortunately, as I faced the dunes the wind was at my back. Even though the wind was strong enough to make photography challenging, the sand was being picked up from the dunes and blown away from me. The blowing sand, combined with the early evening light, made for some spectacular conditions. The focus in this photograph is on the plants growing on the close dunes. I had visited them a couple of months earlier, and they were mostly quite dried out. But a couple of months later and this years wet and cool spring had brought them back to life.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California

Shadows on the Plain

Image April 9, 2023 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Cloud shadows move across Carrizo Plain and the hills of the Temblor Range.

This year we only had a few hours to visit the Carrizo Plain, where wildflowers emerge for a few weeks in astonishing abundance during wet springs. We extended our Death Valley trip by a day so that we could loop though the National Monument on the way home. Road conditions delayed our arrival a bit, and rain showers were passing through when we got there, but as it cleared we could see extensive fields of flowers extending across the valley and rising into the hills.

There’s a special significance to the hills in this photograph. This is the escarpment of the great San Andreas fault, which runs thought this part of the state like a giant scar. The terrain is rough and displaced by the lateral movement of eons of earthquakes… and softened here by a garland of yellow flowers.

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G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: shadows

Shadows on Dunes

Entering the Dunes

Dunes, Plants, Sand Storm

Shadows on the Plain

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