There is something. a little unusual about this post. I didn’t pick this photograph so much for aesthetic reasons as for its inclusion of some fascinating features in this part of Death Valley. Let’s start with the obvious. There are desert gold wildflowers in the foreground, but if you look closely you can see many more of them across this broad Vally on the dark hillside. Keep reading to learn something about that hillside.
Continue reading Southern Death Valley
Right up front, a few things about this photograph. First, it is not recent — I photographed this scene back in 2014. I have been busy reviewing old raw files recently, and this one came up during that process. Second, unlike some of the others resulting from this review, this is a photograph that I have shared before, albeit in a different form. What you see here is a very different crop from the original, and by eliminating some elements from the original image I think I have significantly changed the effect.
The location is a place far out in theUtah backcountry — not exactly inaccessible, but not easy to get to. I was part of a group of a half dozen photographers who four-wheeled it out there and set up camp for days so that we cold photograph the heck out of the area. Sadly, from what I hear, this tree is no longer living, perhaps having succumbed to a drought and heat.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
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There is a lot I could write about this photograph, the circumstances of making it, and how it ended up here today. First off, it is an older photograph, made years ago. I periodically revisit my old raw file archives, and I always discover photographs that I left behind. In this case, someone else’s photograph from the Southwest triggered me to review my older work from Utah, much of which is over a decade old. So far, I’ve rediscovered about twenty interesting Utah images from that period. Stay tuned!
The photograph came from a productive expedition to Utah during the autumn of 2014. I started out traveling and photographing solo, but eventually joined up with others as I worked in the southern part of the state for weeks. Early on that trip I almost randomly ended up at this location. I drove down a dirt road that looked interesting, found a place to park, and started walking down a shallow stream bed. The route entered a canyon that soon narrowed and turned into a slot canyon. It was only later that I discovered that I had been in a bit of a special place.
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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” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email
All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others.
Spring Cloudburst. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.
A spring cloudburst moves across a Southern California grassland landscape.
At the end of March we detoured though mountains west of the San Joaquin Valley on our way home from Death Valley, looking for grasslands where the spring wildflower bloom was starting. After a few false starts — two dead-ends that forced us to turn around and try different routes — we finally made it to this big valley where wet years produce an immense carpet of wildflowers.
The tail end of a weather system was passing through, producing conditions that are common here in the spring — mixed sun and rain, sudden cloudbursts, and fascinating light. A downpour darkens the sky against a background of intense sunlight on the rain and distant clouds, elements that almost completely drained the scene of color.
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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