Tag Archives: southern

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

Dusk Sandstorm, Desert Mountains

April 17, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Strong desert winds whip up a dusk sandstorm below the Grapevine Mountains, Death Valley National Park

To look at many photographs – including my own – of places like Death Valley, a viewer unfamiliar with the desert might begin to imagine a place of clear skies (with appropriate beautiful clouds), brilliant sun, intense colors, flowers, plants, and much more. While all of those things can be found in the desert, the fact that they are often more the exception than the rule may at least partially account for their popularity as photographic subjects. Yes, I have seen stunningly beautiful and colorful sunrises and sunsets, while standing in quiet and still air and in comfortable temperatures. However, I have also experienced rain, snow, very powerful winds, sand and dust storms, intense cold, nearly debilitating heat, and more.

This photograph was made during some of the less-than-lovely conditions that are quite common at this time of year, namely very strong winds and the resulting sand storm. Near the middle of the day I had caught my first glimpses of sand/dust rising up into the sky from some nearby dunes. Having been through this before, I was not fooled by the fact that the air remained almost completely still at my location at that time – and it wasn’t long at all until the winds become more general and began to lift sand and dust into the air across the entire end of the valley and then carry clouds of this material northward. I cannot say that I enjoy being in such conditions at all. Sand gets into everything, stuff that isn’t tied down blows away, breathing and opening your eyes can be a challenge. (Later, when I returned to camp in the darkness, I couldn’t face the idea of breaking out the camp stove and trying to cook and eat in the strong winds… so I wimped out and went to the restaurant at Stove Pipe Wells!) But as uncomfortable as these conditions can be, they are also visually special and impressive, so I headed out to the far side of the Valley, figuring that I might be able to shoot back into and across the sand storm while remaining on its edge. I shot through the late afternoon and continued as the sun set, leaving behind the murky, dust-filled atmosphere that shrouded everything. As twilight came on, the winds shifted, and dust clouds that had been blowing away from me began to move south down the valley towards me, obscuring the base of the Grapevine Mountains along the edge of Death Valley.

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

Death Valley Buttes, Morning

February 5, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Early morning light on the summit of the Death Valley Buttes, with the Panamint Range in the distance, Death Valley National Park, California.

I found several things in this scene that I often look for in Death Valley, or in other similar places for that matter. I’m always intrigued by the small plants that grow along these very barren and rocky areas, sometimes – as here – along with a few cacti. And of course it is hard to resist the golden early morning light, especially when it is juxtaposed with one of my favorite subjects, more distant mountains somewhat obscured by haze. On top of that, I liked the almost abstract shapes of these forms and combination of the warm sunlight on the foreground hills and the cooler, blue-tone light beyond.

I made this photograph on a morning when I really did not have a specific shooting plan, or perhaps I might say that I had a “negative plan” defining what I was not going to photograph – I set out to not go to some of the familiar and more iconic locations in Death Valley, on this morning and to some extent on this trip. So I ended up on a road that eventually crosses the Amargosa Range and heads off toward Beatty Nevada. I knew I was looking for some sort of juxtaposition of the forms on the outcroppings and buttes up higher on the large gravel fan in this part of the Valley and I knew that I wanted to photograph the early light – but exactly where to do this was not clear. As I drove I passed some promising locations and finally stopped at a pull-out near this site, put on a long lens, and made this and several other photographs from this spot.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Owens Valley, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Owens Valley, Tungsten Hills, and Mount Tom

January 29, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Massive Mount Tom rises above the Tungsten Hills and the high desert terrain of Owens Valley near Bishop, California.

When I’m driving to a photography destination, I often have to suppress the desire to stop and make photographs along the way. If I’m not careful, I can end up spending extra hours on the drive and arrive too late. (Sometimes I plan extra time for my long drives just to accommodate my need to stop and photograph en route.) I cope with sighting photographic potential as I drive by either pretending it isn’t there, filing it away for a later trip… or occasionally giving in and stopping.

As I headed down highway 395 on this winter afternoon, on my way to get a camp site in Death Valley, I was aware of the fact that if I took too long I would end up having to find a camp site and set up camp after dark when I arrived – and my destination was still hours away. But after descending to Round Valley just north of Bishop, California I became more aware of the interesting and somewhat unusually afternoon winter light and I finally just had to make a quick stop. The foreground Owens Valley high desert plants had lost all of their “green,” and now had a range of shades of yellow, brown, red, white, black, and even a bit of near-purple. Beyond them the Tungsten Hills began the rise from the valley toward the crest of the eastern escarpment of the Sierra, here dominated by the bulk of massive Mount Tom, a very tall peak that appears even larger because it sits more to the east than most of the other high peaks. The combination of backlight from above the range and high, thin clouds created a sort of muted sunny effect.

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

Kit Fox Hills and Death Valley Buttes, Dusk

January 17, 2012 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Post-sunset light on the Kit Fox Hills, Death Valley Buttes, and the slopes of the Grapevine Mountains, Death Valley National Park.

The view of the eroded Kit Fox Hills and the larger masses of Death Valley Buttes beyond with ascending ridges and valleys of the Amargosa Range beyond is one that I’ve been working on for a few years now. During the day these formations are interesting, but in many ways not much more so than any of scores of other hills, washes, rocky ridges and so forth throughout the park and other desert areas. But sometimes the light does absolutely incredible things to these hills along the east side of the Valley.

I first saw this happen during a previous visit when evening clouds lit up in astonishing and almost surreal ways after the sun had set. As the sky to the west of Death Valley began to glow in the post-sunset light a wash of amazing and intense color began to fill the scene. I’m not even sure how to describe the color. Rose? Purple? Pink? Some combination of the three and more? At that time I was shooting from a small hill in a less visited portion of the Valley, and I I photographed a large “fan” along the base of huge mountains not far from Stovepipe Wells. While the colors in that photograph are, indeed, real, I have a heck of a time convincing people that this is the case. I end up doing so much explaining that I don’t show the photograph all that often!

This light is similar, though a bit less intense. The light was fading quickly at this point, and I only had a few moments of this particularly beautiful light, which might have been hard to see in person since it was getting late. I photographed this from yet another spot that it just a bit off the beaten track, though not far at all from some very popular areas. In fact, as I worked alone as the evening came on, I could swing my camera around and use my longest focal length to see hordes of people visiting and photographing another nearby feature, oblivious to the light in this spot far to their east.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: southern

Death Valley Buttes, Morning

Kit Fox Hills and Death Valley Buttes, Dusk

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