Tag Archives: stone

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

Red Rock Gully

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Red Rock Gully
Red Rock Gully

Red Rock Gully. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A red rock gully and wash in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park.

I have driven past this area along the road from Death Valley up to Wildrose Canyon quite a few times, and as I do I always am impressed by the many convoluted little canyons and odd and interesting rock formations. Most often I have been on my way to some other place or the light wasn’t quite right, but I always take a look and make a mental list of little spots to keep an eye on. This particular little canyon is one you might not even notice unless you were looking carefully as you passed it. It is in a narrow section of the lower canyon where it is one of many such little landscapes. On this morning I was coming back down from shooting up higher in the Panamints and I was watching carefully as I drove, frequently pulling over to stop and check things out more carefully. At first I almost drove past this spot, but it looked like the light might be interesting this time so I quickly stopped and backed up and made a series of photographs including this one.

The question of how to frame this scene was an interesting one. As is often the case I cover more than one base and shoot the subject in several ways. Initially I worked with a vertical orientation that includes a bit more of the rough terrain a bit higher in the canyon. That image may still see the light of day! But as I shot the scene I also realized that I could use a horizontal orientation too, more tightly frame the entrance to the small canyon, and give up some of the upper canyon formations.

With many subjects I would prefer softer light, and I would probably try to shoot much earlier in the day or come back in the evening. But this canyon, I think, works well in the light of a bit later in the morning when the sun has topped the ridge and direct light hits the top of the rocks and reflects into the recesses a bit more.

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Eroded Sandstone, Point Lobos

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Eroded Sandstone, Point Lobos
Eroded Sandstone, Point Lobos

Eroded Sandstone, Point Lobos. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. July 20, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Patterns in eroded shoreline sandstone rocks at the Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

The rugged Point Lobos shoreline in places exposes some very interesting rocks, including sections like this one where layers of different colored sand stone are gradually worn away, revealing underlying layers of different colors and textures and sometimes exposing surprising color contrasts. On days when the light is very soft (or very boring!) I may seek out some of these rocks and photograph them since the softer light lets details appear that might easily be washed out in harsher light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Glacial Erratics and Trees, Lembert Dome

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Glacial Erratics and Trees, Lembert Dome
Glacial Erratics and Trees, Lembert Dome

Glacial Erratics and Trees, Lembert Dome. Yosemite National Park, California. June 5, 2010. a© Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Glacial erratics and trees at the base of Lembert Dome, Tuolumne Meadows, Yosemite National Park.

This photograph was made last spring in early June, when I drove over Tioga Pass on a quick one-day jaunt right around the time that the road was re-opened for the season after its annual winter closure. The road opened a bit later than usual in 2010 due to above average and late snow fall, and when I crossed there was as much or more snow than I recall seeing up there.

This was one of my marathon drive days. I started well before dawn in the San Francisco Bay Area and arrived in Yosemite in the very early morning and without any concrete plan – except that the ideas of visiting waterfalls and possibly getting up to Tioga Pass were on my mind. I did stop near the Valley first, where I made a series of photographs of Cascade Creek in virtually full flow. After doing this and making a very brief visit to the Valley, I decided to visit the high country along Tioga Pass road. I went just over the pass before turning back. There was so much snow still around that in most places it still looked much more like winter than like early June.

I finally started heading back to the west, as my plan was to return late to the SF Bay Area. As I left the pass and started down toward Tuolumne Meadows the light began to get “interesting” as the sun dropped lower in the west and some high clouds occasionally softened the light. As I drove past Lembert Dome I thought of photographing these glacial erratics that sit on the apron at the bottom of the dome before making one last stop to photograph snow-covered Tuolumne Meadow in the day’s last light.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Email
Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Rocky Knoll with Monterey Cypress Trees

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Rocky Knoll with Monterey Cypress Trees
Rocky Knoll with Monterey Cypress Trees

Rocky Knoll with Monterey Cypress Trees. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. January 8, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A grove of Monterey Cypress trees grows on top of a rocky ridge above the Pacific Ocean at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

In my continuing attempt to mine every bit of ore possible from this scene… this is a closer study of the same tree-covered knoll that I posted recently. The rocky hill is near the end of a thin peninsula between Whalers Cove and Bluefish Cove at Point Lobos. It is covered with a wild confusion of plants, Monterey cypress trees, and rocks and the whole thing drops suddenly to the edge of the Pacific Ocean right below.

This is another in a group of photographs that I sort of think of as “how much dense detail can I cram into one frame” photographs. For this reason, I’m pretty certain that this will have a better chance of making sense in a decent sized photograph in which the detail can be enjoyed a bit more than it can be in this small jpg.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.