Tag Archives: storm

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

Sandstorm, Dunes

April 19, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 1 Comment

Strong winds lift clouds of sand high into the air above desert sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Sandstorms are common in Death Valley, especially when I visit, typically in the spring. I wasn’t totally surprised (nor totally pleased!) when one arose on the second day of this early April visit. After photographing all morning, I was back in camp to get something to eat and take care of camp business before heading back out in the mid-afternoon for the second shoot of the day. As I sat by my camp I saw a few pillars of dust out in the valley near dunes, and at that point I had a pretty good idea of what might be in store for me in the next few hours. It wasn’t long before the wind began to pick up, soon becoming strong enough to stir up a lot of dust and blow down any weak tents left by campers who had headed out for daytime activities elsewhere.

In objective terms, a sandstorm is an unpleasant thing. It is hot. It is dry. It is full of blowing sand and dust, and the fine dust gets into everything, no matter what you do to try to protect against it. In the worst cases, the blowing sand can damage the paint on vehicles. However, in visual terms, a sandstorm can be quite interesting – as long as you can find ways to shoot it that don’t risk destroying your photographic gear. It looked to me like the main storm was in the middle of the valley, so I figured I might be able to cross the valley, take road along the other side, and skirt the far edge of the storm, and photograph back into it with the light coming from behind. I drove across the valley and stopped right at the edge of the blowing sand and mostly shot from inside my vehicle so as to minimize the dust contamination. From this vantage point I could use a long lens to photograph the abstract shapes of sand dunes, backed by clouds of whirling and drifting sand that obscured the Cottonwood Mountains on the far side of the valley.

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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.

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Sunset Virga

April 11, 2013 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Falling virga drifts below sunset clouds of an incoming late-autumn Pacific storm front

First off, the word “virga” refers to streaks or columns of precipitation that fall from clouds but do not make it to the ground. Virga can often create beautiful, delicate, and gossamer atmospheric effects, especially when the light is just right. In this case the condition was back and top-lit by low sunset light flowing upwards toward the base of high clouds from an incoming winter Pacific storm front.

This evening was (yet another) of those on which earlier unpromising conditions exploded with color right at the end of the day. We had spent the morning photographing birds (mostly geese) at a Central Valley wildlife refuge, taken a short lunch break, and then returned to the refuge for late afternoon and evening photography. The geese were wonderful and we made a lot of photographs, but it seemed like the light was going to “die” before sunset as those high clouds began to drift in from the west. That’s OK, as there are ways to photograph in that more subdue light, but I think we may have been mildly disappointed that the clouds appeared to preclude special sunset colors. So we went about our business of photographing birds, not thinking too much about the sky. Speaking for myself, though, at some point I began to notice a bit of color in the clouds behind the birds. I stopped for a moment and looked to the east (where the sunset colors first are seen before the sweep across the sky toward the setting sun) and noticed that some color was developing. In short order, the underside of the clouds began to light up, and right at sunset we were treated to an absolutely brilliant display of intense color to the west. Since I was shooting with a long telephoto I decided to try a few detail shots of small sections of the sky. If you look very carefully, you might be able to spot a jetliner heading into the sunset.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: San Francisco

San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Morning

March 15, 2013 G Dan Mitchell 2 Comments

San Francisco skyline and Golden Gate Bridge at dawn as a winter storm passes

I have previously photographed this alignment of San Francisco icons so I know more or less the precise spot to set up in – a slice of landscape about 10 feet wide and perhaps 40 feet long. It has been a few years since I’ve stopped to photograph there, but the opportunity came up on this morning. I had driven up to San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge to meet up with a large group of photographers who were on a so-called “photo walk” devoted to long exposure photography. I had no idea it would be as popular as it turned out to be! Although I arrived at the base of the road to this location well before sun rise, as I ascended I encountered several successive parking areas that were already full… before dawn… on a cold winter day… during a storm!

So I headed on up the road toward the summit, but found that access gates were closed before the top. I parked and thought a bit about what I might shoot, then grabbed my gear and started walking on up the hill. Before long I stopped at this spot – where other photographers were already set up – and set up in “my spot” that aligns the bridge tower with the building and made a few exposures. It was still quite dark – just before dawn and with thick clouds above the city – but this ended up working to my advantage. Photographing this bridge at night is very tricky because the towers are lit rather brightly and the orange color is very “hot” when photographed, making for some truly complicated exposure decisions. However, with just a bit of diffused pre-dawn light filtering in and the lights in the city not yet extinguished, it became possible to get a nice exposure on the bridge and reveal some of the details of the downtown buildings.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: storm

Sandstorm, Dunes

Sunset Virga

San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge, Morning

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