Tag Archives: stovepipe

Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Dunes, Evening

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Dunes, Evening
Dunes, Evening

Dunes, Evening. Death Valley National Park, California. December 11, 2013. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Receding layers of sand dunes in evening light, Death Valley National Park

After a very long day spent driving a lengthy backcountry gravel road through mountainous terrain, I headed back to my camp at Furnace Creek to take care of camp business and grab something to eat. As I usually do in Death Valley, I scheduled my day around a morning subject and an evening subject. Since the morning work had lasted so long, I was thinking of something closer for the evening and, besides, by the time I was ready to shoot it was probably too late to travel very far in the remaining light before the early sunset of this December day. So I decided to travel up the valley a bit to well-known dunes, where I can almost always find something interesting to photograph if I just go looking.

I stopped some distance from the “usual location,” loaded up some basic equipment, and wandered out into a likely looking section of the terrain that would probably not seem all that special to those seeing the area for the first time. (That’s easy to understand, when the impressive and large sand dunes tower above everything else not far from here!) But I know there is a wealth of interesting things to be found even in what appears to be the plainest of the dunes – conjunctions of light and shadow, textures of sand, tracks of small creatures, plants poking through the sand, and more. When I arrived the low sunlight was just about to leave this area, so I worked quickly, trying to take advantage of fleeting moments of shadow and light. As I came to the top of a low dune I saw this complex terrain of dunes and shadows stretching in front of me.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and 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.

Commentary, News, Photographs: Death Valley, Site News

G Dan Mitchell Photographs at Stovepipe Wells

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G Dan Mitchell Photographs, Stovepipe Wells Lodge
G Dan Mitchell Photographs, Stovepipe Wells Lodge

Stovepipe Wells Lodge – G Dan Mitchell photographs. Death Valley National Park, California. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Since several people have asked, I thought I would share an update on installation of my photographs at the historic Stovepipe Wells Lodge in Death Valley National Park. Late last year Ortega Family Enterprises (who also sell some of my photographs at Muir Woods National Monument) contacted me. They were about to take over the management of the facility from the previous concessionaire and were interested in selling some of my Death Valley photographs in the gift shop at Stovepipe Wells.

It turns out that they were also planning some significant upgrades to the lodging facilities at Stovepipe and they asked if I could provide a large number of 16″ x 24″ prints for the guest rooms. To make a long story short, they selected a half dozen of my Death Valley photographs and I went to work making nearly 170 prints of the six photographs, which were then shipped off to their framer for final preparation.

I finally got a chance to see the results when I visited Death Vally in early April. I stopped by and found out that they had begun the process of hanging the prints in guest rooms, and with the help of an employee I was able to get in long enough to snap a shot of one of the rooms. (Hanging in this room are “Transverse Dunes, Death Valley“ and “Crossing Tracks, Racetrack Playa.”) It was also good to see some work being done to upgrade and update the lodge!

It is gratifying to have my photographs installed here for several reasons. Several of the photographs were made virtually within walking distance of Stovepipe Wells, where I often camp when I visit the Valley. I also know that among the many people who visit Stovepipe will be a good number of my fellow photographers – and knowing that they will see my prints here is both a bit intimidating and a quite exciting! Finally, before Ortega took over the facility I often stopped to look at some of the photographs and paintings that had been there previously. (I was glad to see that one wonderful black and white photograph was still hanging in the hotel office.) With that in mind, it seems like there is a good chance that these photographs of mine may be hanging in this historic facility for some time to come!

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

Sand Patterns, Death Valley Dunes

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Sand Patterns, Death Valley Dunes
Sand Patterns, Death Valley Dunes

Sand Patterns, Death Valley Dunes. Death Valley National Park, California. March 28, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Linear and curved patterns in morning light at Death Valley Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

Early in the morning on the third day of my late March trip to Death Valley I wandered out to Death Valley Dunes near Stovepipe Wells, taking the easier route around the west end of the dunes and then walking toward the higher dunes and shooting more or less towards the rising sun. There are plenty of interesting subjects when approaching the dunes from this direction: the patterned mud (or so they seem) formations beneath the edge of the dunes, the many small plants coming up after recent rains, flowers everywhere, the taller dunes to the east catching the first light, and beyond them the darker peaks of the Amargosa Range.

After climbing to the top of a moderate size dune to get a better and more open view to the east I happened to look down and see this steep, sandy slope with its linear pattern apparently created as sand blew over the edge and down the side. Beyond are the more typical gentle and curving slopes – here with some footprints from the many people who had earlier wandered through this section of the dunes.

(I think that we are seeing more people walking out to the dunes now that the NPS has created a actual “official” parking lot with marked spaces, rest rooms, and interpretive signs – an update from the old practice of simply pulling off the side of the road.)

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.

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Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 200mm
ISO 200, f/16, 1/50 second

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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert

Mesquite Dunes, Dusk

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Mesquite Dunes, Dusk

Mesquite Dunes, Dusk. Death Valley National Park, California. April 1, 2008. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Mesquite Sand Dune folds recede into the distance into the distance beyond foreground desert plants in Death Valley National Park, California.

This is a slightly different take on a scene that I have posted previously. The photograph of the Mesquite Dune complex near Stovepipe Wells was shot near twilight on the first evening of my 2008 visit to Death Valley. My brother and I had just met up at the Stovepipe Wells campground, set up camp and eaten dinner, and noticed that it was far closer to the end of the day than we had realized. We quickly hightailed it down the road a couple miles to an area close to the dunes and had just enough time to make some long lens photographs from the road side as the light faded.

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

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