Tag Archives: sunlight

Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Travel

Mosque, Valbone River Valley, Albania

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Mosque, Valbone River Valley, Albania
A mosque in sunlight under cloudy skies in the Valbone River Valley, Albania.

Mosque, Valbone River Valley, Albania. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A mosque in sunlight under cloudy skies in the Valbone River Valley, Albania.

We stayed in Kosovo (with the family of a member of our “European family”) for a few days this summer during our extended travels in Southern Europe. After visiting the more typical destinations for American tourists, this was more of a cultural “stretch” for us, and a very rewarding one it was. There is much to say about the experience that I will share elsewhere at some point, but on this day we went into the nearby mountains of Albania, driving to a point where the road ended along the Valbone River — a spectacular area that easily rivals my Sierra Nevada landscapes.

Along the way to this destination I saw this rural mosque sitting in this beautiful valley as we passed by, and I made a mental note to try to stop and photograph it on the way back down later in the afternoon. I managed to persuade the rest of our party to stop and give me some time to explore and photograph here, and I was not disappointed.

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

Holly in the Sun

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Holly in the Sun
A desert holly plant in sunlight, growing in a Death Valley National Park canyon.

Holly in the Sun. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A desert holly plant in sunlight, growing in a Death Valley National Park canyon.

Last week I made my first visit of the year to Death Valley National Park. I like to photograph there during the winter and again at the very beginning of spring. Despite the reputation of the place, it can be quite cold there in January, and I experienced a few windy and chilly moments. I made this photograph near the furthest point in a pleasant wander up a lovely wash that I happened into more or less by accident. I was near a ridge and the slanting afternoon light was still just catching the branches of this desert holly plant.

The circumstances of this afternoon’s walk were a reminder about one of the best ways to encounter the wild. I had gone out to scout a location for the next day’s dawn photography, and from my selected location I saw a small canyon dropping away. I almost didn’t enter it, but finally decide to walk “just a few feet” in to investigate. I did, and soon came to a junction with a much larger wash, and I couldn’t resist exploring. I started up, eventually going 15 minutes past my turn-around time, and finally ending up in a narrow, constricted, dark… and altogether fascinating little stretch of canyon that I need to explore again.

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

Badlands, Morning Light

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Badlands, Morning Light
Soft morning sunlight on colorful badlands terrain, Death Valley National Park.

Badlands, Morning Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Soft morning sunlight on colorful badlands terrain, Death Valley National Park.

This area of Death Valley attracts me on almost every visit to this desert landscape. Unlike many of the places I like to visit in the park, it isn’t in the “back of beyond,” and I often photograph here on a morning when I don’t want to travel too far, for example on the final morning of a visit. Like many badlands locations, this area provides an astonishing wealth of potential photographic subjects, and their appearance changes with the light.

In keeping with the usual practice, we visited early one morning on this trip, arriving in the area before sunrise so that we would be ready for the arrival of the first light. This morning sun can be intense, but a bit of high cloudiness softened the light a bit, and this made the colors a bit more visible.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Creosote, Shadowed Dunes

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Creosote, Shadowed Dunes
Creosote plant in sunlight, backed by shadowed sand dunes.

Creosote, Shadowed Dunes. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Creosote plant in sunlight, backed by shadowed sand dunes.

Sand dune landscapes provide all sorts of surprises. After seeing many photographs of impressive blowing sand and dust storms, you might think that is the norm — but most of the time the dunes are quiet and still. In the daytime there often doesn’t seem to be a lot going on in a visual sense. But go there at the earliest and latest moments of the day, and the light changes so quickly that it is almost impossible to keep up. Here there was only a brief moment when the soft light fell on the dune and the creosote plant and left the further dunes in soft, cool-toned light.

It is common to think of landscape photography as a slow and deliberate process. In fact, at times and with certain subjects it can be, and the photographer may have a lot of time to look and contemplate. But in this edge-of-day light things happen so quickly that photography can become a kind of action sport. The light does something “over there” for a brief moment, but when I look up something new is happening elsewhere. I turn my attention, quickly make a photograph or two, and right away some new combination of form and light emerges. And this whole dynamic show itself only lasts for a short time between midday bright (and often harsh) light and darkness.

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.

Blog | About | Flickr | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.