Tag Archives: sunset

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

From the Panamints to the Sierra

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From the Panamints to the Sierra
The long view from the crest of the Panamint Range in Death Valley to the peaks of the Sierra Nevada.

From the Panamints to the Sierra. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The long view from the crest of the Panamint Range in Death Valley to the peaks of the Sierra Nevada.

While details are somewhat obscured due to haze, this view stretches from the crest of Death Valley National Park’s Panamint Range all the way to southern summits of the Sierra Nevada. The distance here is quite impressive — my estimate is that those peaks are perhaps 80 miles away or so. If you look closely, you can see that the ridges just across Panamint Valley — two ridges before the Sierra — are topped with recent snowfall, even on this early spring date.

The haze tends to sit in the valleys between the mountain ranges, but it also extends higher into the atmosphere, thus hiding almost all details of the distance Sierra Nevada. The late-afternoon backlight contributes to the effect. Despite the hard edges of ridge lines this light brings a softness to the scene.

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

From Dunes to Mountains

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From Dunes to Mountains
The view across the floor of Death Valley to eroded hills.

From Dunes to Mountains. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

The view across the floor of Death Valley to eroded hills.

I made this photograph in the very late afternoon, just before sunset, on a relatively quiet and calm evening. These short dunes lie near the end of a large dune field that is quite popular with visitors, but their small size gives them a kind of landscape anonymity, and not many people visit or photograph them.

There is a lot of interesting geography/geology in this little scene, and it is part of what caught my attention. The bottom half of the photograph includes the valley floor, a large, sandy playa that, in places, gets enough blowing sand to form dunes. Beyond that, many miles in the distance, a large alluvial fan rises from the playa to the base of the hills, where valleys have spilled material over millennia to form this massive tilting structure. At the very top is a range of short, rugged hills. Out of the photo above them is a very tall range of mountains.

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 | Twitter | 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

Sunset Sand Storm

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Sunset Sand Storm
A sunset sand storm partially obscures sand dunes in Death Valley National Park.

Sunset Sand Storm. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A sunset sand storm partially obscures sand dunes in Death Valley National Park.

This is another photograph from the tremendous wind and sand storm that blew though on our last afternoon in Death Valley at the end of March. These storms are common there, and if you spend much time in the park you have a good chance of experiencing one. If the prospect sounds exciting, well, it is… but it can also be very uncomfortable and even dangerous, and the romantic notion of wandering the wind-whipped dunes during a sand storm is quickly trumped down by the reality of flying sand and dust.

I positioned myself just outside the maelstrom and put a long lens on my camera. The winds were so strong — likely in the 50mph range — that my tripod was useless, especially with the long lens. I resorted to handholding the camera, switching on image stabilization, bracing myself against the nearest solid object, and trying to time exposures for brief moments when the gale diminished a bit.

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 | Twitter | 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: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Winter Tree, Evening Sky

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Winter Tree, Evening Sky
A bare winter cottonwood silhouetted against dusk sky, California Central Valley.

Winter Tree, Evening Sky. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

A bare winter cottonwood silhouetted against dusk sky, California Central Valley.

This photograph is an example of why I always try to remember to not get so focused on the primary subject that I forget to look around. I was here to photograph migratory birds, and at this point in the evening they were putting on quite a show, rising and flying in giant circles directly in front of us in the evening light. But when I took a moment to look behind I saw the trees and the colorful evening sky.

This was an “interesting” day in weather terms. I didn’t actually have very high hopes for it as no fog was forecast (and I love to photograph these subjects on tule fog day) and early clouds from a incoming weather system were predicted to turn the sky gray, with extreme winds predicted for the afternoon. All of that happened, but it turned out that the sky cleared again in the afternoon, and the winds may have slowed the birds a bit is struggled to overcome its strength.

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 | Twitter | Flickr | Facebook | Email

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

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)

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