Tag Archives: surface

Photographs: Mono Lake Basin, Photographs: Nature

Still Water, Clouds

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Still Water, Clouds
A few scattered clouds are reflected in the surface of Mono Lake on a windless day

Still Water, Clouds. Mono Lake, California. September 16, 2016. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A few scattered clouds are reflected in the surface of Mono Lake on a windless day

As I have returned to Mono Lake over the years, my orientation to the place has changed. (I guess that is a sort of general theme with me, now that I think of it — repeated visits to a familiar place over long periods of time are rewarded with a continually evolving knowledge of the place.) First it is just a very big lake. They one usually discovers tufa towers, followed perhaps by birds. My concept of the place has now come to center on quiet immensity, with open sky above, perhaps interrupted by the sounds of birds.

Mono Lake is often a windy place, but at times, especially early in the day, the winds can die down or even stop, and the stillness becomes palpable. On this day I traveled out to a shoreline area I had not visited before, and one that is not particularly popular or well-known. I parked and walked down a slope towards the water, where I found its surface almost still and reflecting the shapes of a few clouds to the north.

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.

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

Exposed Playa, Dunes

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Exposed Playa, Dunes
Old playa surface exposed among sand dunes

Exposed Playa, Dunes. Death Valley National Park, California. March 30, 2016. © Copyright 2016 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Old playa surface exposed among sand dunes

I recall being fascinated by these old (how old I do not know) bits of old playa surface that poke out from under shifting dunes in Death Valley from the first time I wandered in the sand dunes. Walking toward the dunes from the roadway, the route almost invariably passed among these features. (I usually try to step between or around them, as many of them are quite fragile.) Although they appear now in places where it seems very unlikely that we will find water, the cracked mud surface betrays the fact that it was here once.

This example was a bit of a surprise. We had photographed around the periphery of the dunes at sunrise, and then walked up the sand to photograph their textures, forms and colors. Mostly I look for juxtapositions of the curving shapes of dunes, and contrasts between sunlit and shadowed areas, especially where the wind has created fine rippling pattern. Wandering a bit further into the dunes I came over a sand ridge and saw a group of potential photographs, with this outcropping sticking out from under the sand at the bottom of a low spot surrounded by higher dunes.

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

Photographs: Night, Photographs: Structures and Objects

Concrete Shadows

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Concrete Shadows
Light and shadow play across the surfaces of concrete structures, night

Concrete Shadows. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California. November 7, 2015. © Copyright 2015 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Light and shadow play across the surfaces of concrete structures, night

This is another of my “quiet” photographs from this nighttime visit to the Mare Island Naval Ship Yard near Vallejo, California. Driving to the place this time I had decided that I wanted to spend some time not photographing the familiar subjects there. (Later that night I did photograph some of those, too.) I had some vague ideas in mind that involved textures and angles and effects of light, along with some other thoughts. As I drove into the area in the late afternoon I picked out a few likely spots to return to after dark.

The area of this photograph turned out be a productive one for me on this evening. I have always walked right past this building on previous visits, but one thing led to another and I ended up pausing there this time. The spot is a perfect example of how the mysterious light of night can transform a truly pedestrian subject into something interesting. This is the corner of a building and a short concrete pad that runs up against crude concrete walls that apparently hold a hillside at bay. But at night an overhead security light casts illumination straight down across the surface of the concrete wall, and produces a pool of light at its base. The nearer walls pick up subtle and colorful light from across the bay in the town of Vallejo.

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

Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sequoia-Kings Canyon, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Lake and Pinnacles, Evening

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Lake and Pinnacles, Evening
Lake and Pinnacles, Evening

Lake and Pinnacles, Evening. Kings Canyon National Park. July 30, 2010. © Copyright 2010 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light reflects surrounding pinnacles in the surface of a subalpine Sierra Nevada lake

This photograph takes me back to a long southern Sierra backpacking trip I took with friends back in 2010 — a trip from which I have recently shared a few other photographs. We entered the backcountry of Kings Canyon National Park from the east over one of the high Sierra crest passes, a few days later crossed another even higher pass to enter the upper Kern River drainage, spent a few days in a very remote portion of this area, and then exited back to the east over the crest by way of one of the more notorious east side passes — not the most notorious one, but definitely on the short list of awful passes… in a wonderful way. ;-)

The lake in this photograph was the site of our first night camp, after we came over that first pass and dropped to this beautiful sub-alpine valley with its lakes, meadows, rocks, and small trees. We settled in to this first camp… and into the familiar and welcome patterns of a long trip into the backcountry. These include camaraderie among friends who have shared many backpacking experiences, purposefully purposeless wandering around the wilderness neighborhood, sitting on rocks and staring, and watching the day transition to evening and then night.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | 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.