Tag Archives: tracks

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

Creosote Shadows, Morning Tracks in Sand

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Creosote Shadows, Morning Tracks in Sand
Creosote Shadows, Morning Tracks in Sand

Creosote Shadows, Morning Tracks in Sand. Death Valley National Park, California. March 28, 2010. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A clump of creosote brush casts a morning shadow across tracks in the sand, Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley National Park

While reviewing some old raw files near the end of 2012, I went back to some Death Valley photographs made during the past few years. I came upon this photograph that I had more or less forgotten. I wonder if at the time I was distracted by other photographs that appealed to me more, or if I perhaps just wasn’t sure how to treat it at the time. In any case, it still surprises me – even though I should know better by now – that I find photographs that I like among images that I thought I had finished with several years ago!

Looking through the other photographs that were part of the series that this one comes from, I recalled that I had gone out into dunes in Death Valley before dawn to photograph pre-dawn, dawn, and early morning conditions. As I often do, I approached these dunes by a roundabout route, not only to make the walk a bit easier but also to avoid other photographers and to have a better chance of finding sand that had not yet been tracked up by other human visitors. This small clump of creosote was growing in shallow sand, and its roots had slowed the windblown sand enough to create a very small hill. In turn, this let the low angle sun cast a shadow that led downhill into lower sand and which crossed the tracks of some wildlife that had passed this way the night before.

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: Southern California

Evening Shadows, Pebbles, and Tracks

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Evening Shadows, Pebbles, and Tracks
Evening Shadows, Pebbles, and Tracks

Evening Shadows, Pebbles, and Tracks. Death Valley National Park, California. April 5, 2013. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The tracks of a passing animal among small pebbles in evening shadows on the dunes, Death Valley National Park

The day before I made this photograph a huge wind/dust storm had swept across Death Valley, raising tall clouds of dust high into the air, blowing away tents and anything else not firmly tied down, and spreading a thin film of dust into cars, tents, sleeping bags, and just about everything else. The idea of a desert dust/sand storm is interesting and exciting, and there are certainly some elements in this weather that are photographically compelling – but the reality is that they can make like quite difficult for a while.

On the other hand, after the dust storm passes, many of the usual traces of human presence are temporarily erased from sand dune areas. So on this evening after the dust storm I wandered out into low dunes away from the more popular areas and saw virtually no human tracks where I ended up. However, I did non-human tracks, perhaps more clearly given that there were fewer of them and they were isolated against the newly clean and smooth wind-blown sand. I just happened to spot these small tracks (a lizard?) as I entered a small “dune” valley. I first noticed the uppermost shape, which reminded me of a small branch or twig or possibly a bit of coral. I soon noticed the more linear track up the middle of the branch-like tracks – a tail? – and thought I might be able to make a photographic composition out of these tracks, a few small rocks embedded in the sand, and some of the early afternoon shadows across the sand.

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.

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Urban/Street

Abandoned Turnstiles

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Abandoned Turnstiles - Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.
Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Abandoned Turnstiles. Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, California. March 3, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Night photograph of abandoned turnstiles in the industrial area of the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard, Vallejo, California.

Early this month I had the opportunity to join my friends from The Nocturnes, the San Francisco Bay Area night photography group, for (yet another) return visit to the historic Mare Island Naval Ship Yard for an evening of nocturnal photography, along with a chance to share work and pizza! I have been photographing Mare Island at night for something like a half dozen years now, yet I still find new and interesting subjects every time I go there.

These turnstile structures are found throughout the facility, and they are a frequent topic of conversation and subject of photography among the night photographers I know. They are intriguing features and there is something compelling about them as potential subjects. Standing along at night they seem forlorn, perhaps in contrast to the knowledge that thousands of ship yard employees must have passed through them at one point. They also seem almost disconnected from the rest of the industrial landscape here. While it is obvious that they must have once been the only entry way to certain areas of the facility, not it is quite possible to simply walk around them. In addition, some mysterious electrical “stuff” has clearly been removed – time card readers? Something else?

It also turns out that they are a surprisingly difficult photographic subject, and I have had many discussions with other night photographers about this. Up close they present an amazing density of interlocking metal features… that are very difficult to assemble into a good composition. I’ve managed once or twice. Oddly, one of my favorite photographs of the turnstiles is almost the very first photograph I made at Mare Island, a black and white close-up photograph of a gate by the island’s museum. For this shot I decided to work from a bit of elevation, setting up on a raised landing in front of a nearby building so that I could look down on the structure and create a sort of surround out of the background area and further buildings.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.

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

Dunes, Eureka Valley, Morning

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Dunes, Eureka Valley, Morning - Morning light and haze at the Eureka Valley Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.
Morning light and haze at the Eureka Valley Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

Dunes, Eureka Valley, Morning. Death Valley National Park, California. January 6. 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning light and haze at the Eureka Valley Dunes, Death Valley National Park, California.

This seems like a typical desert scene, right? Hot, arid, a bit of summer haze… It may look that way, but it was 28 degrees when I made this photograph!

At the tail end of my early January photography visit to Death Valley National Park I went north from the Ubehebe Crater area on the long gravel route up to the remote Eureka Valley Dunes, which are described as the tallest dunes in the United States, being nearly 700 feet tall. I decided to visit here at the end of my trip for several reasons – first, believe it or not, I had not been to this major feature in the park before. Second, because the trans-Sierra passes were still open in the strange weather year, by going out the north end of the park I figured I could shorten my drive back to the Bay Area a bit.

I arrived the night before, just in time to shoot a little bit as the last light came and went. Then I spent a very cold night “camping” in the back of my car. I was up reasonably early, but it was so cold that it was very hard to get out of the sleeping bag. Finally I did so, and I put on all my warm clothes and marched around the camping area trying to warm up a bit. Finally, after the morning sun topped the tall ridge to the east, the light arrived and my world began to warm up a bit. Eventually I packed up and started my trip back out to civilization. But first I wanted to stop a ways out in the valley and do some long shots back towards the dunes. This is one of those photographs, made from a ways down the road using a long lens.

Somewhat surprisingly, when I finally got back in my car a bit after 9:00 a.m. and long after the sun arrived, I finally thought to check the outside temperature on my car’s thermometer. At about 9:15, out in the valley, and in the sun… the temperature had finally risen… to 28 degrees!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer 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.