Tag Archives: trail

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

Before The Dust Storm

May 22, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Just after dawn, the precursors of a day of Death Valley dust storms

I’ve been through a number of desert dust storms in and around Death Valley National Park — ranging from minor “dust blowing through the campsite” events to “damaging to my vehicle” events. (The latter was some years back as I left the park and headed out to highway 395 and, as I later found out, drove through record-breaking wind and driving dust and sand, to the permanent distress of my windshield.) It is fair to say that my feelings about such conditions are mixed. Frankly, they are very unpleasant — the dust gets into everything, from clothes to eyes to camera gear, and it is almost impossible to do much of anything if you are inside a really bad storm. In fact, near the end of the day on which I made this photograph we simply had to hunker down indoors for several hours and wait for it to stop. But there can be a kind of terrible beauty in these events as well, and if you are cautious you can photograph them.

I recall a day many years ago when I started to make sense of the antecedent conditions that lead to such storms. It was the final day of a Death Valley visit and I was down along the southeast part of the main valley, when I noticed a kind of fuzzy glow in the atmosphere. I made a few photographs and headed north to leave the park, and within an hour or so I was engulfed in a huge cloud of dust. On the day I made this photograph we went to a high overlook along the top of a mountain range to photograph dawn light. This time I recognized that strange, milky atmosphere, seen along and above the Black Mountains in the distance in the photograph. The morning was, indeed, quite beautiful. But it was only hours later that we began to see dust above us — even though we were thousands of feet up in the mountains — as a giant storm developed, and by the time we returned to the bottom of Death Valley in the mid-afternoon one of the biggest dust storms I have seen enveloped the area.

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

Evening Shadows, Death Valley

May 4, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

The evening view down Trail Canyon, across Death Valley, and to the Black Mountains

The first day of any trip to Death Valley is often a long one for me. Typically it begins with a very early departure from the San Francisco Bay Area for the long drive down the Central Valley, east over Tehachapi Pass and then back to the north to reach the park. This year’s journey to the park was even longer since I took a first-day detour and briefly joined friends on the Carrizo Plain for an evening and a morning of wildflower photography. But the time I was on the road the second day it was mid-morning, and I arrived in Death Valley in the mid-afternoon to find winds and dust kicking up in the Valley. Not looking forward to camping in those conditions, I reconsidered and headed up to Wild Rose Canyon, where the mountains can provide some shelter.

I got there and found plenty of campsites. I grabbed one and just sat around for a while, recuperating from too much time behind the wheel. However, I knew that I wanted to do some photography on this first evening, so I worked up the energy to rise from my camp chair and head out to a favorite spot along the ridge of the Panamint Range. Often my Death Valley visits combine return visits to places I know well and want to continue to explore photographically with visits to places I haven’t been before. This spot is a very familiar one by now, and it seemed like and almost sure bet for this first evening. It was hazy — remember the wind and dust I just mentioned? — but as the color of the light warmed near the end of the day the landscape’s features became a bit more visible. This photograph looks across Trail Canyon in the foreground, with the late-day shadows already concealing the features of the ridge, toward the main portion of Death Valley, with its large salt flats. Beyond lie the Black Mountains and the southern boundary of the park, with further mountains just barely visible through the distant haze.

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

Lenticular Clouds, Death Valley

May 2, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Dawn lenticular clouds from above the Black Mountains and Death Valley

After a cold and windy final night camping in the Panamint Mountains of Death Valley National Park this spring, I woke up early and headed to an overlook along the summit ridge for the range before dawn. The most typical experience here is to watch the sun rise into clear skies above the desert landscape, but this time a weather system was approaching. It was cold, extremely windy, and the sky was filled with dark clouds. The only sunrise color I saw was along a distant band of light at the horizon, produced by clearer skies far to the southeast.

I had seen the giant lenticular cloud forming the previous afternoon. These clouds are almost a part of the landscape at times, arising in predictable locations and formed by interactions between the atmosphere and features such as mountain ridges. Unlike other clouds, the lenticular can remain almost stationary for long periods of time — but this is the first time I’ve awakened to see clouds from the previous day still there. The choice to use a monochrome interpretation allowed me greater interpretative latitude in the final image, and this let me draw attention to certain shapes mirrored by the clouds and the geology in the scene.

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

Predawn Clouds Above The Black Mountains

April 18, 2017 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Lenticular clouds build over the Black Mountains before dawn, Death Valley National Park

Death Valley can be a tough place in general and a tough place for photography in particular. My recent trip in April of this year might be a case in point. The photography was not easy, and I faced different sorts of challenges almost every day. During the morning and evening hours when I typically look for “golden light” subjects, I had rather thick clouds on almost each day. Wind is often a challenge in the park, and this trip was no exception. And with the wind comes dust — yes, I dealt with dust storms on multiple days. On one morning I arrived at what I thought was my location in pre-dawn murky light, loaded up a pack, and wandered out into the landscape… only to realize once the light came that I was in the wrong place! While this sort of thing can make the photography edge a bit more difficult, I know that it comes with the territory, so I’m philosophical about it. If you are out there enough to encounter astonishing conditions, it is not a surprise when you find yourself at the opposite end of the bell curve on occasion. And when this does happen, if I just open myself to the terrain and look more carefully I can almost always find something.

On my second-to-last day of photography in the park I packed up my camp and left one of the popular campgrounds, with a plan of putting myself in a more isolated location, one of several that I had in mind. However, as I drove up the Valley a storm wind began to rise from the south, and soon clouds of dust and sand were filling the air and blowing north towards the places I thought I would visit. I wasn’t in the mood for camping in a dust storm so I switched gears and decided to head up into the Panamint Range where I thought the terrain might give me some protection. I arrived and set up my “camp” (which, in this case, was mostly my vehicle, in which I would roll out a sleeping bag), and almost immediately clouds filled the sky and a strong wind raced through the campsite. I hunkered down, at some dinner, and realized that this was not going to be a photography evening. The next morning, my final in the park on this trip, I was up and out of the campground at around 5:00, heading out on a gravel road to a high place with a grand panorama. As the first light appeared it became clear that the clouds had not gone away, and my hopes of a colorful sunrise were not going to be rewarded. I arrived at the destination to find that gale-force winds were raking the summit ridge. But I was there, I had my camera, I figured something might happen, so I got out and watched the sky lighten. Soon I saw this remarkable lenticular cloud formation to the southwest above the Black Mountains.

G Dan Mitchell Photography

Tag Archives: trail

Before The Dust Storm

Evening Shadows, Death Valley

Lenticular Clouds, Death Valley

Predawn Clouds Above The Black Mountains

Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.