Tag Archives: travel

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

Winding Canyon, Morning Haze

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Winding Canyon, Morning Haze
Morning haze mutes the features of a distant mountains beyond a winding desert canyon.

Winding Canyon, Morning Haze. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Morning haze mutes the features of a distant mountains beyond a winding desert canyon.

I am not sure how many times I have photographed in this location over the past fifteen years or so, but it may have been dozens. There are striking features here, and I’m sure that they are what attracted me at first. I recall many years ago setting up on a high spot before sunrise and photographing for the next hour or two from within perhaps a 25-foot radius. Since then I’ve gone back on every visit, which at this point is perhaps twenty or more times. The fascinating variety of the spot attracts me, but part of the story is that it is relatively easy to get to, even when I only have a few hours on a morning when I’m about to start the long drive home.

Due to the nature of access to the area, I start at the same end every time I photograph there. At some point the early morning light comes over mountains from the east and lights up the formations, and I typically stop and intensively photograph wherever I am at that point. As a result, I always seem to arrive at the end of this little loop too late for the best light. I’ve often looked up this canyon and others like it, hoping to photograph their winding paths with the mountains in the background… and too often realized that the light was gone. But this time I arrived at a lovely high spot in good light and photographed into the morning haze that muted the details of the mountains beyond the twisting canyon.

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

Sand Dunes, Soft Light

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Sand Dunes, Soft Light
Soft morning light on overlapping sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Sand Dunes, Soft Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Soft morning light on overlapping sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

We often hear that photography is all about light, and nowhere is this more true than when photographing sand dunes. In the middle of the day the dunes can be challenging to photograph, with harsh light and little definition of their forms. But all sorts of magic can happen when the angle of the light is lower and the dunes act as a canvas to capture and reflect the light and its color, intensity, softness, and more. The colors can vary through almost every shade from blue through red, and the light may be soft and gentle or stark enough to turn shadows almost black. And at times the light passes through all of these stages and more in moments.

I’ve long felt that dune photography gives the photographer more creative and interpretive freedom than many other subjects. Because the subject is so basic, it is possible to take liberties with the light — its intensity and color — and render photographs of dunes in a variety of subjectively true ways. The light was extremely soft when I made this exposure, so I used to tools of the post-production stage to bring out the colors and forms of the subject.

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

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Ocean & Coast

Mouth of the LIttle Sur

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Mouth of the LIttle Sur
Sun breaks through morning fog along the Big Sur coast at the Little Sur River on a spring morning.

Mouth of the LIttle Sur. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Sun breaks through morning fog along the Big Sur coast at the Little Sur River on a spring morning.

Try as I may, I cannot pass this spot without at least a brief stop. The hill (a future sea stack?) sits at the terminus of the Little Sur River, where it takes a meandering route across the beach before emptying into the Pacific Ocean. Backed by the rugged cliffs of the Big Sur coast, it is a remarkable little scene, especially on a day like this when I found myself at the edge of the fog bank, and light came and went as the fog oscillated back and forth. Beams of light traversed the face of the distant faces and raced across the beach.

If you follow my posts you know that I live close enough to the Pacific Coast to go there and photograph for the morning, and that I’ve been going there for decades. The coast is as beautiful as always, especially when I arrive early enough to beat the tourist traffic, but it is showing some rough edges these days. The extent of recent wildfires is concerning, and areas still suffer from washouts that occurred during flooding. Given that last fact, it is ironic that drought is also affecting the landscape, and places that should be in the middle of their intensely green spring growth are already turning brown.

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

Dunes and Desert Mountains, Evening

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Dunes and Desert Mountains, Evening
Evening clouds above desert mountians and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

Dunes and Desert Mountains, Evening. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell.

Evening clouds above desert mountians and sand dunes, Death Valley National Park.

My recollection of this evening is that I arrived barely in time for late-day photography. I had been photographing elsewhere and calculating my schedule carefully. My plan was to arrive just in time to walk out to an area I had scoped out before, arriving at my destination perhaps a half hour before the sun dropped behind a western mountain range. I would first shoot straight into the setting sun, using its rim light to accentuate the forms of the dunes.

My plan mostly worked, though it took a bit longer to hike to the spot than I expected. By the time I arrived I had less than that anticipated half hour to work in the last direct sunlight, but I set to work and did get some other photographs that I like. Then, as happens in places like this, the mountain shadow moved quickly across my position and the light went from warm-toned and intense to soft and increasingly blue. I turned 180 degrees and photographed this evening cloud above the last direct light on peaks along the east side of Death Valley.

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.