Tag Archives: usa

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

Winding Desert Canyon

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Winding Desert Canyon
A desert canyon winds into the Black Mountains of Death Valley

Winding Desert Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A desert canyon winds into the Black Mountains of Death Valley

These desert canyons come in a variety of forms. In many ways, the slot canyons are the most appealing, with their tall, often vertical walls, serpentine paths, and sometimes very narrow dimensions. But the constitute the minority of the canyon types. Others may be quite wide and shallow, almost having the character of wide washes instead of canyons. These are often found lower in the mountains, and are easy to spot from a distance where the canyons spill out onto (sometimes vast) fans of gravel. Another type feels like a canyon, but has a more open character, with hills rather than walls along the sides, and often with a wide path up the center.

This canyon has the latter character, at least at this point. (Elsewhere in the same drainage it has more of the character of a slot canyon.) While there are low walls along its edges, one wouldn’t be too hard pressed to pass over them, and above these walls the sides of the canyon slope away at relatively low angles that allow sunlight to penetrate to the bottom. Recently it finally occurred to me that one of the things that makes such canyons so enjoyable to walk is that there is no single path to follow. Where the canyon is wide enough, the feeling is midway between following a trail and walking in trail-less country. You do follow the course of the canyon, but you can pick your way through it in any way that seems to make sense.

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

Creosote Bushes, Dunes At First Light

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Creosote Bushes, Dunes At First Light
First light on sand dunes and a pair of creosote bushes, Death Valley

Creosote Bushes, Dunes At First Light. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

First light on sand dunes and a pair of creosote bushes, Death Valley

I made this photograph during that short, beautiful period when the day’s first light arrives in the desert. I had spotted these clumps of creosote plant earlier, when the light was still pre-dawn blue. I made a few photographs at that point which, of course, have an entirely different feeling than this one. I think I had begun to move on to another subject when I decided to instead stick with this one as the sun rose behind distant mountains. The first light struck the top of dunes to my left (not visible in this photograph), and as the angle of the light increased with the rising sun it began to sweep across nearer dunes beyond the plants.

The color contrasts here are, I think, quite something, even with the overall soft quality of the scene and the light. That one band of dune just beyond the plants is very colorful in the early direct light. Beyond the sun is just beginning to strike a few other dunes. In the far distance the hills and washes at the east side of Death Valley are still in the blue morning twilight shadows. The creosote plants are still in shade — but not for long — and silhouetted against the more colorful den.

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

Toward the Valley

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Toward the Valley
Reflected light in a twisting desert canyon as it approaches Death Valley

Toward the Valley. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Reflected light in a twisting desert canyon as it approaches Death Valley

To walk into a canyon like this one from a huge valley such as Death Valley is to walk from an overwhelming, immense space into a smaller, more intimate place. In the canyons distances are often measured in feet rather than miles, and long distance views are most often cut off entirely. This is especially true when entering such canyons where the route often begins in a wide wash above the Valley, then constrict through the mouth of the canyon, and soon begins to wind back and forth in a serpentine manner between hills or cliffs.

The trip back out often seems to have a different feeling. It usually takes less time, partly due to the downhill slope and even more because one is now retracing familiar terrain rather than discovering it for the first time. In many cases, the closer one gets to the outlet of the canyon the more that signs of the valley below appear. The canyon walls become shorter, and views over the nearer walls being to reveal blue sky and distant mountains instead of more canyon walls. Before long the light changes and the route leaves the canyon confines and is again back in the huge, open space.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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

Photographs: Architecture, Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Tortaria

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Tortaria
A woman walks past a Manhattan tortaria with a red pickup truck parked in front.

Tortaria. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A woman walks past a Manhattan tortaria with a red pickup truck parked in front.

I made this photograph about four years ago, and the brief tale of how emerged now is perhaps worth telling. Recently I was involved in a discussion of tilt/shift lenses. Part of the discussion drifted to image changes that could be made in post-processing rather than by using shift to correct converging perspective lines. I went looking for example files I could use, especially those that might have been shot with a very wide lens and in need of correction. I figured that urban photographs would provide good examples, so I started digging into my New York raw files. Eventually I ended up back in 2014… and to my surprise I found a group of images that I had almost completely forgotten about and which I never finished reviewing and processing.

Four years later I don’t even remember making this photograph, nor do I remember the location. (I could figure it out easily enough.) I’m betting that the initial attraction was to the contrast between the bright red pickup truck (and all of the things that it can symbolize) and the teal-colored front of the Tortaria. It may have been good fortune that the woman walked into the left side of the frame at this moment. I like the juxtaposition of the red and green-blue colors and the potential cultural and other symbolism of the big, red pickup truck.

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.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | LinkedIn | Email

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