A red car waits in front of a blue Chicago building
This was a surprise grab shot near the end of a day of photographing, as we walked back to our Chicago hotel to get ready to go out for dinner. Most of the surroundings were not terribly conducive to photography at this point, being in the middle of a very neat and tidy hotel and business area, but here the organized forms seemed right for a photo, with the perfect vertical columns of blue shaded light and the single spot of red from the car parked in the driveway and, if you look closely, a single person in front of the car.
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
Desert sunrise reflected on the surface of a metal trailer, Death Valley National Park
On my final day in Death Valley this past December I rose early to go re-photograph a location that I had shot much earlier in the week… and fouled up some exposures when I failed to pay attention to camera settings. Yes, it happens! I had a long homeward drive ahead of me on this day, but I knew that I had enough time to get back to this spot and make amends before leaving. Fortunately, the location in question was not terribly far from where I was camped, and instead of what can sometimes be a half hour, one, or longer drive to sunrise location… this time it was maybe 10 minutes. So I got to sleep in… until there was actually a tiny bit of light in the sky! I awoke, dressed in the tent, and went to my car to drive to my destination as the light was beginning to glow in the east.
As I left the campground I was already in “photographer mode,” but probably mostly so that I could anticipate what light conditions I might be working with a bit later – but I was focused enough to catch a quick glimpse of this interesting reflection on the side of a metal walled travel trailer along the route out of the campground. It may sound odd, but the shiny metal surfaces, the ambient blue pre-sunrise light, and the reflections of a few reddish clouds along the eastern skyline caught my attention. I stopped. I backed up. I opened the window of my car. I made a few photographs of the trailer, which most likely contained sleeping campers who would miss this lovely sunrise.
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
An old and very weathered car abandoned to the elements in a desert mountain streambed.
There are many threads to the Death Vally story, and portions of these stories can be read by looking in the right places in the park. There is the geological story that involves seismic activity, a very old lake, and the surprising role of water in what is today a very dry place. Occasional remnants of their ancient presence tells the faint story of the people who lived here before Europeans arrived. And there is the story of extraction – prospecting and the mining of all sorts of materials, some of which has not ended even today. (There are a couple of inholdings within the larger boundaries of the park where mineral rights are maintained and mining work continues – a jarring sight the first time you encounter in while in a national park.)
Much of this work took place only a few decades ago, and the detritus of that period is still found throughout the park. A few examples are well-known, marked on maps, and even have directional signs and interpretive information displayed by the park. However, if you poke around even a little bit you’ll soon come across many other examples of old mines, tailings, buildings, automobiles, and more. (If you visit the park and see these things, please be very careful around them. They are deteriorating, and almost anything you do to disturb them will hasten that process and deprive future visitors of the experience that you are enjoying.) There is one such site that I have driven past many times, but where I have never stopped until this trip. Beyond the obvious artifacts that are visible from a passing road, the site continues. This time I stopped, got out of my car, and spent some time wandering up and old trail that heads up a gully and then switchbacks up a nearby hill. A ways up this hill, after passing some dilapidated buildings, I came to a gully that must have been the occupants’ automobile graveyard, since there were several very old, rusting vehicles in this gully, partially embedded in sand that must have washed down during rain.
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
Mario Cipollini tops a rise followed by camera motorcycle and his support vehicle in the prologue time trial of the 2008 Amgen Tour of California bicycle race.
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Photographer and visual opportunist. Daily photos since 2005, plus articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
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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.
