Tag Archives: wall

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

Titus Canyon Road

December 31, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 4 Comments

I made this photograph during midday hours after walking a ways up into the canyon from its mouth – the alternative to making the very long drive over the Grapevine Mountains from Amargosa Valley. (I have done the latter a few times, too.) While most Death Valley subjects tend to be appealing in the early morning or in the evening, many of the canyons can be at their best during the middle of the day, especially the very deep and narrow canyons like lower Titus Canyon. Here the canyon narrows down to the point that there is only room of a single gravel track, and twists and turns around rocky outcroppings. The light striking the upper canyon walls – out of the range of this photograph – reflects down into the canyon and produces soft, diffused illumination.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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.

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

Natural Bridge Canyon

December 30, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

A gravel wash in the bottom of the narrow confines of Natural Bridge Canyon, Death Valley National Park.

These narrow canyons, of which there are a number of great examples in Death Valley, can provide some interesting photographic opportunities, but they also can pose some real challenges. Much of the rock in these places is, frankly, rather drab and of low contrast. However, at the right time of day and on a day with the right light and in the right parts of these canyons, the glowing light reflected down into the canyons from overhead rock walls can produce warm and diffused light and bring interesting colors to the place.

I made an unusual decision to use a very long focal length for this photograph – it was shot with a 100-400mm zoom at 330 mm. More typically I would probably tend to use wide angle focal lengths in the confines of such a canyon. However, because I wanted to juxtapose the different colors and shapes of the sections of canyon wall along the narrow and twisting wash, I chose the long lens to compress the distance. Although I think the photograph creates a feeling that I’m positioned very close to the foreground rocks and the darker bit of canyon wall on the left, I was actually quite a distance back from this spot.

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Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Yosemite

Trees and Cliff, Morning Light, Ahwahnee Meadow

November 24, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Morning sun light illuminates autumn trees at Ahwahnee Meadow and dissolves the last remnants of morning ground fog, Yosemite Valley.

This was just about the very last exposure I made in this series. As I wrote earlier, I had started shooting in Ahwahnee Meadow before sunrise, on a very cold morning (frost on the grass!) when ground fog obscured the trees. I continued to photograph here for perhaps an hour and a half as the sun light began to touch the highest cliffs and peaks and slight breezes began to move the ground fog. Finally the light began to make its way down to the valley floor, hitting the trees along the west edge of the meadow. At this point I figured it wouldn’t be long before the trees that I was shooting would be touched by the first bit of light. This photograph was made at just about that moment when, fortuitously, some thin clouds moved overhead and muted the fist light to strike the yellow leaves of this grove of trees, standing above the very last remnants of the ground fog.

This photograph is 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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada, Photographs: Textures

Aspen Color – Wall of Leaves

November 21, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 5 Comments

A nearly solid wall of brilliant fall aspen leaf color in the eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is going to be the first in a short series of “frame filled with foliage” photographs that I’ll post. Although I think they work best as prints – and fairly large ones at that – I’d like to share these since they are something a bit different that I’ve been working on.

Sometimes I’m just so impressed by the sheer density and complexity of the foliage that I’m tempted to just point that camera at them and click. It might look like that is what is going on here, but I am also trying (remember, “trying!”) to find some sort of pattern and form in these very complex textures. This photograph was made in a small aspen grove that was essentially at the color peak – only a very small number of partly green leaves remained, yet most of the transformed leaves were still on the tree. If you have chased aspen color, you know how difficult it can be to find the leaves at just this point!

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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