Tag Archives: wash

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.

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

Morning Clouds Above the Manifold, Zabriskie Point

December 12, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 9 Comments

Morning clouds fill the sky above the Manifold at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park.

I posted a monochrome version of this photograph yesterday, so there is perhaps a bit less to say about it in this post. To recap briefly, this is a photograph I made over three years ago during a spring visit to Death Valley NPS. This was a bit of a different morning for photographing at Zabriskie Point, if I recall correctly. Usually, photographing here is pretty straightforward – and once you’ve shot it a couple times in “normal” conditions, there is a basic pattern to the progression of light that becomes fairly (though perhaps not totally) clear. Normal conditions here basically mean perfectly clear skies with the sun coming up to the left from the perspective of this photograph or behind in some of the other familiar shots that include Manley Beacon – and light that sequentially illuminates subjects beginning with the highest peaks of the Panamint Range across the Valley and gradually working down into the Valley and finally to the rugged shapes at Zabriskie Point itself.

But clouds can change everything. If I am going to shoot at Zabriskie, I watch for conditions that will bring them. I will generally not stop there if it is “another beautiful clear sunrise” at Zabriskie. (If you haven’t been there before, you should stop and take in this stunning scene, but I’m often looking for something a bit different.) While the results in clear conditions are relatively predictable, they are not at all as predictable when there are clouds. You can end up with something very special… or with a drab, flat, and gray scene. But that’s the thing about special conditions – they wouldn’t be special if they were predictable and frequent!

Thinking back to this morning, my recollection is that it may have been one of those when I arrived to think, “Oh, boy, clouds!” – only to think a bit later, “I wish those clouds would move and give me some light!” I recall some bits of dawn light that were mostly blocked by the clouds. But the very clouds that blocked the hoped-for first dawn light thoughtfully assembled themselves into these impressive forms just a bit later, at right about the time that the warm side-light was getting down into the rugged folds of the Manifold and Gower Wash.

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

Morning Clouds Above the Manifold, Zabriskie Point

December 11, 2010 G Dan Mitchell 8 Comments

Morning clouds fill the sky above the Manifold at Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park.

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.

Recently I’ve been going over some of my Death Valley photographs, and as I do so I discover a few that “missed the cut” the first time around but which I kind of like now when I see them a few years later. This photograph was made in 2007, on a spring morning when beautiful clouds filled the sky above Zabriskie Point and Death Valley. I have versions of this photograph in both black and white and color – I like both, though the effect is quite different. (I’ll post the color version as soon as tomorrow.)

I’ve referred to the striking central feature of the “badlands” above Gower Wash – the hill with the curving gullies and the darker material along the top – as “the Manifold” for a few years. I know I saw this label applied to the feature somewhere, but I cannot find the source now. In any case, it seems deserving of its own name, and “the Manifold” works for me.

One more observation… I have written elsewhere about my attitude toward photographing iconic scenes – an Zabriskie Point is certainly iconic! It is a bit of a long, complicated story, but this photograph illustrates part of my philosophy. I will not always bother to stop and photograph such a site, having seen many beautiful mornings (and a few evenings) there. But I do watch for special or unusual conditions, and when they occur I may well head to an icon like Zabriskie to try to make a photograph that is unlike the usual images.

Since I am in the process of reviewing many Death Valley photographs, don’t be too surprised if a few more older photos from that location show up here soon.

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

Erosion Patterns, Morning Light

May 24, 2010 G Dan Mitchell Leave a comment

Eroded and folded patterns of gullies and rounded hills in morning light – Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California.

Part of the recent series of photographs of details of the amazing landforms around Zabriskie Point, this image includes a small section where the folds of the earth line up one behind the other almost like waves – albeit rather soft and rounded waves. This was shot during the “best light” period of early morning when the light from the rising sun angles across these shapes, here softened a bit by some high clouds that were present in this morning.

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.

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS USM at 210mm
ISO 200, f/14, 1/125 second

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