Tag Archives: water

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

Clouds, Lake, Desert Mountains

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Clouds, Lake, Desert Mountains
“Clouds, Lake, Desert Mountains” — Morning clouds above the Panamint Range, reflected in the smooth surface of Lake Manly.

This photograph may look a bit familiar if you follow my posts. I previously shared a landscape orientation (wide) version of a similar photograph, made just moments before I exposed this one. The Panamint Mountains are in the distance, under sunrise light, and the shadow of mountains to the east still falls on the lower slopes. This is reflected in the waters of Lake Manly.

I love finding interesting juxtapositions of color, light, and shape in the landscape. The reflective water of the temporary lake provided rare opportunities here. and I was able to find a composition that stacked up layers of clouds, sky, snow-capped peaks, sunrise light, and the shadow line in the middle.

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

Flooded Playa, Mountain Shadow

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Flooded Playa, Mountain Shadow
“Flooded Playa, Mountain Shadow” — The shadow of a mountain retreats across a flooded playa in morning light, Death Valley.

It is hard to make sense of the landforms of Death Valley when you are within the valley. It is so vast and so flat that your view is often a combination of what is right at your feet and what is many miles away. A more comprehensive view comes from ascending to a high point in the mountains on either side of the valley. From these elevated perspectives you can see things that are otherwise invisible.

This year these perspectives revealed something very unusual. A large section of the playa near Badwater, where the lowest point is located, is submerged under the shallow waters of Lake Manly. This photograph incorporates several elements of this year’s view — that shadow of the mountains on which I was standing, the salt flats shining white in morning light, the turquoise waters of the shallow lake, and a maze of channels along its periphery.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Structures and Objects, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Weathered Wall

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Weathered Wall
“Weathered Wall” — Abstract patterns of paint, stucco, and weathering on a wall in Orvieto, Italy

There’s really no obvious way to tell from the image that it was made in Italy — though once you know that you may recognize that beautifully worn and weathered walls are part of the landscape there. I spotted this detail as we walked through the small hill town of Orvieto during the summer of 2023.

While I usually prefer to think of such weathering as “picturesque,” you could be forgiven for regarding it as run-down, too. To be honest, the exteriors of buildings in big cities are not always pristine, and this is especially so when we get away from fancy downtowns and into regular neighborhoods. After years of visiting such places it finally occurred to me that people in these places might surrender exterior beauty, but that they transfer their aesthetic impulse to interiors. In any case, I’m happy to find subjects like this.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

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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

Flooded Playa

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Flooded Playa
“Flooded Playa” — The flooded landscape of the playa near Manly Lake, Death Valley.

This is another in a series of photographs of the floor of Death Valley near Badwater, photographed from high in the Black Mountains early one morning. Following a historic storm in August of 2023, this part of the valley flooded, partially reconstituting the historic Lake Manly. There is still a lot of water, and many areas of the playa are currently inaccessible.

To make these photographs I used very long focal length lenses, which allowed me to isolate small areas in this vast terrain. The formations seen here are in a very flat area just upstream of Lake Manly. The area is mostly a salt flat in normal times. Here the blue water makes visible the many wandering channels through which the water flows.

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 | Instagram | Flickr | Facebook | Threads | Post | Email

Links: Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Info.

Scroll down to share comments or questions. (Click post title first if viewing on the home page.)

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