Tag Archives: Wind

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

Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light

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Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light
Creosote plant in eveing light as wind-blown sand softens the contours of receding dunes.

Creosote and Dunes, Evening Light. © Copyright 2022 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Creosote plant in eveing light as wind-blown sand softens the contours of receding dunes.

This is (yet another!) photograph that demonstrates the conjunction of a range of things: planning, good luck, responding quickly to conditions, and more. Regarding the planning, I had made a long drive to a place a mile or so from this spot, where I set up a primitive camp and waited for the late-day light. A lot of good luck was involved — this was my first time at this location, so I had to make some guesses about where to be when the evening light arrived… and the guesses turned out pretty well.

As to conditions, several things were happening here. First, it was extremely windy, so I made some decisions about camera setup to deal with that. I made the exposure during a short interval of less wind. Second, there was only a brief interval when the light acquired the warm, evening color, and then the shadows from a low mountain range to the west “turned out the lights.” If you look closely you can already see some shadows starting to creep into the edges of the frame.

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

Sand Dune Plants, Evening

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Sand Dune Plants, Evening
Low plants eke out an existence on Death Valley sand dunes.

Sand Dune Plants, Evening. © Copyright 2013 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Low plants eke out an existence on Death Valley sand dunes.

Since travel to places as distant as Death Valley National Park is off the table right now, I’m vicariously experiencing one of my favorite places to be in the winter by reviewing my raw file archive from a visit in 2013. I visit DEVA every winter and sometimes in early spring, and I hope that California travel restrictions will moderate in a month or two from now and I’ll still be able to visit this year.

As I go back over these photographs, it looks like it was a fairly typical sort of day in DEVA for me. I had gotten up very early, driven east from the Valley, and turned onto Titus Canyon Road. I spent the morning and early afternoon on that route, and perhaps I share a few photographs from that familiar adventure soon, too. It looks like I returned to camp, probably for a late lunch, before heading back on in the late afternoon to photograph in sand dunes. Along the way to a spot I had in mind, I paused to photograph these small plants growing among the patterns of windblown sand, no doubt momentarily marveling at the apparent challenge of finding a way to live in such a spot.

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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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Dust Storm, Desert Hills

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Dust Storm, Desert Hills
A dust storm begins to envelope desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Dust Storm, Desert Hills. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A dust storm begins to envelope desert mountains, Death Valley National Park.

Last year we spent nearly a week in Death Valley in the Spring, photographing landscape and plants and flowers. I go every year, usually camping, but this time we stayed in one of the lodging facilities in the park, heading out from there on various one-day adventures. (I like camping in the park… but I don’t mind sleeping in a bed and eating good food either…)

We experienced some fairly big dust storms during this visit — not the biggest I’ve seen by far, but powerful enough to make an impression. One was building on this afternoon, so we headed in that direction to see what photographic opportunities might arise. Near the end of the day the sky was almost apocalyptic, with clouds above, raging dust storm below, and sunset color. But this photograph comes from earlier in the day when the effect was more subtle. We stopped close to these rounded desert hills and photographed the landscape as the more distant mountains gradually were obscured by the increasing dust.

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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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

Sand Storm and Dunes

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Sand Storm and Dunes
A sand storm darkens the sky above dunes in Death Valley National Park.

Sand Storm and Dunes. © Copyright 2019 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sand storm darkens the sky above dunes in Death Valley National Park.

By now I’m perhaps starting to sound a bit like a broken record when I describe the experience of sand storms like this one, but bear with me (at least) one more time. We had arrived here after a couple of hours of chasing the atmospheric conditions produced by this sand storm. At this spot I stood in the shelter of our vehicle, with the strong winds at my back, and photographed straight into the area that was the source of the storm that was filling the terrain with dust all the way up into the Panamint Range.

This was an “awesome” experience in the classic sense of provoking a sense of awe in the face of the power of this event, and it was (as it always is) a reminder of how small we are by comparison. This photograph looks across a section of playa towards sand dunes being whipped by the winds. Clouds of sand and dust were being picked up and carried swiftly across the landscape and into the sky, nearly obliterating the sunlight coming from the other side of the cloud. (As you look at this, imagine the clouds of dust streaming from left to right across the scene.)

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 | Facebook | Email

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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