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Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature

Canyon Wall Detail

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Canyon Wall Detail
Detail of a canyon wall with tilted sedimentary rocks and fossils, Death Valley National Park.

Canyon Wall Detail. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Detail of a canyon wall with tilted sedimentary rocks and fossils, Death Valley National Park.

These rocks tell a story, a profound one no doubt, but also one that this non-geologist is incapable of fully comprehending. But I do know a few things, and with that bit of knowledge and the time to observe, I can report that there is a lot to think about in places like this and, for that matter, the entirety of Death Valley National Park. A difference between this landscape and most others with which I’m familiar is that here it is almost entirely exposed rather than being hidden underneath forests and snow.

As I understand it, the course of many of the rocks here is sedimentary — they were formed under ancient seas. (Portions of the valley were submerged much more recently, and that shorter tale is visible, too, in places.) Those sediments sometimes captured creatures that became fossilized, as we see in the black spots in the rocks of this photograph. Then various geological forces lifted, tilted, fractured, and contorted these layers over a vast span of time. In many places in the park the strata are inclined upward as they progress to the west. Here one of the inclined rock bands contains colors that are the exception rather than the rule in this national park.

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: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Stream and Peak

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Stream and Peak
A small subalpine stream descends from higher terrain among the peaks of hte Sierra crest.

Stream and Peak. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A small subalpine stream descends from higher terrain among the peaks of hte Sierra crest.

Sometimes I manage to tweak some people a bit by saying, “All photographs lie.” I probably should explain. Too often there is an assumption that photographs are about showing the objective qualities of subjects, and that the best photographs simply convey the reality of these things. I think that is mistaken, and that photographs are literally incapable of being objective analogs of their subjects. Almost everything about a photograph is subjective. How did we choose to frame it? What did we choose to leave out? What time of day did we make it? What lens did we choose? Did we choose color or black and white? If there is a “truth” in a photograph it is the truth about the photographer’s subjective response to the subject. (This is a partial explanation of why two photographers who photograph the same subject usually end up with quite different photographs.)

Beyond that, there are many aspects of a subject that a photograph simply cannot contain. The sound of little mountain streams is central to my experience of places like this, but it is not found in a photograph. A photograph cannot capture the breeze or the slight chill of the shade in high mountains. The knowledge of what lies between this small stream and the lake at the base of those peaks isn’t found here. How I came to find myself at this place is not known to the viewer. Where is this place, and does that even matter?

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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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

Dead Creosote, Dunes

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Dead Creosote, Dunes
Morning sun on san dunes and skeletal dead creosote plants, Death Valley.

Dead Creosote, Dunes. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Morning sun on san dunes and skeletal dead creosote plants, Death Valley.

We tend to think of the landscape and, in particular, the desert landscape as being relatively static. Landscape photographers often hear comments along the lines of, “You have all the time in the world to make a photograph.” While there is some truth to this notion — yes, that mountain is likely to still be there tomorrow — things are not quite that simple, particularly at the beginning and end of the day. While the physical objects in this photograph stand still, the light most certainly does not!

This photograph was, in a sense, the result of a combination of working slowly and working quickly. Soon after arriving in this area of the dunes I saw this clump of dead creosote bushes. I thought they were interesting, but the lighting at that point wasn’t conducive to how I would photograph them. So I made a mental note about the scene and the spot and went to work on other things. A bit later the light was starting to sweep across the tops of the dunes and I turned my attention back to this subject, hoping that the angles would work out correctly to light the plants while the underlying sand remained in shadow. I waited as the light worked its way down the stems of the plants and then made the photograph during the seconds-long window just before the light struck the sand beneath them.

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

Snag and Dunes, Late Afternoon

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Snag and Dunes, Late Afternoon
The bones of a dead bush in sand dunes in late afternoon light, Death Valley National Park.

Snag and Dunes, Late Afternoon. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

The bones of a dead bush in sand dunes in late afternoon light, Death Valley National Park.

You might be surprised to hear that, in some ways, I’m not always a gigantic fan of wandering in the sand dunes. In some ways, they seem almost too obvious of a subject for Death Valley photography and, in all honesty, traversing dunes on foot is not exactly an easy process! (My favorite walking in this landscape is in canyons and along washes, where I can pick my own path almost anywhere.) Walking in sand, especially sand blown into the shape of dunes, is not easy — progress can be slow and access to some interesting goals can be almost impossible.

Yet I keep going back. While the dune landscape changes more slowly than you might imagine, it does change from visit to visit, and there are always surprises. The interplay of dune shapes and light provides what seems like an infinity of photographic potential. And there are few experiences quite like standing alone in an isolated section of the dunes on a warm evening as the sun drops toward the western horizon as warm evening colors and shadows arrive.

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 | 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.