Images

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

Dawn Clouds, Panamint Range

Image Leave a comment
Dawn Clouds, Panamint Range
Dawn clouds above the Panamint Range and Death Valley.

Dawn Clouds, Panamint Range. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Dawn clouds above the Panamint Range and Death Valley.

On the final morning of a typical Death Valley visit, I get up well before dawn and squeeze in one more “shoot” before leaving. It typically is not too far from where I’m staying since my early wake-up call usually means that I can’t break camp before heading off to photography, and I know that I’ll need to head back, perhaps grab something to eat, and pack up before starting the long drive home. I was camped near Furnace Creek this time, so I selected a spot at the edge of the salt playa not too far from there.

I was up in darkness and it was still dark when I arrived at my location. I sat in my vehicle for a few minutes, and as the first faint light arrived I could see that much of the sky was overcast. This was not encouraging, but I finally decided to load up and walk out across the gravel fan and to the playa. If something was going to happen with the light I had to be in position — no waiting to find out! A short time later I was in position, and the light still wasn’t quite remarkable. But as the first faint sunrise light, filtered by clouds to the east, touched the face of the Panamint range it colored the thinning clouds and created subtle light on the face of the mountains.

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.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question.

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

Conservation/Environment, Locations

No More Posts About “That Thing”

Image 4 Comments

Earlier this week I saw an article from a Southern California newspaper (and many links to it online) that promoted and glorified the annual late-February appearance of a particular conjunction of light and water in Yosemite Valley.

I first photographed it quite a few years ago, back before the 50-foot wave of the incoming digital camera revolution washed over everything, threatening to change such things forever, and not in good ways. Back then I was fortunate to join a few folks (maybe a dozen or a score?) standing quietly in one of a couple of places and hoping to see “the thing” happen. For many years I did an annual post about the subject that offered advice on when, where, and how to photograph it.

I’m not doing that any more.

I pretty much stopped photographing it several years ago when the whole event took on a circus-like atmosphere and got so out of control that it began to threaten the well-being of portions of the Valley. While I could share some positive aspects of it, the truth is that chasing after a photograph of something that has been built up and even distorted by too much publicity no longer interests me… and that it is now doing more harm than good.

This past week I also read that the Park Service has had to institute even more draconian (and necessary, I think) restrictions — closing traffic lanes, making it illegal to stop along portions of Valley roads, and completely closing one popular viewing area that had gotten to be so overrun that the forest, meadow, and river were damaged.

You’ve seen photographs of this subject. The photographs can be striking and sometimes remarkable. May I share another secret? If you go there to make your own photograph, the best most visitors can likely hope for is to maybe, if they are really lucky and really skillful and have the right equipment, get a “me too” photograph that looks pretty much like the others. There can be some value in that, but no longer enough to negate the downsides.

And what you are likely to see isn’t what you see in those select few remarkable photographs. The event, if it happens, is very high up on a tall cliff and a good distance from where you’l. be standing. In order to fill the frame the way you’ve seen it you are going to need a very long telephoto, a pretty good camera, probably a tripod. You’ll also need to take that “capture” and subject it to a fair amount of post-processing. The truth is that most of the photographs of the subject that you’ll see, including many of the most striking, have been enhanced to a considerable degree. during post-processing. (I’m not anti-post-processing at all. I’m just being honest.)

Short story: you aren’t going to get “that photo” on your iPhone.

And all of this assumes that the event actually happens. It depends on the conjunction of a number of uncertain conditions — a small stream that must receive enough February snow melt from a very small drainage to start it flowing, a clear line of sight between the location and the horizon far to the west. This doesn’t happen every night. In fact, of all the times I did try to photograph it, more often than not it did not happen.

But I have good news, too! Further afield in the famous Valley where this happens, this is my favorite season of the year, and there are loads of other astonishingly beautiful attractions that are equally worth photographing: morning mists in meadows, snow-topped cliffs ringing the Valley, the potential for spectacular winter storms, clouds floating among cliffs and towers, quiet forests, waterfalls that may come back to life, ice, and much more.

UPDATE: As of 2020 I am no longer posting annual updates concerning the annual Horse Tail Fall event. I also no longer recommend going to the Valley to see it. Unfortunately, too much exposure (yes, I played a part in it, unfortunately) has led to absurd crowds, traffic jams, littering, destruction of areas in the Valley where too many people go to see it… and the park has increasingly — and appropriately — cracked down. Parking options have been eliminated, at least one viewing location has been closed. Good news! The rest of Yosemite Valley is still there and often exceptionally beautiful at this time of year.

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.

Photographs: New York City, Photographs: Urban/Street

Waiting For The Light

Image Leave a comment
Waiting For The Light
A crowd queues up for the green light at a busy Manhattan interection

Waiting For The Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A crowd queues up for the green light at a busy Manhattan interection.

Perhaps you thought that I was finished with the photographs from our December visit to Manhattan. You’d be wrong! As I’ve written in the past, I love photographing in the dense urban world of Manhattan. In many ways it is the opposite of what I do most often when I head out to photograph in California and the west, where I tend to focus on the more-or-less natural world (though not entirely!) and work at a generally slower and more contemplative pace. Manhattan is intense, with people everywhere, and tons of stuff to see. Much of it happens so quickly that it is “shoot now or miss it!”

I made this photograph in a busy part of Manhattan — Broadway not far below Central Park if I recall correctly — and during the busy holiday period when tons of people are on the streets. I love the great American diversity of Manhattan, where you rub shoulders with just about everyone — rich and poor, locals and tourists, young and old, every language and ethnicity.

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.

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

Playa and Mountains, Last Light

Image Leave a comment
Playa and Mountains, Last Light
Twiilight winter sky above Death Valley playa and the Panamint Mountains.

Playa and Mountains, Last Light. © Copyright 2020 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Twiilight winter sky above Death Valley playa and the Panamint Mountains.

On one hand, I’m fortunate enough to live where I can get to Death Valley in a single day of driving. On the other hand, it is a rather long day! I was on the road close to 6:00AM. (Sometimes I leave earlier, but we were out the night before.) I don’t stop a lot on these drives, but even so it was close to 3:00 by the time I got to the place where I planned to camp… only do realize that this was a long weekend and there were actual crowds in Death Valley. I’m more used to seeing very few people there this time of year. This fact cost me a bit of extra time figuring out where to camp, and by the time I got that sorted out and headed out for evening photography it was pretty late in the day.

This is my way of saying that I had to make more or less a snap decision to commit to a general location and go there quickly. By the time I arrived there wasn’t going to be a lot of light left and I soon found myself photographing end-of-day and evening light. But what a beautiful sky it was! Desert dawn and sunset skies can, at least when there are some clouds, be exceptionally beautiful. I think one reason is that they stand above a landscape that is often stark and bare. (In the right conditions, that emptiness can be a canvas painted by this light.) On this evening there were a few clouds right above the Panamint Mountains, with one straggler stretching high into the sky against a lovely gradient transitioning from brightly lit clouds to the deep blue of oncoming night.

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.