G Dan Mitchell Photography

(Note: As explained at the end of this post, the project of writing about Death Valley has grown to the point that it can’t be contained in the single post I originally envisioned. Consequently, this is part 1 of a series that will include at least one more post.)

I try to photograph in Death Valley National Park every spring, typically around the beginning of April. Since I’ve been going for a number of years, I have now visited quite a few good locations in the park. (But not all of them – it is a huge park!) Since I have recently gotten some emails asking about where, when, and how to photograph in DV I thought I’d share some of my experiences here.

First, a disclaimer or two.

• Although I’ve been to Death Valley a number of times and have visited locations other than just those that are on the “must see” list, there are others who have far more experience in this huge park than I have. Some of them have written guide books on the subject, and I recommend that you search these out and use them – I know I do!
• It is also a very good idea to check with the Park personnel and visit the Park web site before (and during!) your visit to learn about about the areas you want to visit and to find out about current conditions.
• This guide is essentially a “personal” guide to what I know about the park. There will be gaps – some pretty significant ones, perhaps – and in other cases I may mention a location that I’ve barely visited, either because it has enough of a reputation that it deserves mention or because my minimal experience with the location was enough to get me interested if not turn me into an expert.

When to visit

Some people cannot imagine why one would want to visit such a seemingly barren and forsaken place. I have an ongoing good-natured dialog with a colleague who thinks I’m absolutely nuts for going to a place containing virtually no water, full of barren and sun-blasted sand and rock, largely devoid of lush vegetation, and where the temperatures can present real physical danger to the unprepared. (He loves the redwoods…)  To some extent I can understand his point of view. But for those who get to know the place, this vast expanse of raw land is extremely compelling – and you can find tremendous beauty here if you just learn when, where, and how to look for it.

Unless you are a glutton for punishment or you really like extraordinarily hot and arid conditions, the late spring through early autumn season is probably not the time for a visit. (Ironically, I hear that many international visitors choose to come during the hot season, wanting to get the “real Death Valley experience.” I can sort of understand… barely… but for most photographers I think that a mid-summer visit is not likely to be a good idea.) The more typical “high season” in Death Valley is from late fall (November) through early spring (beginning of April), and even at the “edges” of this period you can encounter some very hot and dry conditions.

I typically visit around the beginning of April. This timing has more to do with my personal schedule than with best seasonal timing. April can be quite good, though I suspect that a somewhat earlier time frame could be better. Desert flowers, especially during those occasional years of heavy blooms, may peak a bit earlier than this. Winter light closer to the solstice can be a bit more conducive to daytime photography. April weather – and Death Valley weather in general – can surprise. Oddly, I’ve encountered some rain on the majority of my visits, though usually it is only brief. I’ve even been snowed on! On the other hand, I’ve experienced weather in the 90 degree range in early April. Be prepared for a wide range of conditions.

What to photograph, and when to photograph it

To preface this section I want to acknowledge a few things about what follows. First, I have not visited every point of interest in the park. There are even a few of the major sites that I have not been to – such as Eureka Dunes – at the time I write this. Secondly, the major sites/sights are certainly not the only ones worth photographing. Third, when it comes to my suggestions regarding time of day or approach to a subject, what I write here is merely my opinion, not objective truth about The Way to photograph these subjects. As they say, “your mileage may vary.”

It is often a question whether to shoot the famous “iconic” subjects or focus or the uncommon and less known features of a park like Death Valley. I’m flexible about this. While I think that many of the most interesting images are perhaps not the most obvious ones, the iconic sights are iconic for a reason. If you are in Death Valley for the first time, I think it might make a lot of sense to start with the icons – you sure don’t want to miss them! Eventually, after more visits, you’ll begin to know the area more intimately and it will make more sense to start looking at the less-known subjects – and as you develop a personal relationship with the place you’ll perhaps develop some of your own favorites. But even then there will be times when the icons call. Even though I’ve been there a number of times, I would not miss a sunrise at Zabriskie Point on a morning with just the right cloudy skies over the Panamint range.

Be aware that distances in Death Valley National Park are huge! Unlike some national parks where you might be able to park your car and walk from place to place (which I recommend in, say, Yosemite Valley), here you will need to drive, and you’ll need to drive a lot. It is not at all uncommon to have to drive a couple hours or more to get from one shooting location to another. Some of the driving may involve dirt/gravel roads.

These distances, among other things, make it a good idea to try to plan your shooting ahead of time. In general I try to shoot one major subject very early in the morning and one in the evening, and then I build the rest of my schedule around these plans. While certain subjects are unlikely to be at their best outside of the golden hour times – at least if the weather is typical – some subjects will work better at other times. For example, many of the canyons can be photographed a bit later in the morning or earlier in the afternoon since their high walls can sustain the “good light” longer and later in the day you may find nice reflected light from canyon walls. Some of the deepest and steepest canyons – such as the lower portion of Titus Canyon – can be photographed at almost any time of day. With this in mind, the general outline of a good shooting day might include a) a sunrise location, b) an early to mid morning location, c) some hanging out during the middle of the day or driving to the afternoon/evening locations, d) a mid to late afternoon location, and e) an evening/sunset location.

With these preliminaries out of the way, let me list and describe some of the areas that you may want to visit on your photographic journey to Death Valley. I’ll focus primarily on places I’ve visited and photographed, though I may also mention a few that are still on my “to do” list based on reputation and/or research.

Death Valley Dunes/Mesquite Dunes

These dunes, located very close to Stovepipe Wells, are the most photographed and probably best known sand dunes in the park. There is a good chance that if you have seen photographs of dunes in Death Valley National Park that they were shot here. I understand that they are formed when winds carrying airborne dust and sand particles are deflected by the bulk of Tucki Mountain and drop their load here. Having experienced one Death Valley dust storm at the nearby Stovepipe Wells campground I can certainly believe this.

Most people photograph the dunes early or late in the day. Midday light could be very, very tough here! Night photography around the dunes could be interesting, though my one attempt was not successful. Some general thematic approaches to photographing the dunes include: abstractions of dune forms both large and small, studies of light and shadow, photographs that include surrounding desolate terrain, the plant and animal life, some of the formations around the dunes, interesting sky and weather effects above and beyond the dunes and so forth.

For most people there are more or less three ways to photograph the dunes. Some shoot from the road, and while this may sound like the lazy person’s approach, there are some very interesting possibilities. I have some long lens shots of the transverse dunes (at the side furthest away from Stovepipe Wells) that I shot from the road with a 400mm lens. A second option is to park along the road and start walking toward the dunes. This can lead to some interesting photographic opportunities, though there are a few caveats: this is not the shortest route, it is the most heavily tracked route, and you’ll have to hike across a lot of sand to get there. A third option is to start closer to Stovepipe Wells and hike out to the left of the dunes and then either enter on that side or circle around the back. In my experience this route is a bit less traveled and it provides access to the core of the higher area of the dunes with less walking on sand.

Ironically, one of the biggest problems when shooting at the dunes is… all of the photographers and the tracks they leave in the sand. I’ve found good compositions only to see a half dozen or more photographs placed around the scene. You could just include them as part of the photo, or I suppose you could remove them in post. The tracks are more problematic – at least if you are looking for the illusion of virgin, untracked sands. Arriving after wind is obviously going to help. (Arriving during wind can be quite something, too, though hard on equipment and when the wind blows strongly enough hard on you, too.) One theory is that the tracks may be a bit less obvious in the morning than in the evening after a day of visitors. In some cases you might consider incorporating the tracks into the shot – I have one interesting photo in which desert blossoms were blown around and collected in the footprints.

One possibility that surprised me is shooting the very subtle colors and wonderful shapes of the transverse dunes right around and perhaps shortly after sunset. When lit by colorful sky some amazing and subtle tones can emerge from the same sand that looks uniformly tan/beige during the day.

Badwater

South of Furnace Creek is Badwater spring, at what used to be described as the lowest elevation in North America. (I believe that the actual low point has now been located at some nondescript spot out in the Valley.) A small pool from a spring is found here and you’ll see photographs including the spring. Other photographic opportunities include lens-shaped formations on the salt flats, views of the Panamint Range across the Valley, and a variety of other vistas – all of which can be especially interesting if you are lucky enough to encounter interesting clouds.

Despite its reputation as a photographic location, Badwater itself hasn’t quite “clicked” for me. Part of the problem is that the spring has been altered in order to protect it and a non-photogenic boardwalk surrounds it, making photographs of the spring/pool difficult. The fact that it is one of the popular stops on the Death Valley “tourist circuit” also contributes to the sometimes less than appealing atmosphere. From the springs there is a well-worn path leading out onto the salt flats. If you follow it a good distance away from the parking lot you can start to get a sense of the vast space of the Valley – something well worth doing even if you don’t photograph here. This is a difficult spot to photograph. During the day the light is incredibly intense due to the normal conditions in the Valley plus the reflections from the nearly white surface. Exposure is tricky – you may want to use a graduated ND filter, or underexpose to retain some texture in this very bright scene. If some clouds cast shadows across the Valley things can get a bit more interesting, and if there are high clouds the scene improves a great deal.

Although I have not shot there in the morning, I understand that it is possible to find some very interesting compositions that include the first sunlight on the Panamint range. I imagine that this could be especially interesting during the cool season when there can be a bit of snow on Telescope Peak, and it might be even better during those times when there is water on the surface to reflect the sky and mountains.

In this general area you can also find the lens-shaped salt formations formed as the Valley floor dries. While you can find them right near Badwater – at least if you walk far enough – I prefer to travel just a bit south of here. The following instructions are intentionally vague, but they might help you investigate Drive a “few turns” south of Badwater and find a spot to park along the road. Descend a gentle slope to the salt flats. Before long you’ll find the irregular circular shaped formations that have been photographed so many times.

I prefer to shoot here starting just before the sun drops behind the high peaks of the Panamint Range. On a good number of occasions I’ve been lucky to have clouds form above Telescope Peak, and the sunlight streams through the gaps in the clouds to create quite an impressive sight – but you do have to get there while the sun is still a bit above the peaks. As the sun drops behind the Panamints the light changes greatly. The main issue is that because the salt flats are then illuminated almost entirely by the blue sky the “white” salt will register as very blue in your photographs. It is so blue that the photos will often look almost hallucinogenically blue! I always resort to some serious post processing in order to deal with this. (Other photographers “go with the blue” and don’t seem to do much color correction. Tastes vary…)

My approach to composing shots here is to think first about the salt formations. I spend some time looking for formations that are interesting and compelling, without paying too much attention to the distant peaks and Valley and perhaps clouds that will be part of the image. Once I find such a formation I then figure out the angle to shoot from to include it along with interesting subjects beyond. This is a good place to use your ultra wide angle lens – get down very low and close to the salt, use a small aperture (or even use focus bracketing) and construct a composition. Stick around for a while. The light here continues to change in interesting and subtle ways as the day comes to a close.

Artist Drive

This is another major tourist destination. While the Artist Palette formations are the chief draw with their unusual colors, there are other subjects to check out here. The road travels across some very tortured terrain, and some of the less obvious spots provide some very interesting possibilities. One evening I pulled off of the road at a nondescript spot and photographed a couple rocks illuminated by the warm evening light. It wasn’t even a spot that anyone would notice, but it did provide interesting rocks and some of the last light in this part of the Valley.

Golden Canyon

Golden Canyon is a short distance south of Furnace Creek. Access is very easy and very obvious from the main highway.

Golden Canyon is a narrow canyon formed by water draining from rare but heavy rainstorms that sometimes occur in Death Valley. Evidence of the periodic flooding is obvious once you are in the canyon. (It is also obvious once you start noticing the “fans” at the bases of canyons like this one.) Portions of the canyon are very narrow and in a few places you’ll have to climb over and around some boulders if you want to travel far into the upper reaches of the canyon.

One reason I like to photograph the canyons is that they often have decent light just outside of the very early/late times when you must shoot many of the other more exposed subjects. So, for example, I can shoot a dawn subject and then head into one of these canyons a bit later in the morning – and because the canyons are deep they can still provide interesting light long after the other places have become flat. I’ve even had good luck shooting Golden Canyon during the early afternoon on days when some clouds added interest to the sky. The canyon opens toward the west, but it curves and is narrow enough in some portions that you get a combination of decent light from the sky without full exposure to the sun. (Though there are wider sections in this canyon that can be sun-blasted and blazing hot. I discovered this on one hot April day when I had hiked up this short canyon without much water…)

Some interesting features in this canyon include the very high walls near Zabriskie Point that tower over the upper end of the canyon, some very narrow and rocky areas in the lower canyon, and some wider spots where the canyon opens up a bit. This can be a good location to photograph people exploring the canyon as well. There is also access to some side canyons from the main trail, and adventurous photographers can explore the formations below Zabriskie Point from here.

Twenty Mule Team Canyon

I had passed by Twenty Mule Team Canyon quite a few times on previous visits to Death Valley, but in 2009 I was introduced to the area by Edie Howe, Yosemite Valley resident and photographer, and author of the Little Red Tent blog.

A one-way gravel road runs up the canyon, leaving the main road at a poorly marked intersection above Zabriskie Point. I visited very early in the morning, arriving before the sun came up, and I think that early morning may be the best time to shoot here.

The Canyon is full of all sorts of contorted and twisted and very colorful (ranging from nearly white to gaudy browns and reds and even green) geology, and early in the morning the light passed from the soft diffusion of the time right before dawn, through the the warm and soft first light, to bright daylight. Subjects include close shots of sparse but rugged small plants and interesting rocks, medium distance shots of amazing shapes and textures, and even longer views down the canyon toward Zabriskie and on into Death Valley and the mountains beyond.

On my first visit I spent perhaps an hour and a half photographing, not moving my tripod more than maybe fifty feet – and I did not feel like I had exhausted the possibilities in this small area. Clearly there is a lot more to photograph here!

(A hint: If you shoot here early in the morning – and you have already “done” Zabriskie at dawn – it can be worthwhile to stop at Zabriskie Point after you finish here. The “Zabriskie Point dawn” crowd will have mostly packed up and left, but some very nice light can start to hit the folds in the canyons and washes to the left of the main Valley view at Zabriskie as the sun rises higher. In addition, the light hitting the brightly lit portions of these washes can start to reflect interesting light back into the shaded portions.)

Dantes View

I’m afraid I’m no expert on this famous overlook of the Valley. The View is reached by driving up the road above Zabriskie Point and then taking a turnoff onto a smaller, steep, and winding road to a parking lot on the top of the ridge. Dantes View is quite exposed – I’ve been there once and it was tremendously windy. Others tell me that this is not unusual.

Many folks love this location for photography, but I’m afraid it didn’t move me that way. I love the location and the exposure and the tremendous panorama, but you’ll have to be a better photographer than I to find an original way to shoot it. I have seen some interesting work by photographers using very long lenses to photograph details of the Valley floor and other features, and perhaps I’ll change my tune after another visit or two!

Devils Golf Course

Back down in the main Valley you can find this location a short gravel drive off the main highway. It is one of the “iconic” features of the Valley – though perhaps as much due to the name as to any aesthetic appeal. Many people find it to be one of the most awful bits of terrain on the planet, and I’m often inclined to agree! The texture of the ground seems designed to trip you and then tear up your limbs when you fall! Although I felt compelled to try to shoot here, I have to admit that the scene didn’t inspire me. However, I have seen others do some interesting work in this location. Some focus on close shots of the convoluted, salty, crusty material. Others step back a bit and use this as mere foreground for more panoramic photographs of the Valley and surround mountains and, if the weather cooperates, interesting clouds.

Salt Creek

I’ve visited this location a few times, and despite my initial misgivings, I’m starting to find some potential here. Salt Creek is reached by (yet another) short gravel road from the main highway, and there are almost always at least a few visitors there. The (obviously) salty Salt Creek emerges from springs and flows briefly along this section of the Valley floor. It manages to support a population of desert pupfish – an endangered species – and that is probably the main attraction to many people.

The fish are quite something, especially if you visit during their spring mating period, when they swim energetically through the very shallow water of the stream. I have not really tried to photograph the fish, but I suspect it would be a challenge to come up with an aesthetically compelling photograph of them. In addition to the fish, I’ve seen a few birds in and around the stream on each of my visits, and if you like doing bird photography they can provide interesting subjects. If nothing else, the birds – at least those that I’ve seen – tend to be approachable since there really isn’t much of anywhere else for them to be besides the stream, the only source of (albeit salty) water and food in the area.

The terrain at first struck me as quite boring. There are some very dry and lifeless looking plants. The water is mostly very shallow, often covered by plants, and a boardwalk runs through the whole thing. Where the water is a bit deeper it is almost completely still, but often covered by plants. However if you step back a bit and start to look at the longer view, I think that the overall setting of this stream holds some interest.

While I’ve visited during the day, I think that in the early morning or perhaps in the afternoon (though the light will go as the sun drops behind the Panamints) there could be some interesting possibilities here. Beyond the Creek itself there are some interesting nearby hills, and the mountains surrounding the Valley can serve as a backdrop in many cases. I know for certain that I’ve used the first dawn light on the surrounding peaks to good effect in photographs that I’ve made in other areas of the Valley – and there is no reason to think that this light would not be just as beautiful seen from here.

Zabriskie Point

Next to Death Valley Dunes (a.k.a. Mesquite Dunes) – and probably ahead of the dunes – Zabriskie is essentially the iconic landscape of Death Valley National Park. (To prove that even I can’t resist a good icon, I’ve included several photos here.) The dawn view is justifiably famous, if quite over-photographed. If you are new to DV, though, don’t worry about that – you really should experience dawn at Zabriskie and since you’ll have a camera with you just go right ahead and photograph!

Zabriskie is easy to find and very accessible. Just head up the road from the Furnace Creek area and take the left turn up the canyon by the hotel. Within a few minutes you’ll come to the obvious parking area on the right. From here it is a very short walk up a paved trail to the developed scenic overlook.

A typical (and productive) approach to shooting at Zabriskie point is too plan to be there very early and shoot through the dawn and sunrise into the early morning. While first-time Zabriskie shooters will find any Zabriskie dawn there to be spectacular – and it is! – those who have shot there more than once may start to become a bit more selective. Having shot the scene a number of times I don’t automatically stop there now. Instead I keep an eye on the weather conditions and if I think that one morning will be extra-special I plan to try Zabriskie on that day. For me “extra-special” includes things like interesting cloud formations and snow on the Panamint Range across the valley.

Plan to arrive early. I try to get there when the sky is just barely beginning to lighten a bit. Be prepared for wind and even cold on some days. (It seems to be my luck to experience odd weather conditions in DV and I’ve encountered literally freezing temperatures, extreme winds, and heavy rain at Zabriskie!) There are lots of places from which you could choose to shoot once you walk up the trail to the overlook. I’ve seen people shooting from along this path before the overlook, and I’ve had some good luck shooting from there, too, especially for scenes that include iconic Manley Beacon. A number of people just head on up to the overlook and shoot from the paved area there. If the crowds aren’t too bad this can work well. Others move to the flat area just below the official overlook and line up there to shoot their Zabriskie shot. Access to this spot is typically found by leaving the trail right before the official overlook and carefully walking down and around the left side of the overlook, then curving around to your right to access this area. I have mixed feelings about shooting from this spot. I am a bit concerned about tracking up this area, especially since so many photographers and others go here rather than sticking to the paved overlook. On the other hand, on many occasions when there are many visitors here this may be the only spot from which you can get a clear view of the panorama that is not obstructed by other photographers!

In any case, you want to be in position before the show starts. There is a steady progression of subject focus as the dawn progresses. First you may find that the soft pre-dawn diffused light can provide interesting and unusual lighting on many elements of the scene, especially if the sky and/or clouds add interesting coloration. The first sign of real dawn may be the lighting up of high clouds above the Panamints if any are present. (Though do keep an eye on the clouds behind and to the right/left as well – although your focus will likely be in the direction of the Valley, interesting things can happen in any direction around dawn.) More likely the first real sun you’ll see will com as first rays strike high peaks in the Panamint Range including Telescope Peak, the highest peak in DV. Once this starts the transition in lighting is continuous and can be very impressive and compelling. Next you will likely notice that the light begins to appear on more of the higher peaks of the Panamints. Then it begins to work its way gradually down the face of the range and once the range is fully lit the light starts to move across the valley floor, leaving shadows from some of the taller peaks on your eastern side of the Valley. Then the light appears, and it always seems sudden to me, on some of the nearer peaks, especially some to the right of your position.

But don’t forget to keep an eye on Manley Beacon. Soon the light will hit this famous landmark and begin to move across and down its face. In my view the really great light on Manley is a very transitory thing – your really have only a few short moments between the first light on this feature and the time that it is fully front-lit with somewhat flat light to shoot the intermediate stage when there is an interesting combination of direct sun and softer shaded light. Personally, I’m not generally too interested in shooting Manley in typical conditions once it is fully front-lit.

But the show continues. At this point I tend to turn my attention to the canyons and folded earth just below and to the left of Zabriskie Point, across Gower Wash. This area will not yet be fully lit, thought the glow from surrounding peaks and sky will start to reflect some light into the recesses of this famous terrain. This scene changes continuously and, to some extent, somewhat subtly. At one moment the wash directly below might be a great subject, but a moment later a bit of light across the tops of the folds above might be more interesting, only to give way when you spot something wonderful happening on the higher peaks beyond.

Eventually the light begins to take on the harsher character of daytime in the Death Valley and you’ll perhaps decide to leave. Some photographers, I think, leave too soon – packing up shortly after the good light is over on Zabriskie. I do tend to stay longer, but eventually the scene loses the wonderful early morning light, at which point I’ll either go have some breakfast (after getting up way before dawn without breakfast,  I really want some coffee!) or perhaps shoot one of those mid-morning canyon subjects.

I have learned that dawn certainly isn’t the only time to shoot at Zabriskie, though I think that the subjects become a bit less obvious and, in some cases, more technically difficult to shoot at other times. I’ve included a couple examples in this section of my story. “Gully, Morning Light, Zabriskie Point,” seen above is one example. During one of my dawn shoots I noticed this small ravine up and to the left of the main view. It wasn’t let very well early on, but I wondered what it might look like a bit later in the day when the sun was a bit higher. So one morning I shot elsewhere first and then swung by Zabriskie later in the morning. There was almost no one else there, but I found that at this time this particular little bit of canyon was starting to get some interesting high backlighting and that the brighter side was reflecting light back into the other side. “Light Beams Over the Panamint Range” was shot fairly late on a day with clouds forming over the Panamints, and these clouds created a display of light beams that gently illuminated some of the canyons along the west side of the valley. I’ve also shot here at night – so far I haven’t quite gotten what I’m looking for but I’m convinced that there is night photography potential here, too. Finally, don’t overlook the fact that you don’t have to photograph Zabriskie from the “tradition location” at the official overlook. There are a number of other options to investigate (some a short walk from the classic location) and there are things to photograph there besides the grand view.

Part 2…

As I started this piece I envisioned one fairly long post. However, it has continued to grow and there are many more subjects that I want to touch on including the following:

• Mosaic Canyon
• Titus Canyon
• Scotty’s Castle
• Ubehebe Crater
• The Racetrack
• Eureka Dunes
• Aguereberry Point
• Panamint Valley
• West Side Drive
• Rest and Recovery/Food/Camping
• Outside the park: Trona Pinnacles, Rhyolite
• PhotographyGear Issues

In other words, way too much for one post. So please stay tuned for Part 2…

Also, more (but not all!) of my Death Valley photography is found here: http://gdanmitchell.com/gallery/v/NaturalWorld/TheLandscape/Desert/DeathValley/

G Dan Mitchell :: Jan.20.2010
Locations
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