Photograph: Red Rock and Desert Hills - Death Valley National Park

Red Rock and Desert Hills

Posted on 15 April 2011

Red Rock and Desert Hills

A red rock gully among the desert hills of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

This is anything but an iconic image, but I think that it is emblematic of a certain type of scene that is often seen in Death Valley National Park once you get out of the main Valley and up into the hills, especially during the brief spring season when the light can be a bit softer and the plants a bit (relatively speaking!) greener.

The photograph looks up a broad valley that is visible from along the road that rises from the main road through the Valley and climbs toward the Wildrose Canyon area. Here the elevation is high enough that the dry, sun-baked flat land of the Valley is nowhere to be found. Instead this is a country of large valleys and plateaus, cut in places (mostly at the bottom of canyons) but rocky outcroppings and gullies. This red rock gully is easily visible from the road, though the odds are that most people just drive right by. I had seen it on several drives past this spot before I thought to stop and photograph it, and I was fortunate to be there when the light seemed just right.

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Category: Photographs: Death Valley, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Southern California
Tags: boulder, brush, california, canyon, death, desert, dry, grass, gravel, gully, hills, landscape, morning, Mountain, national, nature, north america, panamint, park, photo, photography, range, red, rock, sage, scenic, shadow, slope, southern, spring, stock, travel, usa, valley, wash, wild, wilderness

2 comments to Red Rock and Desert Hills

scout327

says:

April 16, 2011 at 8:13 am

Just had to comment, again, on your DEVA images from your most recent outing there; you’ve really captured the essence of the area! The coloring of the rock and the back lit plants are so subtle amongst the grandeur and vastness; it’s so easy to drive, or hike, right by without noticing. I’m glad you stopped : )
I’m heading out to DEVA in October, bringing the wife for her first visit, and I’m going to make an effort to focus on these subjects, along with the majestic icons!
I’m really working on artistically interpreting a scene, as opposed to recording it, and a lot of your work from this trip has really helped me! As I tweeted you earlier, your use of haze has really impressed me. I hope to be able to use it in the future, instead of seeing it and dismissing the photographic opportunity.

G Dan Mitchell

says:

April 16, 2011 at 9:34 am

Thanks for that comment – and I’m honored that you feel that you’ll be able to take some of these ideas and “see” the place differently on your own visit. That is a wonderful goal, and I think you’ll find it rewarding.

It isn’t easy for me to understand whatever it is that constitutes my “style” – to me, I’m just making photographs. I think it is probably easier for others to figure out what the elements might be. But one idea that I have come to recognize in my photography is that there are things worth photographing everywhere. To me, when I slow down and look, I find interesting, fascinating, compelling visual experiences in the most unlikely places and in unlikely conditions. I, too, used to look at something like “too much haze” in a place like Death Valley and feel disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to make some photograph that I had in mind. Now I just ask myself, “what photograph can I make that uses this condition as a central feature” and get on with it!

Take care,

Dan