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. Continue Reading »

G Dan Mitchell :: Jan.20.2010 :: Locations :: 18 Comments »

“Dave” wrote to ask some questions about Death Valley in February, and I thought it might be useful to share my replies with others who are thinking about a visit to that localation.

• Jeep Wrangler good idea for the area and to get into the Racetrack?

First, I’ve posted here a few times about the logistics of visiting and photographing at the Racetrack – you might want to take a look at this post.

A Jeep Wrangler should get you out to the Racetrack Playa just fine. The main difficulties with the road involve very badly washboarded surface, some very gravelly spots (especially near the start), and the fact that you’ll cover 27 miles of this stuff one way. It is not a particularly steep or twisty road. In normal conditions I would feel OK doing it in a two wheel drive vehicle as long as it had good ground clearance and good tires – and the Wrangler should qualify.

Unless you want to drive (too) fast and risk tire damage, you’ll want to give yourself perhaps a couple hours one way. Continue Reading »

G Dan Mitchell :: Jan.07.2010 :: Locations :: 5 Comments »

Earlier today I posted a photograph of an icon, Yosemite’s Half Dome. The idea of photographing such a thing evokes a variety of thoughts and concerns that I suspect many photographers understand: Is it too easy? Has it already been done? How will the shot stand in comparison to those that have already been done by greater and more famous photographers? Why bother?

It is interesting to see the variety of ways in which photographers respond to this issue. At one extreme are those who perhaps chase the icons, realizing that they are beautiful and compelling and that there sure as heck is a market for them. (Experiment: Take two of your best photographs from a famous location, one showing an icon and one showing something less familiar, and post them at Flickr… and see what happens. :-) At the other extreme are those who fall into the camp represented by a photographer who, when asked how to photograph icons more or less replied, “Don’t.”

I suppose I’m somewhere in the middle. Let’s use Yosemite Valley as an example since it is so familiar and since I frequently have the opportunity to travel there to do photography. I most certainly do not head straight for icons when I shoot there. In fact, when I photograph in the neighborhood of most of the icons you will frequently find my camera pointing the other direction. After visiting the Valley for decades, I think I’ve come to understand there is much more to this place than the post card shots.

However, icons are icons for a reason. Every so often I’m in the company of someone who is seeing the Valley for the first time, and through their reaction I am again reminded of the visual power of some of the icon scenes. (I wish I could experience what it must be like to emerge from Wawona Tunnel for the first time having never seen that stupendous view of the Valley before!) So I will shoot icons, but I suppose I at least think I’m more selective about how and when I’ll shoot them. I look for a different angle, a way to position the icon as a background element in a photograph of something less iconic, or perhaps unusual conditions.

It isn’t for me to say how successful I might be at this, but it seems that it is perhaps more of a challenge to find a way to shoot an icon in an interesting way than it is to shoot something that is less familiar.

So the photograph I posted earlier today fits into this category – you can’t get much more iconic than Half Dome! I’ve been trying to learn to understand this particular location – the variables of season and time of day and weather and technical issues about capturing the scene – and I now have a couple images in mind that I’d like to shoot here eventually when the time is right. This one gets close to one such shot I have in mind… but I’ll be back at this overlook many more times.

G Dan Mitchell :: Nov.12.2009 :: Commentary, Ideas, Locations :: 9 Comments »

Last week I decided not to head over to the east side for more aspen photography – a combination of still working over the many photographs I brought back from earlier visits, some other responsibilities, and continuing reports that the bizarre and unusual progress of fall color was continuing. (But see Michael Frye’s “Lazarus” blog post for hints of a different set of possibilities.)

Along those lines, the recent reports seem to fall roughly into two categories. On one hand we have continuing reports that the aspens are still turning to fall colors very, very late and, in some cases at least, reportedly going almost straight from green to brown or dropped leaves. On the other hand, during the past week I’ve seen reports and photographs of some possibly isolated but very striking aspen color. Without having been on the scene recently I’m going entirely by second- and third-hand reports… but it sounds like you might be able to find a few good trees still if you act quickly and are willing to look around a bit. (And don’t forget that not all trees are aspens – there are other fall color opportunities at lower elevations.)

My attention now turns to other subjects including other opportunities to photograph fall color. My target date for visiting Yosemite Valley to shoot meadows, oaks, dogwood, and maples in fall color has always been the very end of October or right around the first of November. That had been my plan again this year… but during the past week or so I’ve started seeing photographs and reading reports of some good fall color already appearing there. Is the next phase of the “Strange Fall of 2009″ going to be early color in the Valley? I’m hoping to head up there this weekend to find out.

G Dan Mitchell :: Oct.21.2009 :: Commentary, Locations, News :: 2 Comments »

I just posted a short piece at the California Nature Photographers blog concerning one approach to photographing fall aspen color: Aspens Close Up. (That blog is a group effort that includes contributions from a number of us who photograph the natural world in California – take a look and consider subscribing to the feed!)

G Dan Mitchell :: Oct.14.2009 :: Commentary, Ideas, Locations, Technique :: No Comments »

I returned very late last night (Sunday, 10/4/ 2009) from a weekend trip to the eastern Sierra to photograph fall aspen colors. It was, as they say, an “interesting” experience – in many ways not quite typical but in others not totally surprising either.  On Saturday I posted “Bishop Creek Aspen Conditions – 10/3/09“  in the early afternoon, so this report takes up where that one left off.

After posting that first report from Starbucks in Bishop I drove back up into the Bishop Creek drainage. After getting a camp site at the Four Jeffrey campground (now a surprising $21/night!) I headed up the road toward South Lake to do some late afternoon and evening photography. The weather was not fully cooperative, to say the least! The predicted high winds were arriving in the eastern Sierra, and I think that anyone can understand the “perfect storm” of low light, high winds, and fluttering aspen leaves! I was still able to work with the conditions and get some interesting stuff, though it was a real challenge. To avoid writing the same thing twice, I’ll hold off on the description of the aspen conditions and cover that below as I describe Sunday shooting.

My final stop on Saturday night before putting the camera away for the day was at South Lake, where the wind was howling and the light was fading fast and the temperature was dropping. As I arrived two rather cold-looking backpackers flagged me down and asked, with a certain amount of intensity, if I would drive them down to Bishop. It turned out that they had just finished a 22 mile day, coming from just below Mather Pass, and were exhausted. Realizing that it was time to recharge my own supply of backpacker hitchhiking karma (e.g. – sometimes I need a ride back to my car!) I agreed to squeeze them into the car and drive them down to Bishop. Continue Reading »

G Dan Mitchell :: Oct.05.2009 :: Commentary, Locations :: 1 Comment »

(Since posting this message I posted a later update on conditions during this period: “More Eastern Sierra Aspen Color Conditions“.)

I’m currently down in Bishop “doing email” at Starbucks for an hour or so during the harsh light time of the day, so I though I’d post a quick report on conditions in the Bishop Creek area today – along with some (semi-) educated guesses about what lies ahead.

I was up way before dawn this morning and heading up 168 well before the sun came up – there was a bit of light in the sky. My plan was to do “the aspen thing” very early, but as I drove I saw that the clouds were likely to light up in interesting fashion and that it looked like there was some light precipitation on the highest peaks that would soon be illuminated by the sun. So I took a detour out into the Buttermilks on Starlite Road, found a spot looking at Mt. Emerson (?), set up my shot, and waited. I figured that an almost sure thing here was worth a slightly later arrival at the aspens.

The clouds and the wind suggested that the weather forecast of, uh, clouds and wind was probably accurate… I soon finished shooting here and headed up 168. The wind strengthened, at some points blowing hard enough to raise dust clouds on the surrounding slopes. After passing through Aspendell, where the trees are still completely green, I began to see some color just above here. I’d say that it more or less begins above the Cardinal Resort, though the real color starts a bit higher.

I decided more or less spontaneously to try North Lake. I had heard that the “river of color” above the lake had mostly passed its prime and was partially brown, and I knew that the wind would interfere with photographs of the lake, but I also figured that some close-up photographs of sheltered trees might work. There was a fair amount of color along the first part of this road – I came back later and spent some time shooting there as the sun/shadow line approached – and again after the exposed section overlooking Aspendell. Clearly the trees that were further along in the color transitions have taken a bit of a beating from the wind, though there are still quite a few green trees and enough color among the others to make the trip worthwhile. (I also like shooting bare or nearly bare aspen trunks…)

I drove up toward Sabrina but did not stay, instead deciding that the road to South Lake might be more promising. I returned through Aspendell an then turned right to head toward South Lake. The trees before the small village a ways up the road are almost all completely green. Above this village some color starts, and eventually there were some very nice sections. While the conditions ranged from green to yellow to “leaves all gone” and included some brown leaves, there were still plenty of shooting opportunities. I eventually ran out of “good light” as the morning wore on, but I’ll likely had back up that way this afternoon and evening since I located several promising locations.

My general sense of the conditions is that they are a bit unusual. It seems to me that the elevation where the trees start to change color is a bit higher still than I would have expected – it surprised me a bit to see no color at Aspendell, for example. On the other hand, the color started fairly quickly above this level as I ascended. Yes, there are some brown leaves (though these, too, can be interesting photographic subjects) and yes, the wind is blowing down a lot of leaves. But even up high and close to the areas where the leaves have blown down I could find other sheltered groves with excellent color.

So, what now? The weather report still calls for much colder conditions tonight along with the possibility of snow flurries. I think that the aspen conditions in the higher areas are likely to deteriorate somewhat quickly if this holds. On the other hand, there is still a lot of green! The middle and lower elevations have largely not changed yet. Perhaps the change to colder conditions will trigger a change there – and those who are coming up in the next week will find great color.

On another topic: For the past few years Vern Clevenger has had a gallery a couple doors down from the Bishop Starbucks. This morning I saw that Vern is no longer there. I just checked his web site and see that his gallery has moved to Mammoth at 220 Sierra Manor Road #4. I guess that Bishop’s loss is Mammoth’s gain!

G Dan Mitchell :: Oct.03.2009 :: Commentary, Locations, News :: 11 Comments »