Tag Archives: capped

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

Morning Clouds, Desert Mountains

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Morning Clouds, Desert Mountains
“Morning Clouds, Desert Mountains” — Layers of colorful dawn clouds above Searles Valley and distant peaks of Death Valley National Park.

The distant peaks seen here are within the boundaries of Death Valley National Park, but I was a good distance outside the park when I made the photograph. I had gone to the Trona Pinnacles, outside the extractive mining town of Trona to photograph. But the visual action wasn’t that at the pinnacles that morning — it was far to the north above these snow-capped desert mountains, where lenticular clouds caught the dawn light and momentarily glowed with intense color.

The town of Trona is like many desert towns in Southern California and the Southwest. It is far from being a ghost town, but it has the air of a place whose best days are distinctly behind it. The economy is built around extractive industries, in particular mining the mineral deposits of the Searles Valley playa. People still live and work here, but a drive past the town reveals abandoned homes and businesses, left to decay in the desert sun and wind.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II

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Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II
Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows II. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Seeing a photograph here with the Roman numeral “II” attached you may wonder if there is a version “I.” There is, of course, and the first of the pair was posted a few days ago. In this case, the only significant difference is that this is a “landscape” orientation view of the scene and the other version used the “portrait” orientation. When the subject allows it I often photograph in both orientations — partly for practical reasons and partly because they both seem to work!

The scene is a type that I like a lot, at the elevation where the forests we expect in the high country meet high desert sagebrush country. The aspen trees seem to like both, and they are frequently a bridge between the two types of terrain. Here it is late in the afternoon (or perhaps early in the evening?) and long shadows are starting to stretch across the landscape.

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: Fall, Photographs: Fall Color, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Sierra Nevada

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows #1

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Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows I
Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

Aspens, Peaks, and Evening Shadows #1. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Autumn aspen groves, lengthening early evening shadows, and snow-dusted peaks in the Eastern Sierra Nevada.

This is probably a familiar scene to Eastern Sierra aspen color hunters who poke around in harder-to-reach areas. I had been traveling through this high terrain, where one crosses the boundary between aspen country and conifer forests. It was late in the day, and soon the long shadows cast by peaks near the Sierra crest began to fall across the landscape.

I looked back and saw these sunlit groves… and the rapidly expanding and approaching shadow. I quickly set up and made a few exposures as the shadows began to mute the colors of some of the brilliantly yellow groves. Yet the foreground trees remained in the sunlight, glowing in its warm light.

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 | Twitter | 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.

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

Panamint Range Snow, Evening Light

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Panamint Range Snow, Evening Light
Late-day light illuminates snow covered ridges and thin forest along the summit of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

Panamint Range Snow, Evening Light. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Late-day light illuminates snow covered ridges and thin forest along the summit of the Panamint Range, Death Valley National Park.

The reputation of Death Valley National Park is mostly tied to heat — the desert, the dunes, the rare rainfall. I once asked German relatives why they choose to visit in the middle of summer when few of us would choose to go there. The answer, more or less, was that Death Valley is famous for being the hottest place on earth, and that is what they wanted to experience. People who “know” the park from that perspective are often shocked to find that snow is common here in the mountains.

When we visited the Panamint Mountains at the beginning spring the snow was plentiful, and we actually experienced a moderate snow squall. (One of the oddest experiences I’ve had in this park was some years back when we photographed spring wildflowers during a snow storm in Death Valley. Let that one sink in for a moment.) Late on this day we went to a high overlook to wait for sunset, and the warm light illuminated this nearby ridge in the very late afternoon.

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 | Twitter | 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.