Tag Archives: evening

Sunset, Carrizo Plain

Sunset, Carrizo Plain
A sunset view down toward the edge of the Temblor Hills toward Carrizo Plain, lakes, and distant mountains

Sunset, Carrizo Plain. Carrizo Plain National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sunset view down toward the edge of the Temblor Hills toward Carrizo Plain, lakes, and distant mountains

This has been — and likely will continue to be — and exceptional spring for California wildflower color. After an extended and historic drought that lasted roughly five years, the rainy season now coming to an end has been record-setting in the opposite direction. We’ve had floods, washing out highways, remarkable snowfall, and as of this week the state produced an all-time record for seasonal precipitation in portions of the norther Sierra Nevada. The natural world seems to have come back to life again, and in places that have been arid for the past few years we are now seeing lush green spring growth and lots of wildflowers.

Many of us decided to visit some of the interior locations where the seasonal grasslands can produce impressive wildflower blooms. On my way to Death Valley during the first week of April I detoured to join friends who were already in the Carrizo Plains region, and I managed to do one evening and one morning of photography there. On the first evening we found a somewhat remote area in the hills alongside the plain where we could see some large fields of flowers above, and we headed up into the hills to photograph them. From this elevation the views of the Plain opened up, and I made this photograph during the final minutes before sunset.


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.
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The Edge Of The Valley

The Edge Of The Valley
Evening light on golden hills and a wash at the base of the Black Mountains

The Edge Of The Valley. Death Valley National Park, California. April 4, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on golden hills and a wash at the base of the Black Mountains

I often use a sort of scheduling strategy when photographing in Death Valley. I get up before dawn and start with some subject that works will in the first light, and then I work a second subject that is promising in somewhat later light. Following a midday break (spent in camp or perhaps traveling to a more distant location) I reverse course later in the day, starting with a subject that works in non-golden hour light and then moving to one that works well around sunset and beyond. If conditions are right, I may even add a night subject! The second morning subject and the first afternoon subject are often canyons of one sort or another, where the edge-of-the-day light can be too dim, but where later light from a higher sun can be wonderful.

I had begun this afternoon’s photography with such a subject, one of the canyons along the eastern side of the valley. In the 90 degree plus afternoon heat I loaded up my pack with camera gear and water and slowly wandered into a narrow canyon where there was beautiful shade and somewhat moderated temperatures. Eventually it was time to return from the canyon and I reversed course and emerged from the mouth of the canyon during golden hour. This time I didn’t even have to travel to the final location since I was already there! At the time I made this photograph the long shadow of the Panamint range had stretched almost all the way across the valley and would soon steal the light from these hills, but for a few moments the golden light produced lengthy shadows and a colorful glow on the hills and along the wash emerging from the canyon.


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

Hills, Edge of the Carrizo Plain

Hills,Edge of the Carrizo Plain
Evening light on a stream bed dropping though Temblor Range hills toward the Carrizo Plain

Hills, Edge of the Carrizo Plain. Carrizo Plain National Monument, California. April 2, 2017. © Copyright 2017 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on a stream bed dropping though Temblor Range hills toward the Carrizo Plain

On this early April day I drove south from the San Francisco Bay Area on highway 101, leaving that route and heading east near Paso Robles to travel through the impossibly green spring landscape of Central California hills. I wasn’t alone. This being a beautiful spring Sunday, many others were out here to look for spectacular wildflower displays. And here, as in many other similar California locations, we found what we were looking for.

I continued to the east, eventually arriving at this high plain, often a desolate place but for a few weeks in wet years a place full of growth and color. I met up with friends who were already camped there, and we soon headed out to look for places with special color. We followed a small gravel road up into the foothills of the Temblor Range — we parked where it ended, loaded up packs, and continued on up into the hills of foot, heading toward some extensive fields of colorful wildflowers. As we topped the first rise I paused an looked back down at the base of the hills where the gully of a small stream winds its way toward the plain.


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

Summer Evening, Little Italy

Summer Evening, Little Italy
People crowd the streets of Little Italy on a warm summer evening in Manhattan

Summer Evening, Little Italy. New York, New York. August 10, 2014. © Copyright 2014 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

People crowd the streets of Little Italy on a warm summer evening in Manhattan

For some reason, I too often find myself in New York in the middle of August. Not that I dislike New York — actually I love the place, for wandering, for photography, for museums, for food, for many things. It has been almost six months since I was last there and I already feel like I’m overdue for a visit. The issue is with August. As my sons, who live there, have told me, August is perhaps the least comfortable time to visit. it tends to be hot and muggy, and this is why many New Yorkers pick this time to be somewhere else.

But even though I know this I have probably made half of my New York visits during this month. It has become almost a standing joke in our household. On this 2014 August day we had been in Chinatown looking for food, and afterwards we walked up and into Little Italy, where on summer evenings like this one the streets are filled with people, looking for espresso and gelato.


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 | Twitter | FacebookGoogle+ | LinkedIn | Email


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