Tag Archives: national

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon
Hiker passes beneath a thick natural bridge spanning a narrow Death Valley canyon

Hiker, Natural Bridge Canyon. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Hiker passes beneath a thick natural bridge spanning a narrow Death Valley canyon

With the exception of a couple of very accessible and popular canyons, many Death Valley Canyons are not visited all that much. Even canyons that are a short distance from major iconic locations and roads are often uncrowded. Canyons that are more remote can be wonderfully lonely places, locations to find the solitude that the desert supplies in such abundance. They are magical places though, to be honest, if you have experienced the red rock sandstone canyons of the Southwest, many of the canyons of Death Valley are more subtle. The canyons are also an undeniable reminder of the tremendous role of water in forming this landscape, odd as that may seem in what is now a desert.

While many Death Valley sights are arguably at their best during or near the golden hour period around dawn and sunset, the canyons can be good a bit later in the morning and earlier in the afternoon. In fact, too close to the sunset/sunrise times and the canyons can be quite dark — perhaps too dark for most photography. But when the sun is a bit higher in the sky the light can strike upper canyon walls and bounce and diffuse down into canyon depths. This light can be soft, gentle, and take on the colors of the canyon rocks. You can see some of that light on the massive bridge that crosses this canyon, and if you look closely you may see a small hiker providing a sense of scale.


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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Dunes, Light And Shadow

Dunes, Light And Shadow
A curving interaction between light and shadow on Death Valley sand dunes

Dunes, Light And Shadow. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A curving interaction between light and shadow on Death Valley sand dunes

The visual patterns of desert sand dunes can quickly become a sort of photographers’ playground. While we often may go out looking for individual subjects and composition (the “perfect photograph of that mountain”), once in the sand dunes there are likely to be photographs almost everywhere we look. The subjects are remarkably varied, ranging from the smallest to the largest, from nearly pure abstraction to literal depictions, including human elements or not, and changing over the course of the day and in evolving light. Topping another wave of sand or curving around into a new hollow can bring a whole new set of possible photographs.

I made this photograph on a morning when we walked out into a lonely section of dunes before sunrise. I generally tend to photograph more “literal” subjects in that softer pre-sunrise illumination. That softness quickly disappears with the sunrise most days, and I begin to look for more stark compositional contrasts. Here I was attracted but the abstract shape of the sand that was struck by the light, and the suggestively organic shapes of the curve.


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.

Creosote, Sea Of Dunes

Creosote, Sea Of Dunes
A sea of sand dunes extends to distant desert mountains behind a cluster of creosote bushes

Creosote, Sea Of Dunes. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A sea of sand dunes extends to distant desert mountains behind a cluster of creosote bushes

This photograph comes from those moments just before sunrise on the dunes, when there is not yet any direct, intense light. Instead the light is soft and diffused, and blue tones are seen in the distance and in shadows. We had arrived in this area earlier, after perhaps a 20 minute walk that began in near-darkness. This is not necessarily time for slow and contemplative photography — conditions evolve quickly, and I often have to make some fairly quick decisions before the light changes or is gone. Moments after making this photograph, for example, that direct light did arrive from the right, and the scene was completely transformed.

Sand dunes are remarkable and surprising places. I think the first impression for most people is of the sand itself — its extent, its shapes, the variations and texture and color, and (of course!) how difficult it is to walk across it. It is hard to imagine a more perfect canvas for the play of light. The dunes are not intrinsically very colorful, but they do a remarkable job of picking up color and light from their surroundings. Beyond the sand itself, the things that appear in the dunes are also fascinating. A close look reveals evidence of the passage of unseen animals, in spring flower blossoms may collect in hollows, and somehow plants manage to survive and sometimes prosper in this forbidding environment. In Death Valley creosote bushes grow throughout many of the dunes. Some of them can appear almost lush at certain times of the year — with new leaves and many small, yellow flowers. Others, like those on this small hill, seem to be barely hanging on to life.


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.

Kit Fox Hills

Kit Fox Hills
Evening light on the Kit Fox HIlls, Death Valley

Kit Fox Hills. © Copyright 2018 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Evening light on the Kit Fox HIlls, Death Valley

This photograph was a bit of a lucky catch. I had gone to an elevated location where I had a more commanding view of a wide section of Death Valley, but late-afternoon clouds had drifted in above the Cottonwood Mountains to the west and the light ranged from filtered to “blah.” I try to “read” the clouds to predict what may come, and my reading on the conditions was that a small gap between the bottom of the cloud bank and the top of the mountains would produce a brief bit of good light just before the sun dropped beyond the peaks. These predictions don’t always pan out, but this one did. The light first appeared a great distance away at the upper end of the valley, but soon worked its way south across the Grapevine Mountains and then flowed across the low Kit Fox Hills.

I’ve been intrigued by this small row of furrowed hills for a long time. Their coloration and patterns let them stand out from the less differentiated material of the washes above and below them. I did a bit of reading about them during this recent trip, and I understand that they are a remnant of a very old earthquake fault along the west side of the valley. (There are fault zones along the sides of Death Valley, separating the rising mountains from the valley, which is largely filled with material washed down from the mountains.)


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.