Tag Archives: native

Photographs: Arizona, Photographs: Desert, Photographs: The Southwest

Storm, Monument Valley

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Storm, Monument Valley - Black and white photograph of incoming storm clouds looming over Monument Valley, Arizona
Black and white photograph of incoming storm clouds looming over Monument Valley, Arizona

Storm, Monument Valley. Navajo Tribal Park, Arizona. October 12, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Black and white photograph of incoming storm clouds looming over Monument Valley, Arizona

As we moved on into and through the Monument Valley area, the weather and light conditions were constantly changing. One moment we would be in the midst of a heavy downpour, then we would emerge into the bright sunlight, made brighter by the contrast with the nearby gloom of a passing shower. We were traveling west, and even when the sun was out it seemed like there was a big cloud ahead, ready to drop more rain on us. The wind howled continuously, whether we were in sun or rain.

When I took this photograph we were momentarily in the sun – though that wind hardly allowed it to become warm. Looking around our locations I could see pouring rain, bright sunshine, and more incoming clouds. Despite the bright sunshine on the butte at lower left and the slightly obscured sunlight on the rocky hills beyond, in the distance there was a very large and very ominous cloud, pouring rain onto the desert. However, in virtually every way, I preferred this wild weather – even with the wind – to the alternative of boring blue skies!

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Photographs: Desert, Photographs: Southern California

Petroglyphs

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Petroglyphs - Petroglyphs on a rock face overlooking desert terrain
Petroglyphs on a rock face overlooking desert terrain

Petroglyphs. Death Valley National Park, California. January 5, 2012. © Copyright 2012 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Petroglyphs on a rock face overlooking desert terrain.

Encountering these very old and very mysterious traces of people who lived in this desert terrain many, many years ago is always a special experience. Perhaps you have read the following story here before, but I think of it every time I encounter these things. Well over a decade ago I was camped in a place in Death Valley National Park that lies somewhere between popular and the anonymous wild spaces far out in the back areas of the park. I was with a group of other people. In the morning I wandered away from the place where we were camped. I crossed a wash and walked up onto the base of a great alluvial fan, found a suitable “sitting rock,” and just sat there for a while taking in the immense space and silence. I happened to look down at the rocky ground and I an oddly shaped rock caught my attention. I’m no expert on these things, but it seemed completely clear to me that this rock had been shaped by human hands. (I later came to understand that it was probably a “knife,” perhaps one designed for scraping.)

At the moment I saw and then picked up and held this rock, the place was transformed from a semi-wilderness of rock and scattered plants into a very different sort of thing – a place that had been the home of people, many years before I sat there on my rock. My thoughts turned from the landscape around me to try to imagine the person who had created and held this rock – who was this person? what was it like to live in such a place in such a time? what had happened to them? I returned the rock to the desert floor and walked back to my camp.

The petroglyphs in the photograph are located in another place in the park, and I have visited and photographed them more than once. These are perhaps the most precious and among the most fragile things in this desert, which is why I never write about the specifics of their locations. (I also have photographs of petroglyphs that have been defiled by thoughtless morons.) If you know where these are, let’s keep it to ourselves, OK?

The first time I photographed these examples of rock art, I simply shot them straight on so that the shapes were as clear and large as possible. Since then I had been thinking of trying to photograph them in a way that might reveal them in the context of the larger surroundings – perhaps as the person or people who made them might have seen the place.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer whose subjects include the Pacific coast, redwood forests, central California oak/grasslands, the Sierra Nevada, California deserts, urban landscapes, night photography, and more.
Blog | About | Flickr | Twitter | Facebook | Google+ | 500px.com | LinkedIn | Email

Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

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

Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley

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Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley
Petroglyphs, Panamint Range, Death Valley

Petroglyphs, Panamint Range. Death Valley National Park, California. March 29, 2011. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Petroglyphs of bighorn sheep in the Panamint Range of Death Valley National Park.

If you keep your eyes open, think about your surroundings, and know where to look, eventually you will come across the signs of much earlier residents of Death Valley. From my basic knowledge, I understand that there is evidence that a series of native American cultures resided in and around the Valley for at least the past 11,000 years, a period over which the climate changed from one that was originally much wetter to the hotter, drier climate that we know today. Because many of these people apparently had to migrate locally to find food sources at different times of the year it seems that evidence of their presence can be found in a wide variety of locations.

I recall the first time I found an artifact of one of these cultures. It was on my first visit to Death Valley back in the 1990s. At one point I wandered away from a place where I was camped and walked out across a section of a very large gravel wash, where I found a comfortable rock to sit on and enjoy the view. As I sat there I happened to look down and notice an unusual rock. I picked it up and realized that someone had formed it into a shape that could be used for carving or cutting, and I later read that it was a sort of knife. As I held it, surprised by finding any human signs in such a place, I began to wonder about the life of the person who made it and used it – a life I could barely imagine. A few minutes later I returned the object to where I had found it and walked back to camp.

For me, an encounter with rock art such as these petroglyphs provokes a lot of deep thoughts about time and culture and the lives of people who seem about as far removed from my experience as I can imagine. I try to imagine myself in their lives, but know that I fail.

Of course, I won’t say more about where such things are located than what is on this page. If you know where this example is located, let’s keep it a secret, OK?

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Text, photographs, and other media are © Copyright G Dan Mitchell (or others when indicated) and are not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.