Alkali Flats and Dunes, Morning. © Copyright 2021 G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
A solitary creosote bush on sand dunes above remnants of old alkali flats, Death Valley National Park.
Perhaps this scene looks a bit familiar? It is the same subject as in another black and white photograph that I shared recently, though this time composed a bit differently to fit the portrait orientation and include the curving alkali flats in the foreground. I often photograph such a subject in more than one way. At a minimum I’ll try to find a portrait and a landscape mode version of the scene if possible. In the landscape version of this scene I omitted most of the lighter foreground material, but by using portrait mode here I was able to use the leading curve in the foreground.
These old alkali formations among the dunes fascinate me. So far I have not found too much information about them, though it seems that they are layers of material that must have been created from silt that was once liquid and which dried and cracked. In places the formations are thick and quite solid, but in others they are incredibly thin and fragile. (I may walk on the thicker formations occasionally, but I always try to detour around the thinner ones so as to avoid damaging them.) Unlike other playa surfaces, these are often also shaped by the forces of wind-blown sand.
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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