GD
G Dan Mitchell
@gdanmitchell
G Dan Mitchell — Photographer & Visual Opportunist (and longtime blogger)
San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA
G Dan Mitchell, Photographer and visual opportunist. Posting daily photographs since 2005, along with articles, reviews, news, and ideas.
439 Posts
Clouds, Lake, Desert Mountains
Morning clouds above the Panamint Range, reflected in the smooth surface of Lake Manly. This photograph may look a bit familiar if you follow my posts. I previously shared a landscape orientation (wide) version of a similar photograph, made just moments before I exposed this one. Desert Mountains, Snow Squall
A late-winter snow squall high in the Panamint Mountains. On this mid-March morning I was heading for Furnace Creek in Death Valley. I had made a sunrise stop to photograph near the town of Trona before resuming my northward drive. The west side of the Panamint Mountains is visibl Desert Mountains, Morning
A sunrise view across rugged desert mountain rainges from Dantes View, Death Valley. I arrived at this well-known location high the Black Mountains well before sunrise. I’ve photographed here in the evening, but this time I was looking for sunrise light, which first touches the pe Wood And Stones
Cast-up driftwood, stones, and seashore detritus on coastal rocks at Point Lobos. The conditions on this mid-April visit to Point Lobos were a sort that coastal Californians recognize as summer-like: cold, windy, damp, and foggy. Ironic, no? But during the time of year when it is Sunset Cloud, Desert Mountains
A solitary cloud floats above the Death Valley landscape and catches the last sunset light. This cloud was a luminous benediction at the end of a long and varied day that began before dawn along the shoreline of Lake Manly. After a late-morning break for coffee and food, I headed Desert Canyon, Cloud Shadows
A twisting and colorful desert canyon empties in Death Valley under the shadows of passing clouds. Light is everything when it comes to photographing the desert landscapes of Death Valley. The terrain is always impressive, but the midday light can be intense and harsh, washing out Flooded Playa, Mountain Shadow
The shadow of a mountain retreats across a flooded playa in morning light, Death Valley. It is hard to make sense of the landforms of Death Valley when you are within the valley. It is so vast and so flat that your view is often a combination of what is right at your feet and what Weathered Wall
Abstract patterns of paint, stucco, and weathering on a wall in Orvieto, Italy. There’s really no obvious way to tell from the image that it was made in Italy — though once you know that you may recognize that beautifully worn and weathered walls are part of the landscape there. I Desert Clouds, Evening
Sunset light colors evening clouds above Death Valley. Let’s call this a moment of peace and calm in a world that sometimes seems too tumultuous. I photographed this cloud formation above Death Valley on a quiet evening, alone in a high place above the valley as the day ended. I w Sunrise, Lake Manly, and Panamint Mountains
Sunrise on the Panamint Mountains reflected in the ephemeral waters of Lake Manly. This is a photograph that is normally not possible in Death Valley — The image of a snow-capped mountain range reflected in the extensive waters of a gigantic lake. These are the Panamint Mountains, Flock of Cranes
A flock of lesser sandhill cranes feeding in an agricultural field. Unless and until I return to my old files to review them later on, this is likely this season’s last photograph of migratory birds. I photographed this group of lesser sandhill cranes in an old corn field on my fi 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 Desert Peak, Clearing Storm
Clearing clouds swirl around the summit of a desert mountain following overnight snowfall. If you are unfamiliar with the place, you may be surprised that this scene is in Death Valley National Park. That desert park is famous for recording the hottest recorded temperature on plan Evening Dunes, Desert Mountains
The day’s last light on sand dunes backed by the Kit Fox hills and base of the Grapevine Mountains. What trip to Death Valley would be complete without at least one morning or evening wandering sand dunes and photographing them? Although this visit was focused on the ephemeral app Trona Pinnacles
Trona Pinnacles in early morning light. Every time I visit Death Valley I pass close enough to these formations to see them standing in the distance, a striking sight in this otherwise flat valley where there was once a large lake. (They are tufa towers, formed when the area was s Flooded Playa
The flooded landscape of the playa near Manly Lake, Death Valley. This is another in a series of photographs of the floor of Death Valley near Badwater, photographed from high in the Black Mountains early one morning. Following a historic storm in August of 2023, this part of the Death Valley and Black Mountains, Evening
A long evening view across Death Valley toward the distant Black Mountains and Badwater. Early morning and evening are often the times of best light for photography in Death Valley. It isn’t that you cannot photograph throughout the day, especially if you get into the right kinds Pre-Dawn Clouds, Lake Manly
Pre-dawn clouds fill the sky above the Panamint Mountains reflected in Lake Manly, Death Valley. The brief interval between darkness and the arrival of the morning sun may be my favorite time of day in the desert. Everything is still and quiet, and I’m often the only person around The dark Panamint Mountains rise in the distance beyond the shoreline of ephemeral Lake Manly. Typically I might simply not attempt to photograph this scene. The glaring sunlight, while somewhat filtered by the clouds, was brightly lighting the white sand deposits along the shorel Gravel Road, Carrizo Plain
A one-lane gravel road winds across the Carrizo Plain as spring vegetation comes to life. OK, I admit it. This is a bit of a “record shot,” considering how this place can look like the peak of the spring bloom in an exceptional year. However, it does give me a chance to write a bi
