Return to Whitney Portal

Mt. Whitney at Dawn, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (www.MyPhotoGuides.com).

Whitney Portal in the Alabama Hills offers arches, boulders, and stunning views of the Sierra Nevada range, including Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the contiguous United States. The light is particularly good at dawn.

Happy New Year from Death Valley!

Desolate Landscape, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (just back from Death Vly).

Sure I had just visited Death Valley a couple of weeks eralier, but is it possible for a person to bask in the golden light in that endless landscape, or gaze up at those infinite stars too often?

This image was captured only steps from one of the most popular viewpoints in Death Valley National Park, yet I've never seen photos taken from this perspective. Of course I had to descend a slot canyon and climb down a 12' dry waterfall, then find another way out after dark... but having gotten out, I now know the easier and safer way to get there!

Heavy morning frost on Eureka Dunes. The dunes are among the tallest in the United States, yet they are isolated enough from the rest of the park that I've never seen a Death Valley photography tour that visits them, even though the site is one of the most photogenic in the park.

A jet from China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station approaches the campground at Eureka Dunes in Death Valley roughly 150 feet off the ground.




I often see these kinds of layered dune patterns in sandstone in Utah and Arizona, but this time I found them in sand dunes, before they've turned to stone!







Mosaic Canyon







Mosaic Canyon







Kids will help you find arches in the Alabama Hills.









Kids will also demonstrate the best use for arches in the Alabama Hills.






This was an exposure of nearly 4.5 minutes giving the clouds that soft, streaking look, and at f/22, giving the moon the star effect.

I don't yet have dates nailed down to offer a Death Valley tour this year, but if you're interested in going, contact me and we may be able to work something out. I'll probably be visiting in March when wildflowers will add color to the park's incredible landscapes. Most photography tours to Death Valley don't visit the Eureka Dunes or The Racetrack, arguably the two best sites in Death Valley. I can't imagine visiting the park without them!

Circling the Sierra Nevada: Alabama Hills

Mobius Arch at Dusk, originally uploaded by Jeff Sullivan (just back from Yosemite).

Fall Trip '07: Alabama Hills to Mono Lake, California

As I headed north along the Eastern Sierra, I looked for reaming Fall colors to shoot with members of the Northern California Photography group, who I would be meeting later that day. The only place that seemed to still have decent brightness to the color and a fair number of trees with leaves still intact was the June Lake loop.

By the time we met in the town of Lee Vining, the sun had passed behind the mountains, so I took them to a nearby spot alongside Mono Lake where we could still catch some color on the horizon over the lake at dusk.

The next morning we met at the South Tufa access point, and I directed them to various vantage points as the sun lit the sky, the Sierras, and eventually peeked over the horizon to light the limestone tufa towers surounding us.

After I took them to some of the June Lake aspen groves that I had scouted the day before, we decided to head back towards the Sacramento area with a small detour to the ghost town of Bodie. In the end we had spent less than 24 hours together, but we managed to cover a wide variety of landscapes and lighting conditions. I'll be looking forward to shooting with them again.