I thought I would take a break from my Yosemite Winter shots to warm things up a bit. I still have a couple more winter shots to get to before leaving them for the season, but I just wanted to change things up with a Death Valley shot from a quick trip my buddy Eric and I made last weekend.
It seems that Eric had been hibernating since our return from Canada last September. As it had been a solid five months since we had been out shooting together, it didn't take much prompting on my part to talk Eric into making a trip out to potentially catch some light on the Mesquite sand dunes. We made it out to the dunes with just enough time to head out and scout a bit and to grab a couple of sunset shots before the sun dropped behind the ridge.
On my way out there, I began to wonder why I hadn't spent as much time on the dunes as most of my shooting over the past few years has been down around Badwater or the Cottonball Basin. I think it might have been due to the fact that the dunes are definitely a time commitment, i.e. it takes time to hike in and scout around....climbing from one dune to the next until something catches your eye. That and the fact that I didn't have much luck on earlier tries.
So my hopes weren't that high last Sunday. Both of us were up by 5 AM and we headed out while it was still dark. On my first trip out to the dunes several years ago with Ryan Engstrom and Tom Bricker, I took almost all of my shots with my 14-24. On this trip, the 14-24 stayed in the car as I spent most of my time with the 70-200. We split up after 40 minutes or so finally some potential shots caught my eye.
I found a spot with about 20 minutes to spare and then paused to watch the sun hitting the peaks behind me. Slowly the sun made it's way into the valley. I’ve watched the sunrise from several dunes over the past few years and it never gets old. It's always such a dramatic moment when the first beams pop over the horizon and then everything around you lights up in gold. Definitely worth the crazy drive out (Cajon Pass had a 90 minute delay so we drove up over 138 to 173) and I’m hoping to make another couple of trips before the Summer temperatures arrive.
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Tags: Death Valley Mesquite Sand Dunes Sunrise
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The first thing that struck me about the Grand Stand when I arrived at the Racetrack Playa for the first time was that it looked like an island in the desert. Surrounded by mud playa in all directions, it seemed that just the top of submerged mountain had managed to peak above the encroaching mud.
Sadly, I was clouded out on my first attempt to shoot the Milkyway above the Grandstand a couple of months ago, and with the Milky Way season now officially underway, I knew my chances to catch the full arch of the Milky Way above the Grand Stand were going to be limited. I had a billion other things that I should have been doing, but last Saturday, I threw a couple of bags into the FJ, picked up Eric Gail on the way out, and headed to Death Valley.
As we drove down into the valley at sunset, we were treated to some of the most bizarre conditions we had ever seen in Death Valley. The wind was howling and picking up the entire area surrounding the Mesquite dunes and throwing it into the air. In addition to the massive dust clouds, one of the cumulonimbus clouds had just laid down next to us creating a bizarre combination of fog, dust and wind with golden hour sun now blazing in from the West.
We booked it strait down to the Cottonball Basin first in an attempt to grab some color, but we got skunked just as the sky was beginning to light up.
After failing at Cottonball, we set off for the Racetrack. About an hour and half later we bounced into the small valley where the Racetrack is located and found that we were the only two photographers there. On a Saturday! During Milky Way season! We spent the next 6 hours or so shooting the Grand Stand and the sailing stones before heading back. I pulled into my driveway some 20 hours after leaving, exhausted, but grateful for the opportunity to hang out in Death Valley for the night. Kudos to Eric for lending me a jacket after I scoffed at the idea of it being too cold on the Racetrack in May. It was 54 degrees when we packed up at 4 AM.
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Tags: Death Valley Death Valley National Park Racetrack Playa Astrophotography Milky Way
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I suppose I should start with where I've been for the past two months or so. The new semester started up at the college and with it came new responsibilities, including the design of an online lecture class and a new ensemble. I've been scrambling to keep up since mid February, but I've still been sneaking off to grab some shots whenever possible.
I had just such an opportunity two weeks ago when I finally made it out to the Race Track in Death Valley after reading about it several years ago. "Don't drive out there without a 4 wheel drive" they said. "Take spare tires and a satellite phone" they said. Almost everyone I knew who had made the trip had gotten a flat tire on the way out there. That pretty much left me out of luck with my Prius, which had just gotten out of the shop after shredding my 65,000 mile rated tires and my alignment after just 18 months. :(
But after purchasing the FJ last year, I had been jonesing for a trip out there to test out the BF Goodrich All Terrains to see how much punishment they could take. As I headed out from Orange County, I was hoping for either a killer sunset, a wide open shot of the arch of the Milky Way over the playa, or a killer sunrise. Sunsetwx had the whole area lit up in red, so I figured I had to get SOMETHING for my 10 hours of driving.
Sadly, I struck out on all three. ZERO clouds when I arrived, but when I woke up at 1:30 to shoot the Milky Way, it had completely clouded over. While I knew I wasn't going to get any of the shots I had driven out there for, I had been curious to see how much city glow would be picked up if I had some high clouds to work with. While I couldn't get a clear shot of the Milkyway, it did keep coming out from behind the clouds periodically which made things interesting as I started at the grandstand and then eventually worked my way over to the sailing stones.
The stones, as I'm sure almost all of you are aware by now, are apparently moved by a combination of water, ice, and wind. After heavy storms, water collects on the playa. Once the temperature drops, ice forms and the combination of ice and high winds that come off of the surrounding mountains can push the stones just enough to make them move over time.
And Mordor, in this case, is Las Vegas. There's probably a metaphor in there somewhere, and it might actually be Baker, but Vegas just sounds better. As I was shooting this around 3 or 4 in the morning, it suddenly began to look as if the trail from these rocks led directly into the glow and the high clouds looked a bit like billowing smoke.
Again, this was my first time out to the race track and I will definitely be back, hopefully with different conditions. It's 90 minutes of getting your head scrambled on your way in and out of there, but definitely worth the pounding to be able to get out of the truck and hear NOTHING around you. I wasn't alone at the Racetrack as there were about a dozen other photographer up at the stones when I arrived, but no one was around the grandstand and I was able to experiment with low light, etc, for hours without anyone else around...even on a Saturday. Can't wait to go back!
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Tags: Death Valley Race Track Playa Sailing Stones Milkyway Astrophotography
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Those of you who have been out to Badwater Basin in Death Valley before will probably notice that something is clearly out of whack in this shot. When one thinks of the Salt Flats in Badwater, one typically pictures clean white polygons stretching clear out to the horizon in the late afternoon sun. On this particular afternoon, I almost didn't make it out to Badwater as my Prius decided it didn't want to deal with multiple mud flows across the road on the way down. This was my first major rainstorm in the park and it quickly became clear that roads in Death Valley definitely weren't designed for rain.
After plowing through one final mud flow which looked to be at least a foot deep, I was fairly certain that I would find SOME water on the Salt Flats when I arrived, but I wasn't at all prepared for what greeted me as I pulled into the Badwater parking area. On my last trip, I had to walk out quite a distance before I found water, but as I made my way down the stairs and looked out over the basin, all I could was water in every direction. And mud. Lots and lots and lots of mud. It took me about 45 minutes of carefully picking my way over the mud before I reached a spot where the mud ended and I was suddenly looking at clear water in all directions. I was in about 3-4 inches at this point and was surprised to see a current flowing over my boots when I looked down. And when I looked out toward Panamint Range.....wow.
I stood for the next two hours, shooting in all directions as the sun finally broke out from behind the clouds. It was truly a magical evening...one in which photographers literally walked on water all around me. The reflection of the Panamint and Amargosa Ranges around me with the clouds overhead left images in my mind that I will not soon forget. It was one of those evenings that I knew, despite my best efforts, there was no way to really capture what was in front of me...the colors, the expanse, the light. But I definitely made an attempt or two....Ok..maybe 2000 before I left. This shot is one of my favorites as the last rays of the day landed just on a rolling bank of clouds in front of the Amargosa Range before disappearing over the ridge.
For a time, I was the ONLY photographer out there. Then another brave soul made it out there...and another until there were about 10 of us shooting into the night.
After meeting up with my friend David Colombo and his wife, it was time for the long drive home. And here is where I paid for my shots in spades. During the storm the night before, a lane collapsed in the Cajon Pass, creating a massive back up that stretched back to Victorville. I figured the traffic would be gone by the time I returned, which was going to be between 11:30 and midnight. But I was wrong. They closed down all but one lane for emergency repairs. Google offered a short cut. (You can probably see where this is going.) I took Google up on the offer and 40 minutes later I was staring at a "Road Closed Due To Flooding" sign. Apparently, Google doesn't TELL you if the "time saving alternate route" is CLOSED. So...add another 40 minutes to get back to the freeway and tack on another hour and a half for the traffic jam. I was hoping to be home by 11 but didn't pull in to my driveway until 2:30 AM.
Was it worth it?
On this particular night....no question.
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Tags: Badwater Basin Death Valley Salt Flats Sunset Flood Water Rain Storm Mudflow Winter
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For roughy an hour we trudged across the sand trying to find a dune or set of dunes to set up on just in case the sun managed to fight its way through the thick clouds overheard. The sky was changing rapidly and I kept muttering less than savory things under my breath as I kept finding raindrops and dust on my 14-24. I had just cleaned my lens again for the umpteenth time when the sky suddenly erupted in blinding golden light. The sun had finally managed to find a small break in the clouds and for 30 seconds or so, the entire desert around me was nothing but a sea of gold and shadow. We may have had to deal with traffic, rain and not much sleep on our first trip to Death Valley, but those 30 seconds made it all worth it for me. What an incredible morning!
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Tags: Sunburst Death Valley Sunrise Mesquite Sand Dunes Nikkor 14-24 2.8 Nikon D800
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