Death Valley - Salt Creek

Tuesday morning dawned bright and early.  Annette and I know this because we was already out at Salt creek looking for the perfect composition for a sunrise shot!

Salt Creek?  I didn't know there were creeks in the desert!  Ah, but there are!  Salt creek is fed by a spring.  Unfortunately, the water coming up through the ground picks up minerals and become very salty.  Hence, the name, Salt Creek!

There was a boardwalk at Salt Creek that was very helpful to many park visitors, especially those with limited mobility.  However, the boardwalk was right along the edge of the creek.  Great for visitors to view the creek.  Not so great for those of us who want a picture without any manmade items.

I was able to get this shot.  Notice the white fringe on the mounds.  Almost looks like a dusting of snow.  But the temperature was in the high 40's (F).

I like this next picture because it reminds me of old time paintings of the western US.  Those paintings had the same pastel colors and the same type of rock outcroppings.

After it got light, I went looking for a unique vantage point so that I could get a perspective that none of my fellow students would have.  So I climbed up on one of those hills beside a deep ravine.  Below is what my vantage point gave me.  Notice the person in the picture.  He gives you an idea of the size of the ravines.  Also notice the "bowl" just right of center and just above half way up.  That is the same "bowl" that is in my next picture, a B&W.  (This is not a great picture.  I just wanted you to see what I was seeing.)

I have not experimented with Black and White very much before the trip, but I tried several during the trip.  Here is one.

One of the members of the Camera Club back home was on an abstract kick for a couple of years.  Most of the work he showed during that time was abstracts.  So that planted a seed in my mind.  Now I look for abstracts.  Not all of the time, but the thought is there in the back of my mind.

This next picture is both an abstract and a straight photograph.  It is a picture of the exposed root system of a plant.  Yet it seems to work as an abstract.

Let me know what you think!