Death Valley - Mesquite Flats Dunes

The dunes were probably my favorite location for the trip.

However, I got off to a rough start.  It was 5:30 a.m.  It was still dark.  I asked the instructor which lens would work best.  He gave the right answer but it was not the one I wanted to hear.  He said that whatever lens you leave in the car will be the one you want in the field.  Ok.  I get it.  But I had just bought the camera the week before the trip and I was not going to change lenses in the middle of a sand dune.  The sand was finely textured enough that any breeze at all would have it swirling in all directions.

So I chose the 24-70mm and trudged into the dunes.  And sure enough, once I had convinced myself to climb up the large dune in front of me, I found that I was too far away from the dunes in the back that I wanted a picture of.  Oh well.  I had to make the best of it so I shot at the 70mm end of the lens.

When I got the images on the computer, I was pleasantly surprised.  I liked quite a few of them.

The warm morning light was just wonderful.  The dunes have some great shapes.  And I was able to get some B&W images.  A great morning!

In fact, we enjoyed the dunes enough that Annette and I decided to go back to the dunes by ourselves on Saturday morning after the workshop had finished.  That time I took the 70-200mm lens and felt I was too close.  Oh, well!

In this first image, notice the little speck of a person and try to comprehend the size of the dunes.  Also, notice how the long shadows caress the dunes.

This next image is a picture of Annette.  No, really!  That is Annette in the lower right.  The only reason that I know this is because I was there.

On this next image, I cropped a little too close at the top.  Unfortunately, the crop was done in camera.  But I love the shadows in this image.  I like how they gently break over the round edge and deepen into  a pool.

I like to shoot perpendicular to the direction of the light, as I did in this next image.  It allows the shadows to define the shape and form of the object.  I like how the edge of the shadow goes from a blending into a sharp edge.

Notice the shadows and the softly flowing S curves in this black and white image of the dunes.

On this trip I started looking for black and white images and I am always open to abstract images and this next image is a combination of both.

Desert Track Abstract

On one of the hillocks as you enter the dunes, there is a tree with lots of character.  It was too dark on the way in to the dunes to see enough to compose a shot.  I was glad I was able to get this on the way out.  The photographer in the image was a fellow student.

Death Valley - 20 Mule Canyon

Wednesday was a day of shooting dirt.  In the morning was 20 Mule Canyon and in the evening was the Artists' Palette.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves.  Let's start with 20 Mule Canyon, which is where we went for sunrise.

Sunrise was wonderful to watch.  You could see the sun light the tips of the far mountains, but with the near foreground not lit, I did not get any images worth showing.  

These first two pictures show the difference in light.  The first picture was before the sun light had reached this valley and the second picture was with the sun higher in the sky.

One reason that I included the first picture was to give you an idea of the scale of the landscape.  Notice the two people in the first picture and notice how big they are relative to the hills and mountain around them.

And now to my new-found interest in B&W images.  It seems a shame to throw away all of the various colors of the dirt in the canyon, but the B&W image show so much of the light and texture.

Our instructors gave us the assignment of shooting the same scene in landscape and portrait modes.  My attempt at this assignment is below.  For this particular pair of pictures, I like the horizontal image better.  It seems that the vertical image crowds the chocolate topped mound too much.  What do you think?

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!

Death Valley - Zabriskie Point

Zabriskie Point was our first sunrise.  We had to drive 30 minutes to get there and we wanted to be there before civil twilight co that we could find a great place for a sunrise image.

Do you realize what time we had to get out of bed?  Fortunately, our bodies were on East Coast time.  But that didn't last too long because we went to bed at 9:00 local time, which was midnight at home!

The day at Zabriskie Point proved interesting.  More interesting for some than for others.

One of our fellow students wanted a picture of Zabriskie Point from the other side.  I think he was trying to get the beautiful colors of the sunrise as a back drop for the Point.  Anyway, he wanted an image that no one else would have, so he went down into the canyons/ravines below the observation point looking for that perfect shot.

 I also went down in the ravine and realized how out of shape I was, so I allowed almost a half hour to get back up out.  And it was a struggle.  I had to stop several times to catch my breath and let my pulse subside.

We were all to meet back at the cars at 8:30.   Fortunately I made it back in time.  But the instructors were not in any hurry to leave.  I figured that everyone was still shooting and getting good shots so the instructors were allowing them to continue.

However when it got past 9:00, I realized that they were waiting for that fellow student to return out of the canyons.  When 9:15 arrived, they decided that they had to do something.

We yelled.  We honked the car horns loud and long.  Still nothing.

So one instructor took the students who had returned back to our home base to continue instruction.

The other instructor contacted the Park Rangers.  The Rangers sent two trackers down to look to the guy.  They were unable to find him.  So the Rangers call the California Highway Patrol and arranged for a helicopter to come and search for the lost soul.

Finally, at approximately 2:00 they found him and airlifted him out of the canyons and back to Zabriskie Point.  Fortunately, he suffered no injuries, except to his pride!  Once we saw him and saw he was safe, the teasing began!

Anyway, here are some pictures that I took that morning.

I got a little bit of instruction in processing B&W images at this workshop.  Expect to see some B&W images from this trip.  In fact all of my favorite images from this trip are in black and white!

Assateague Sunrise

In the middle of September, Annette and I took my mother to Assateague, as we have a few times before.

One of the great things about the trip was that even though it was raining for the entire time back home, the weather in Assateague, Chincoteague and Ocean City was OK.  It was overcast but no rain that stopped us from doing anything.

Each of the two mornings we were there, Annette and I got out of bed early and headed to the beach for sunrise.  However, because of the aforementioned weather, the sunrises were not spectacular.  But we tried our best to make some worthwhile images.

Assateague Sunrise Panorama 

Notice the handicap accessible viewing platform on the right.  Mom was very interested in the platform because my sister's ex-husband had gotten married there just a few weeks earlier.  It is a beautiful setting.

Sunrise Beach Expanse

 This shot shows the emptiness of the beach at that hour of the day.  If you are looking for a picture without people, get up early!

Sunrise Beach Strollers

Well...You can't avoid people altogether!  However, this early-morning couple add a sense of scale to the image.

Expansive Sunrise Sky

In this image, the wide-angle lens helps gives a sense of wide open space that is textured by the clouds.

Boardwalk to the Sea

In all of these images, I was experimenting with the capabilities of Annette's new wide angle (10-22mm) lens.  Sometimes a new pieces of equipment will give you a new way of seeing.

Get out there and shoot!