Death Valley National ParkThis land of extremes is only a two hour drive from my house. It is amazing how such a harsh landscape can be so beautiful during sunrise and sunset. The colors become warm and saturated, while shadows add depth to photographs. This first image was taken during sunrise at Zabriske Point. I took many great shots, but this is one of my favorites. I love the way the dry creek bed leads your eyes into the photograph back to the salt flat and then up on the ridges. I also liked the zig zag pattern of the different ridges, each being a different color. I spent all morning at this incredible viewpoint. As the sun rose higher, it illuminated different parts of the landscape leading to different textures and compositions.
I spent late afternoon and sunset photographing the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes. There were strong winds the day before I arrived and I was hoping for pristine dunes with no footprints. Unfortunately, it took me about an hour of walking up and down 15-20 foot dunes to find areas that had no footprints. After walking over five different ridges and valleys of dunes, I eventually found an unspoiled part on the northen part of the dunes. This was the farthest part from the road and receives the least amount of visitation. The dunes are amazing to photograph with so many different compositions possible. You can photograph ridges on the sand, graphic images with shadows, and amazing vistas with the dunes in the foreground and the Grapevine Mountains in the distance. I spent over three hours photographing the dunes and stayed well after sunset. These final two images were both taken well after sunset and required long exposures. I had the shutter open for 10 seconds on the first image and 13 seconds for the second image.
