Death Valley - my trip in photos

chrismoore · October 26, 2009

Finished processing my photos from the recent (short) trip out west. While the main focus was Death Valley, I also spent brief time in Vegas, Yosemite, and San Francisco.

I flew into Vegas Thursday night and by the time I got checked in, there was just enough time to sneak out and take a few on the strip.

I woke up at 3am (thankfully my mind was still on east coast time) to make the drive to Death Valley for sunrise. I made it about 45 min after sunrise, but the light and shadows were still ok to take some shots at mesquite dunes.

The texture of the ground was really neat.

I then met up with my group at the General Store in Stovepipe and loaded up the four wheeler. Can't forget to stop and take a shot of Tea Kettle Junction.

And we continued on the 27 mile dirt road to the Racetrack, set up camp, and headed out for some shots late in the day of the mysterious moving rocks.

After a short nap, back out on the Racetrack at 2am for some star trails.

...and a shot of the milky way.

Some more sunrise shots and back on the road. I had been looking for the opportunity to take some IR shots, and the Joshua Trees, as the only subject around with a little chlorophyll, were right for it.

We went back to Mesquite Dunes for sunset, the time to a location away from the foot traffic.

It's really interesting how the light completely changes the landscape and colors. Early to bed and early to rise, this time we spent the sunrise at Zabriskie point. I've already posted this photo, but it's turned out to be my favorite from the weekend.

Seeing a coyote was the highlight for one fellow photog who is generally a wildlife photographer.

Our group then split up and went out separate ways, I hauled to San Francisco, stopping just long enough to get out of the car and take a few photos at...

Mobius Arch

Yosemite

I made it to San Francisco quite late, and spent the next day doing the "touristy" things.

Fisherman's Wharf

I got what I would consider some good light at Marin Headlands, with relatively clear skies and a nice deep purple after sunset.

All of a sudden a fog rolled in, my glass kept fogging up, and there was dew all over my cameras and lenses. Adversity gives way to opportunity, though, and knowing that I had already taken the shots that have been taken a million times, I shot one more before leaving that I had not seen done before.

Thank you very much for looking at my photos and I hope you enjoyed them. The trip was a great experience and something I'm going to be doing regularly. Comments and critiques always appreciated.

Eia · October 26, 2009

That last shot is very cool - how did you see that? These are all fine; I particularly like the desert shots!

kdog · October 26, 2009

Very nice. Love the sand dune shots and the JTree IR. Looks like you had a great trip.

-joel

Andy · October 26, 2009

acowan · October 26, 2009

Lovely series...particularly like the dunes shots even though they don't have the peak light.

chrismoore · October 26, 2009

Thank you all very much. My favorite of course is the Zabriskie point sunrise- the moment just had the serendipity to create a nice photo. Other than stitching the pano, there really wasn't much processing required. The dew drops were just by chance, really. My gear was so fogged and covered with dew (my backpack was literally soaking wet), that I had given up shooting. When I bent down to put my camera away I noticed the dew drops hanging from the rope. The only lens I had available was the 24mm so the framing ended up being a really tight crop, but I'm always excited to grab a shot from an iconic location that is a little different from the rest.

wendell · October 26, 2009

Very nice...a very productive trip.

wl

coscorrosa · October 26, 2009

Looks like you had a great trip and came away with some amazing photos - especially that Zabriskie sunrise, wow. Good high contrast dune shots too.

kidzmom · October 27, 2009

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!

Great work Chris...Really an extraordinary and beautiful series!

Sam · October 27, 2009

Looks like a great trip . Nice Zabriskie point image, and dunes shots.

I am always so jealous of the Race Track shots. You casually mentioned driving the 27 miles out there. The last time I was there I only got about 5 miles in before I turned around. My poor truck was being beaten to death! I could hardly manage 5 mph.

I hope the road was just in really bad shape and the next time I go I will be able to get out there.

Sam

chrismoore · October 27, 2009

Thank you to all. Sam- don't let my casual mention of the drive understate its difficulty. We had a four wheeler, the road was horrible with rocks and jagged edges everywhere. It took about 2 hours to make the 27 miles, and my brain was scrambled when we arrived. That is the downside. The upshot is that very few people make it out there- when I was there only one other person was there and he was a professional photographer, so we pretty much had the racetrack to ourselves. The rest of the park was pretty crowded at the iconic locations. Definitely worth the trip, though, if you can make it sometime.

dlplumer · October 27, 2009

nightpixels · October 27, 2009

Outstanding photographs ... every single one of them!

chrismoore · October 27, 2009

Thank you Dan and Allen. Being with three pros who had been there multiple times really helped get me to the right spots at the right time- the lighting was so gorgeous it was almost hard to take a bad photo.

schmoo · October 27, 2009

Chris, these are just super! I am so amazed at your perspective on things, as they're fresh and beautiful.

Thanks for sharing. This is quite inspiring, indeed.

chrismoore · October 28, 2009

schmoo wrote:

Chris, these are just super! I am so amazed at your perspective on things, as they're fresh and beautiful.

Thanks for sharing. This is quite inspiring, indeed.

Thanks, schmoo! Don't know if you read Marc's blog on the tilt shift yet as I know you are a user... I took along the 17mm TS to use for the first time. Most of the racetrack photos were taken with it. I wasn't bold enough to get creative with it yet, but after I got used to focusing with the Live View I was extremely happy with the results. Very sharp, contrasty and colorful images that required very little processing. My new favorite lens!