Return to Death Valley
Monday, January 4, 2010 at 7:15AM 
This was an interesting trip for several reasons. Mary and I have been making journeys between Christmas and New Year's for 3 years now. We do not celebrate New Year's in any traditional form so this is a nice way for us to celebrate. We are somewhere we choose to be, doing what we love to do, together. Rather a nice way to spend the changing of the year.
This year we had our oldest son and his family here for Christmas so we could not leave on the 26th as usual, but we left on the 29th. We pulled the trailer to Death Valley, arrived mid-day on the 30th and quickly set up and went out to photograph. We stayed in the Furnace Creek campground which is a nice campground but it has no hookups, so we were dry-camping for 3 days. It was the first time we have dry-camped and it worked out pretty good.
The day of the 30th started out as thick overcast but had begun to break up by the time we were ready to go out. It was a very good day to shoot except for the chill wind that was blowing. We drove the Artist's Drive and photographed there a little before heading back to the trailer to have supper.
On the 31st we shot early morning light at Devil's Cornfield then headed into Beaty to find some cell signal and buy gas. In the park the gas was almost $4.00/gal. We then stopped by Rhyolote and then drove Titus Canyon back to the park.
Both of those are great places to photograph. The bottle house in Rhyolite was open so I went in and made a couple of photos of the walls. Then we went up to the caboose and made a couple more, had lunch and then headed toward Titus Canyon. We took most of the remainder of the day to drive Titus Canyon. We did go out and shoot the blue moon but alas, I mis-calculated the exposure and all of those shots were underexposed to the point of not useable.
New Year's day was cold, windy (no too bad), and total gray overcast. There were no shadows whatsoever. We went out for sunrise but made no pictures because the day started with a gradual lightening, no sun was visible. So we took off for a drive in the Panamint Range. It was a nice drive, we explored a site along the way and that is where the truck below was found. We droe the road South then took the road in the Panamint Valley back to 189 before returning to the trailer.
The next day was much better, we shot early morning light at Zabriskie Point. It was another instance of most people shooting color and ignoring the light and shadows. We got there and before long it was crowded, there must have been 50 tripods lined up on the edge waiting for sunrise. It was getting lighter and then, before the sun actually made an appearance, most of the people were leaving. Someone once told me that the best colors is before the sun comes up. I have a bit of trouble believing that is the case, but for me, I want shadows, highlights, some bold definitions rather than color. Even when shooting color, I look for interesting light in landscapes. Some things work well in flat light but IMO, landscapes in flat light are a waste of time, to shoot and to view. The photo above is one that was made that morning from Zabriskie Point.
After going back to the trailer, we packed up and headed for home. I wanted to do Devils Golf Course and the Salt Flats but we simply ran out of time. The forecast for the day was for no clouds at all and it was shaping up for a day of very harsh light.
We found some interesting buildings in the Panamint Range that I would like to return to and shoot. I realized that when we travel I need to start keeping a journal that is searchable. Talking about the different things in an area what worked, what didn't, what was skipped, and what could call us back. It must be searchable and easy to maintain. Not sure of what tool to use yet.
