Death Valley & the Alabama Hills

Click on any photo to view larger images.

Almost a year ago, I signed up for a winter photography workshop with Gary Hart in Death Valley.  Workshops are a good way to see new places and get the best photographs under the guidance of someone who has been there many times before.  I always find it exciting to drive on new (to me) roads and see new territory. On the surface (and in a moving car), the desert terrain looks barren, but after four days of walking, climbing, tramping and trudging across a variety of landscapes, I learned to see and appreciate the diverse ecosystem that surrounded me. (As I drove across the desert, I wondered if all of California would soon look like Death Valley.) 

    

The weather did not cooperate at all!  We were plagued with clear skies and sunny days; perfect for tourists, but limiting for photographers.  What do you do when the sky is barren of even a wisp of a cloud to add interest?  You minimize it in the frame; leave it out altogether; and photograph only at the very edges of the day, when twilight makes otherwise dull, grey mountains glow, and provides a rising or setting moon with a colorful backdrop of color.  And you take advantage of the clear sky to venture out after dark to include stars shining over a moonlit landscape.

     As you scroll down, 

you'll see that I have not posted the photos in chronological order,
or by location; but rather in groups of like kind,

starting with 

 Morning Light

I spent one night at Lake Isabella on Highway 178

 that passes through the southern end of the Sierras.

Whipped out my iPhone when I spied a group 
of Joshua Trees along the road

We were usually on location at least 45 minutes before sunrise
to catch the first rays of light and shadow.
  Mesquite Flat Dunes

I've included two photos of Manly Beacon (at Sabriskie Point) to show how the morning light paints the landscape: first with an alpenglow on the far mountains,

then with intense highlights,

 and finally with a wash of golden light.   

Once the sun is high in the sky, the photography is over.

 

MoonRise  

I took this from Sabriskie Point the night before the workshop started. 

The moon is not quite full, but still worth a photo.

Rising over  Hells' Gate

Looking east from Dante's View

MoonSet

A sometimes overlooked opportunity to photograph 

the full (or nearly full) moon 

is in the morning when it sets during the magic twilight hour...

first at Sabriskie Point well before sunrise,

and then in the Alabama Hills.

(That's Mt Whitney on the far left).

Moon Light and Stars

Just as we were leaving Hell's Gate after sunset,  I noticed color in the sand and took one last picture.  The full moon (to the left of the scene) provided just enough light to illuminate the foreground.  The 3 second exposure brought out more detail than I could actually see when I looked though the viewfinder.

On a couple of nights, after the moon rose and the sun set, we'd drive back to the motel for a quick dinner, wait for the sky to darken, and then head back out to photograph the stars over a moonlit landscape.  

 Badwater Basin (minus 282 feet elevation) 

is eerily beautiful under moonlight.

Trekking out across the crusted salt

 required careful, crunching foot steps.

After the final Death Valley sunrise shoot at Sabriskie Point, we reconvened in Lone Pine, CA to photograph the Sierra Crest and Mt Whitney, the highest mountain in the contiguous US (14,505ft).  In the fewer than 24 hours we were there, we drove into the Alabama Hills three times to photograph; first at sunset, then under moonlight (shown below), and finally at sunrise/moonset the next morning.

 

Texture

Whether ripples ran in the sand or unfolded down the side of a hill,

they added texture to a scene and could become 

the main subject of a composition. 

 

Badwater Basin is the lowest point in North America:

282 feet below sea level.  

Repeated freeze–thaw and evaporation cycles 

gradually push the thin salt crust into hexagonal honeycomb shapes,

adding interesting texture to this pre-sunrise photo of
far away Telescope Peak (11,331 ft above the basin),

 and this one taken 30 minutes later
when the peaks were bathed in morning light.

 At Artist's Palette, 

exceptional color created by minerals in the rock,

accentuated the undulating folds in the land

and created colorful abstracts.

 

SunStars

I have been trying for a couple of years to create SunStars,
with limited success.
With Gary's help I had multiple opportunities on this trip.

These are the successful ones.

First at Hell's Gate,

 then Dante's View
(5,000 ft above Badwater Basin)

 and finally, late morning in the Joshua Tree Forest

The Coyotes (and Me)

My iPhone Selfie at Artist's Palette.
I have very long legs.

I really enjoyed this workshop.  I've taken from Gary before and I never fail to learn something new or have a concept finally take hold in my brain.  Getting to know new people is half the fun of workshops, and this one was no exception.  Carpooling, eating together, reviewing images, and trekking out before most people are even waking up led to exceptional camaraderie and mutual support.  Thank you (l-r) Roger, Jas, Ron, Ed, Jay, Angela, (me), Travis, Gary, Paul, Guy and Billy Joe.

 

©Gary Hart
http://www.garyhartphotography.com/