I am probably going to self-publish a book from this blog to help remind me of the experiences I had. A print run of one – aren’t Web 2.0 tools amazing! Not entirely sure what online publisher to use, so if anyone has any recommendations, they’d be appreciated.

Thanks again to everyone who viewed and commented on this blog. I had a great time and am looking forward to the next big trip… the 17-day family vacation this summer to California to see the Owens Valley, Yosemite National Park, San Fancisco, and Big Sur… should be a blast, and of course I will be bringing my camera gear. Maybe I should start another blog for that trip

In the meantime, most of my images can be found over on Flickr. I will be adding to the collection there as I make new ones. Here’s one last image from the trip. This is Mobius Arch, or Galen’s Arch – from the Alabama Hills area. This version is a little wider than the one I already posted, and it was made earlier that same morning, this time before the sun had risen. Later…

The dunes were absolutely pristine, and I am truly grateful to have been able to experience the morning that I did there. A self-portrait to begin with, this series of images pretty much wraps up the collection of images that I made at this location. 

To view a gallery of images from the trip, go here

The trouble with shooting the dunes in the morning is that when you first walk out there it is still dark! Without any city lights to pollute the darkness, without a full moon it is VERY dark and it takes a little while to get your bearings and “see” compositions that you are interested in, but when the sun comes up, the light moves pretty fast. Ideally you will have either scouted out some compositions the day before, or shooting here in the evening would allow plenty of time in the afternoon to explore the area prior to the arrival of the evening light.

Hopefully this series of images illustrates how fast the light changes, and how wonderful it was? It started out with a cool pretty pink hue, before bathing the dunes with a warm glow. The shadows soon receded, and I was left with a bright, hot sun that truly completed the feeling of being in a desert.

Manly Beacon is an icon of Death Valley. Named after William L. Manly who guided Gold Rush prospectors out of Death Valley in 1849, this spire stands as a beacon overlooking the valley floor and the Golden Canyon Badlands. This is a very popular vista, and surely anyone who visits Death Valley has made a photograph from Zabriskie Point with it included?

In the image below, you can see the effects of intense rainstorms and their erosive power. Death Valley doesn’t get that much rain in any given year (less than 2 inches on average), but when it does, the power of the storms can be literally earth-moving.

This surreal landscape originated when sediment was deposited here from long-ago dried-up Furnace Creek Lake. With no soil or vegetation to help anchor the land, heavy rains attack the fragile mudstone. As the water rushes and seeks a quick way to lower ground, it creates gullies and troughs that remind us of the immense power of nature. In the background you can also see the snow-capped top of Telescope Peak in the Panamint Range, towering 11,049 feet above sea level.

My co-presenter and I – Brendan Murphy from John Bapst HS in Bangor – shared how the AP4ALL program provides Advanced Placement opportunities for Maine students regardless of where they live. I laid the foundation about AP4ALL in general, and Brendan did a really nice job relaying his experiences as an online teacher of AP Calculus BC. We had about 12-15 attendees, and they seemed to enjoy the session.

Is always good to mingle with other educators from around the country. It is motivating to hear how others do what they do, and it is invigorating to engage with professional educators who obviously care very much about what they do.

I will be leaving Los Angeles on Sunday morning and will be traveling all day. I am due back in Bangor by 11pm.

Seems like weeks ago since I was in Death Valley… here’s another image from that glorious morning I spent on the dunes near Stovepipe Wells.

As I was doing my photographer thing looking for interesting compositions, this scene grabbed my attention. My eye was immediately drawn to the tiny tracks left behind by some kind of critter that had crawled up a huge sand dune. I like to believe that the tracks belong to a highly poisonous scorpion, and that I was in mortal danger on my trek through the dunes. More likely though these are the tiny footprints of some kind of harmless beetle… but the possibility of a deadly scorpion makes for a more exciting story!

I placed my camera and tripod very low to the ground in an attempt to accentuate the tracks of the insect and the lines in the sand. This side of the dune was still in shadow, and I liked the contrast with the sunlit dunes and mountains in the background. Hopefully you can see the tracks in this small web-version of the image?

I had mixed emotions about leaving Death Valley… on the one hand I didn’t want to leave. I was absolutely mesmerized by the stark and unbelievable landscape, and I wanted to stay longer to explore the park further. But on the other hand, I am excited to be here in LA getting ready for the presentation tomorrow, and I am REALLY looking forward to getting home to see the family. I know it has only been a couple of days, but it sure feels like I have been away for a month.

I am presenting at a College Board Colloqium on equity and Advanced Placement. I am presenting about AP4ALL with Brendan Murphy, a math teacher from John Bapst HS in Bangor who teaches AP Calculus BC as part of the program. Brendan doesn’t get in until later this evening, so we won’t likely get a chance to catch up til morning.

Traffic in LA is all it is hyped up to be! I just spent over two hours getting from the outskirts of the city to the hotel. I checked in to the hotel and dropped my bags off, and then went down the street a couple of miles to return the rental car. I threw on a pair of shorts and my sneakers, dropped the car off and ran back to the hotel. After being cooped up in the car for the past 6 hours or so it felt very good to get moving. And before you ask… yes, I really did run all the way.

I don’t have any pics from LA, so here’s another from the sand dunes this morning… did I mention that I liked this place?

One quick photograph before I hit the road. Have to check out and drive down to Los Angeles, so I have to get out of here. Spent about 5 hours out on these dunes, and I am sure that I never even scratched the surface for compositional possibilities. This one was from the very first light coming over the Amargosa Range to the east… more to follow when I have time to work on them.

Anyway… now for another photograph. I wandered out onto the salt flats at Badwater this evening. If you haven’t seen this place, it is well worth a visit. In addition to being at 282 feet below sea level, it is notoriously hot. Death Valley receives less than 2 inches of rain all year, but it has an evaporation rate of more than 150 inches total. What that means is that the sun literally bakes the ground, drawing up any moisture and leaving behind a salt-encrusted, baked and surreal landscape.

The last time I was here a couple of years back with my buddy Steve, the temperature was a stifling 121 degrees. The air was so heavy that evening that it really was a challenge to move at anything other than a snail’s pace. Staying hydrated was key to surviving that adventure, and even though it hasn’t come close to those searing temperatures this time around, water and sunscreen have again been essential.

When photographing the shapes on the salt flats, it can be challenging to “see” patterns that you like for the purpose of composition. I waited and waited for the magic to happen with the light, and I ended up staying out on the flats until after dark. I wanted to represent what my eyes saw, but the camera was unable to render the scene in one exposure. This image is a combination of two exposures… one for the foreground, and one for the sky. For the sky I used a neutral density filter to enable a longer shutter speed… and I think that helped deepen the colors. The salt flats reflect the color of the sky, hence the blue tint. It is always about the light, and when you combine a location like this with special light, you get great memories… and a nice photograph.

Needless to say, on this occasion there wasn’t a soul around for miles. The solitude and serenity afforded by being in a place like this is why I enjoy landscape photography.

I am hoping that the winds have died down by the morning so I can photograph the sand dunes near Stovepipe Wells. I wouldn’t dare take my camera out there with the sand blowing the way it was earlier today… that would be suicide for that little puppy. The good news? Well, the wind will have erased all footprints on the dunes, so if all goes to plan the area will be pristine by morning, and ready to be photographed.

Tagged: Badwater ]]> http://intothevalleyofdeath.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/running-out-of-gas/feed/ 3 davidpatterson4 badwater31 http://intothevalleyofdeath.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/zabriskie-point/ http://intothevalleyofdeath.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/zabriskie-point/#comments Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:23:59 +0000 David Patterson http://intothevalleyofdeath.wordpress.com/?p=337 ]]> These images are from another Death Valley photographic icon. There aren’t many people who visit the park and don’t photograph this place… and I couldn’t resist either. The first is at the height of the sunrise and is the traditional take on Zabriskie Point, and the second is a little later, looking back into the sun a bit toward the folded and weathered hillside.

On the edge of the Funeral Mountains, Zabriskie Point offers an elevated overlook that looks out over a landscape of badlands with a foreground of gullies and hills, leading to the Badwater Salt Flats and across the valley to the Panamint Range and Telescope Peak.

I got here nice and early again, hoping that there would be some nice wispy upper-level clouds and a display of light as the sun came up. Although not disappointed with how things transpired, there was an absolutely amazing display of early light right behind me, overlooking the not-so picturesque parking lot! I couldn’t help wondering what things looked like down the road a bit at the Mesquite Dunes where one would have been able to incorporate the wonderful sunrise.

Lots of other photographers here this morning… everything from a busload of tourists to serious photographers shooting 8×10 format. Hard to do justice to the first shot with a wide angle lens, so I also shot some images to try to stitch a panorama together later.