I left Yellowstone NP and flew straight to Vegas where my friend Michael picked me up and drove me to Death Valley. We arrived a couple of days before my group and scouted some of our favorite spots.
Badwater Basin looked like someone dropped a huge pile of dirt on it and swept it over the beautiful, white, salt hexagons; most of the low crusty edges had been leveled. Most likely a result of precipitation drainage from the bordering peaks. When the basin floods, a portion of the salt is dissolved. It gets redeposited as clean crystals after the water evaporates. I am not sure how long this will take but I hope it isn’t too long.
On our first shoot together, we went to Mesquite Dunes. It was a glorious afternoon, but the sunset was a bust. Still the sand dunes did not disappoint. Our second day started at Zabriski Point, we woke up nice and early and were treated to a front row seat for the morning show. Our afternoon session at Badwater was decent, at the last minute the sky lit up and it looked spectacular!
We had a bit of a no-show with the light for our next early morning sunrise shoot. However, we did enjoy a lovely morning to ourselves away from everyone. Later in the week we did have a beautiful pink sunrise.
Even with all of the weather issues, Death Valley does not disappoint, ever. Whether it is sunny hot, freezing cold, cloudy, or rainy. I am always in awe of its absolute beauty and diversity. Turns out, my group was really nice too and I enjoyed my time with all of them.
Below are a few of my favorites from the trip.
