p.1 #1 · Among the dunes — recent work from Death Valley
It was wonderful to finally get back to Death Valley in early April. I have photographed the place annually for a couple of decades, and after a January 2020 visit I had not been able to return during the pandemic. But things were loosening up enough for my kind of travel (camping along, often in rather remote places) and photography, especially since I had been fully vaccinated.
Most of this visit was spent in some less-visited portions of the park, but I did spend one night at the Stovepipe Wells parking lot, uh, I mean campground... so that I could photograph the nearby dunes in the evening and the following morning. These photographs come from those two sessions.
p.1 #2 · Among the dunes — recent work from Death Valley
gdanmitchell,
The first three are superb compositions, and the next three provide a story and context. The dunes can provide a setting for life to thrive, and they can take that life away. As they move like giant glacially slow waves they can reveal past battles in which the dune always wins.
Jim
p.1 #5 · Among the dunes — recent work from Death Valley
Awesome collection Dan! These are jaw dropping. I am going to be in DV next week and I am not sure if I can capture anything as close to as magical as these.
p.1 #14 · Among the dunes — recent work from Death Valley
Thanks to the most recent commenters. I always read these and use them to get some sense of how others respond to my work and why.
I never know for sure I'll come back with on these Death Valley shoots. During the previosu few years I seemed to hit a string of (what normal people would call) bad weather events — rain, snow (!), dust storms — that gave me the opportunity to work with some very dramatic weather and light subjects. On this visit the conditions were (with the exception of some wind on my last night, at a more remote place) pretty benign, and I think that is why many of the photographs from this visit are "quieter" images.
p.1 #20 · Among the dunes — recent work from Death Valley
Zayne12 wrote:
This is an amazing place! Having been there once I'm wanting to go again soon. No reception and hardly a trace of wifi a true escape haha
Yes, it is a great place to disconnect (from civilization) and reconnect (with the land). ;-)
As bad (or good?) as connectivity is today, it used to be even worse. Visitors to Stovepipe Wells who have experienced what passes for wireless there may not believe this, but it is true. A number of years ago I was there and decided to order some flowers to send to my wife back at home, so I "went online" (or so the Lodge claimed) using the local wifi and often spent minutes waiting for individual pages to load. Last time I stayed at the lodge the wifi itself (e.g. connections from computer to access point) were fine... but the connection to the net from Stovepipe is horrible.
The wireless access throughout the rest of the park is spotty and sometimes inexplicable. I've sort of learned a few odd places where I can pick it up where you would not expect to find it, but even those change from year to year.
Some years ago I was out at Eureka Dunes in January, completely alone on a very cold night there. (On a recent visit there were 15 other parties camped in the neighborhood!) Since the place is so far from anywhere the thought that there would be wireless had not crossed my mind — but there was! I never could figure out how or why, though I have some suspicions. Don't get your hopes up, though... this year I had no signal out there.
In some of the other places I tend to go, there is most definitely no wireless access... and often no other people! :-)
