p.1 #1 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
In late February we returned to Death Valley. We had been there at the end of December, when conditions suggested that a return visit later in winter would be worthwhile.
We focused on two subjects on the return trip: Lake Manly and the wildflower bloom. As a friend pointed out: The main show in DEVA at this point featured (and likely still features) those two subjects. Both are transitory, so other things could wait for later. This meant that we mostly passed on the usual subjects like sand dunes and canyons. (We didn't ignore them entirely, and I'll include a few at the end.)
A lot of pictures, I know — but I figured I'd just put them all in a single thread.
Since almost everything was done with Canon gear I will share the post in the Canon forum, too.
I'll start with Lake Manly. It is an ephemeral lake that forms in Badwater Basin in years of heavier rainfall. The lake was still fairly large, though it is shrinking. We photographed in early light, arriving before sunrise. It was cloudy, so rather than colorful dawn light we had a sort of subtle "blue hour" light to work with for the most part — but the clouds themselves were a fine compensation.
Then there were the wildflowers. I can't say if this is a true "super bloom" (and the definitions seem subjective), but the bloom was definitely super. The most obvious show came from desert gold flowers, in many places growing in great fields of yellow on gravel fans and hills. There were also obvious patches of purple phacelia and areas with lots of sand verbena. And everywhere there were loads of tiny flowers underfoot where they were easy to miss.
We did photograph some other things while we were there, including one quick foray into Mesquite Dunes on the morning of our departure. (It was a cloudy sunrise, so we worked with soft light and largely ended up photographing... more plants!)
p.1 #3 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
More wonderfully lovely images Dan! I'm planning on visiting in November so I'll miss both the lake Manley and flower opportunities. But I'm still excited by your images and am looking forward to my first visit.
p.1 #5 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
Dan, you got some incredible images....just love the way you PP these Thanks for the inspiration, will have to sneak out this coming weekend. Thanks for sharing.
p.1 #7 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
Al Trujillo wrote:
Your images continue to inspire me and make we want to go back (when the wind isn't blowing 40-50mph!). Thanks for sharing these!
Too bad about that wind, Al! That's a common challenge in DEVA. We were lucky this time that we managed to avoid it almost completely — which made the wildflower photography possible.
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guidostow wrote:
More wonderfully lovely images Dan! I'm planning on visiting in November so I'll miss both the lake Manley and flower opportunities. But I'm still excited by your images and am looking forward to my first visit.
Thanks. November is a good time to go there, especially later in the month when the weather really cools down. And there are far fewer people at that time since it is kind of between seasons.
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junglialoh wrote:
Wow amazing landscape collections - each own special traits
Thanks!
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keepclicking wrote:
Dan, you got some incredible images....just love the way you PP these Thanks for the inspiration, will have to sneak out this coming weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you.
If you are there this coming weekend, I'd bet that you'll still have some wildflower potential. When we were there (last week of February) the flowers were really coming up at the lowest elevations, but the show continues at higher elevations as the season continues.
Thanks for the comment on the post processing. Post-processing is a substantial part of my approach, but my intend is usually to try to not let it get out of hand. Though, of course, there are lots of different and valid thoughts about how far to go, and I've seen some beautiful work that was probably more deeply processed than mine.
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gel685 wrote:
These are wonderful. I love the subdued colors in the first four photos.--Eric.
Thanks. The thing about the color palette of Death Valley is that most of it is pretty subdued, at least during all but the most colorful sunrises and sunsets.
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Now, off to an early bedtime. Getting up way too early tomorrow to drive a couple of hours in the dark out into California's Central Valley to see if there are any geese and cranes left. (I've photographed them before on March 7... and gone on March 14 and they had departed. Wish me luck!
p.1 #8 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
Thanks for the wonderful series Dan! It is nice that you included so many pictures. I am planning a visit in April to practice Milky Way photography. Your pictures give me a pretty good idea of what to expect...It looks like the lake is much larger than I thought it might be and shrinking pretty slowly. I like your pictures of the lake!
p.1 #10 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
jm10_former wrote:
Thanks for the wonderful series Dan! It is nice that you included so many pictures. I am planning a visit in April to practice Milky Way photography. Your pictures give me a pretty good idea of what to expect...It looks like the lake is much larger than I thought it might be and shrinking pretty slowly. I like your pictures of the lake!
jacob
Thanks, Jacob.
I thought about doing three threads of these photos — one of r Lake Manly, one for wildflowers, and one for the other stuff — it decided to just do one big thread and share them all at once. (I actually left out a few that I thought were worthy.)
April can be a good time to visit Death Valley, though things typically start getting pretty warm in April. I have often gone in teh first week of the month and while it is usually warm by then, it isn’t like the hottest days of summer. I think that the warmest I’ve seen then might have been in the low to mid 90s. And at that time of the year, wildflower chasers can still find a lot of interesting stuff up in the mountains.
I’m not a milky way photographer, but I have done a lot of night photography, including some in DEVA. I wonder how night photographers feel these days about the rather bright glow in the southeast from Los Vegas? It is pretty obvious now. One night some years back, before I understood it, I saw that glow and wondered why the moon seemed about to rise when it shouldn’t have!
Lake Manly was still doing quite well when I was there at the end of February. I have no ideal how long it will last, especially with a big heat wave coming later this week.
p.1 #11 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
gdanmitchell wrote:
Thanks, Jacob.
I thought about doing three threads of these photos — one of r Lake Manly, one for wildflowers, and one for the other stuff — it decided to just do one big thread and share them all at once. (I actually left out a few that I thought were worthy.)
April can be a good time to visit Death Valley, though things typically start getting pretty warm in April. I have often gone in teh first week of the month and while it is usually warm by then, it isn’t like the hottest days of summer. I think that the warmest I’ve seen then might have been in the low to mid 90s. And at that time of the year, wildflower chasers can still find a lot of interesting stuff up in the mountains.
I’m not a milky way photographer, but I have done a lot of night photography, including some in DEVA. I wonder how night photographers feel these days about the rather bright glow in the southeast from Los Vegas? It is pretty obvious now. One night some years back, before I understood it, I saw that glow and wondered why the moon seemed about to rise when it shouldn’t have!
Lake Manly was still doing quite well when I was there at the end of February. I have no ideal how long it will last, especially with a big heat wave coming later this week. ...Show more →
Thanks for your thoughts Dan!
Yes, my expectation was mid 90s for mid April. (it may hit 90 tomorrow where I am :-). So should not be a big surprise. The Milky Way arch will be visible between 1 am and 5 am + Blue hour after 5:30 am. So day time will be for sleeping and some light scouting to confirm target locations...
I can see the glow from Las Vegas lights on quite a few MW pictures (on the left side of the image). It is a nuisance but have to live with it; there are some ways to mitigate this effect in post-processing. If I will come up with something worth posting here I will do it.
p.1 #12 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
GroovyGeek wrote:
Lovely images. Did you see sand verbenas on the dunes? To me they are the really unique show during super bloom years.
Thanks!
Yes, we did see a lot of sand verbena in the usual areas closer to the south end of the valley. There was enough of it in a few spots to produce a spot of faint purple/pink color on the landscape when viewed from a distance.
There were still lots of plants coming up everywhere, and I almost scheduled a third visit for later this month. Right now, unfortunately, a recording-breaking high pressure system is setting up over the western US and there are some pretty terrifying forecasts of heat over the next week and a half or more.
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jm10_former wrote:
Thanks for your thoughts Dan!
Yes, my expectation was mid 90s for mid April. (it may hit 90 tomorrow where I am :-). So should not be a big surprise. The Milky Way arch will be visible between 1 am and 5 am + Blue hour after 5:30 am. So day time will be for sleeping and some light scouting to confirm target locations...
I can see the glow from Las Vegas lights on quite a few MW pictures (on the left side of the image). It is a nuisance but have to live with it; there are some ways to mitigate this effect in post-processing. If I will come up with something worth posting here I will do it.
Mid 90s are not unusual for April, especially as the month goes on. I used to make an annual visit in the first week of April (though now I go December through March more typically) and my general feeling was that week one of the month want too hot — more like upper 80s, but by the second week or so the 90 degree temperatures were pretty common.
p.1 #13 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
Excellent work as usual Dan. The Lake Manly set is quite striking - the ephemeral lake, the time worn geology, transient clouds and beautiful blue light combine very well. I like the more intimate flower shots too - the vibrant flowers against the hard packed earth. Well done.
p.1 #15 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
dakel wrote:
Excellent work as usual Dan. The Lake Manly set is quite striking - the ephemeral lake, the time worn geology, transient clouds and beautiful blue light combine very well. I like the more intimate flower shots too - the vibrant flowers against the hard packed earth. Well done.
Thanks!
I’ve made it a point to take advantage of the temporary existence of Lake Manly — I’ve managed to photograph there three times since it reformed last year.
Wildflowers aren’t my main thing, but my wife photographs them a lot — it is actually her main focus. So I give it a try when we work together.
p.1 #16 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
bcguy wrote:
Excellent! The place is much, much more attractive when water is present, at least to me. I always enjoy your work!
Thanks, and thank you for sharing that you like my work.
Lake Manly totally changes the appearance of the place and especially when you get up close and can work with those reflections. In some cases it is possible to almost fill the entire frame with sky — the actual sky and its reflection and only have small amounts of solid earth in the frame.
p.1 #19 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
I often find that your images, instead of just hitting me with a big hammer, take me by the hand into a landscape, asking me to spend time with all of its aspects. This is less usual, and is a different kind of satisfaction. Thank you.
I am particularly mesmerized by the first shot, and the abstracts towards the end.
p.1 #20 · Death Valley: Lake Manly, (Super?) Bloom, A Few Other Things
jaggedhorizon wrote:
I often find that your images, instead of just hitting me with a big hammer, take me by the hand into a landscape, asking me to spend time with all of its aspects. This is less usual, and is a different kind of satisfaction. Thank you.
I am particularly mesmerized by the first shot, and the abstracts towards the end.
Hey, thanks!
I try, as much as possible, to let the landscape sort of speak for itself. I don’t eschew post-processing, not at all, but I try for a level of “believability” in how I interpret the images. Those “abstracts” — which I sometimes think of as intimate landscapes — are sort of at the opposite pole of my work. Instead of the “grand landscape,” of which there is so much in DEVA, they focus on little vignettes. The great thing about them is that they are everywhere!
(If you like abstracts, I have something unusual coming in the next day or two… ;-) )
Thanks for the inspiration, will have to sneak out this coming weekend. Thanks for sharing. 