Death Valley

This is a photo that will become a part of my first ‘body of work’. 
It was taken this past Saturday morning in Mesquite Dunes, Death Valley, CA, USA. 

I just returned from my second trip to Death Valley in two months.  I had never been to Death Valley until this year.  My first trip was with John Paul Caponigro’s photo workshop back in March and I was fortunate to be able to make the second trip with two photographers I met at that workshop, Justin Hartford and Craig Colvin.  While all of the photos for my first ‘body of work’ are from Mesquite Dunes, it is not without a lot of effort, lack of sleep, and plans that go off track, that I have realized that those from Mesquite Dunes are the best fit for this ‘body of work’.  The journey has taken me to Panamint Dunes where I woke up at 4.00am and ended up on a two hour hike up the mountains in Panamint Valley only to miss sunrise on the dunes and see it from afar as I was working tirelessly to get there as quick as possible.  That was an adventure that lasted about 5-6 hours, included 2 liters of water, dehydration nonetheless, one big military cargo plane, and one F-16 flying super low along side of us as we exited the valley (Panamint Valley is known for the military practices that take place overhead). 

I also had the opportunity to visit Eureka Dunes, which was about 2-2.5 hours out via dirt road to find a massive pool of sand dunes nestled at the base of a mountain range on the northwest side of Death Valley.  Eureka Dunes are located in an isolated part of Death Valley and I do not believe they are traveled often.  I highly recommend it if you can get there.  The dirt road is long but actually not so bad.  Separately, we took a trip out to Race Track via another dirt road of 27 miles.  This road was not so nice however.  It is very rocky and within the first 13 miles, we had our first flat tire...we think we took one for the team that day - the team being every tourist out there that day...  In any case, a two hour drive turned into seven hours and two Jeeps but we finally made it to Race Track where these rocks look like they have been sliding on the clay pan.   All was well in any case and it made for a truly memorable experience.  Below are some of the (unprocessed) pictures from this second trip...