Death Valley National Park has some crazy dichotomies in its landscape. The most popular photos of Death Valley usually feature sand dunes, salt flats, or muddy playas. When Willie and I planned a trip to Death Valley for November, we had hopes that we’d take photos of all of those.
After a quick couple of hours of sleep at David Thompson’s house in Las Vegas, we woke early and drove to Death Valley, took some sunrise photos, and setup camp. David had given us some tips and we set out for a patch of mud-cracks with no idea what to expect.
When we found the mud-cracks you should have seen the look on our faces! We were like little kids in a candy store, running around at all the amazing patterns and foregrounds. Sunset was beautiful, as clouds had rolled in and lit up with pinks, oranges and reds. The color lasted into blue hour, when the stars came out and the clouds bristled orange from the Las Vegas light pollution. I loved the shape of the cracks here and had to use it for my night-time photo!
Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8:
Foreground: 14mm, f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 100
Sky: 14mm, f/2.8, 10 sec, ISO 1600
