California Part 1: Death Valley

In April of 2019, I traveled with my son Fin to Death Valley. We spent days photographing this incredibly stark place. The light was constantly changing. Surprisingly, it was very colorful. It had been unusually wet this spring. There were flowers all over the place.

We entered the valley from Baker, California in the south on 190. That was the beginning of our adventure. Traveling north we took a left on 178. We stopped along the way whenever we saw something we wanted to photograph. Continuing, we stopped at the Ashford Mill Ruins and Badwater. Then we settled in at Furnace Creek for the night. The next morning, we started at Zabriskie Point. Followed by a stop at Dante’s View. Then we drove around to the Artist’s Palette. Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes was our final stop of the day before heading back to Furnace Creek. We decided that we needed to start the next day in the sand dunes we had visited. We got up in the dark and drove back to the dunes. We spent several hours there. The light was ever changing and invigorating. Certainly, it was a highlight of the trip. After returning to check out and get breakfast, we headed out of the valley to the west on 190.

Looking back, this was an awesome time. The photography was exciting. My 15-year-old son enjoyed photographing as much as I did. There were many hours spent in the car without a radio to listen to and mobile service was limited. I asked Fin if he was sick of listen to my music. He said, “No, I like it.” It was great to spend this time with him. I was incredibly happy that I pulled him out of school for this adventure. We headed to Big Bear for the second part of the trip. This time with my two daughters, Ella and Ruby.