Canon 20d, 10-22 f3.5, f20, 1/80, iso 100
This is the time of year that photographers frequent Death Valley. Usually in March and early April the temps only get to the high 90's. There has been so many iconic images created here, most photographers want to visit this eerie place.
The image above was made in one of the most sought after areas - the Racetrack. The problem with the Racetrack is that it is 30 miles off a paved road, and the dirt road is washboard and rocky. People die out here. You have to have a stout vehicle, and even then it is basically hours of misery to get there. But once there, nothing short of magical.
What you see here is a rock obviously, but a rock that moves. You see the "tracks" behind the rock? When people discovered this place decades ago, there were rocks and tracks all over. How do these rocks move, where do they come from? Well, they come from the hills surrounding the dry lake, like in the background of this shot.
I'm told it took many decades to figure out how the rocks move, being such a forbidding place, people weren't going to just hang around until the solution arrived.
What makes it work are storms. Now Death Valley doesn't get much rain, of course. But when it does, this lakebed becomes the slipperiest place you can imagine, and due to this, the wind is able to push the rocks along, moving them and creating their "trails."
Sunrise and sunset shots here are spectacular, but you have to spend the night here to get them. Uh, that's a little more dedicated than I am. So the light of day had to do! For this shot, I used my widest angle lens, the 10-22, set on 10mm, with nearly the smallest aperture, f20, for maximum depth of field.
Death Valley is a very unusual and interesting place, even if you do not venture to the Racetrack! It's the largest national park in the lower 48. Here are a few web pages with further information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Valley_National_Park
http://www.americansouthwest.net/california/death_valley/national_park.html
