This was supposed to be a day-by-day blog, but because of the sand/dust storm, and because of the very sketchy Internet and nearly-zilch cell service in Death Valley, we were out of touch with the outside world for several days. Just pretend this blog is actually from today!
Another early morning, albeit not desperately so. Zabriskie Point was today’s destination.
Most people come for the sunrise, then leave! I think I mentioned that in one of my scouting blogs from here.
The sun rises, and then for us, the wonderful shadows start to happen. We always challenge our participants to not make just another pretty snapshot for Great Aunt Minnie. Some of you already know Great Aunt Minnie. She is very supportive and is thrilled with any photograph you take.
Arnie and I, being long-time working pros, have seen a lot of images, and while really enjoying many of them, we want to be inspired by them, not copy them.
And so, we always strive to make ours different from anything we have ever seen.
After several hours of imaging and critiquing, it was time for our afternoon shoot in one of the canyons.
One can get so absorbed in photographing one subject that one can miss the light at other locations. As Arnie and I were walking up this trail, we stopped to help various people in our group, heading up a side canyon here to look at light and anticipating it, another to find the light had gone, giving mini-assignments to individuals to help them take their next step in photography.
Everyone was all set for the moment, so I sped up the trail, hoping I had not lost the light. The late-afternoon light was gone, but instead was the soft, gentle after-glow that follows sunset.
While the sun had disappeared behind the mountains, it was still shining up at clouds and reflecting back down into the canyons. It was perfect for what I wanted.
At any iconic destination, one has been bombarded with tons of pictures, some quite good photographs, often, just ho-hum ones. We want our participants to come up with strong, arresting, and memorable images.
They came through again with some quite stunning images, and we were very proud of them.
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