Death Valley Days, 20 Mule Team Canyon

Could not get onto the internet last night, too many people online here at Stovepipe Wells where the internet service is kind of hit or miss at best. Another awesome day yesterday, Dante's Peak in the morning and 20 Mule Team Canyon in the afternoon. In between classes with George and Lydia. This morning up and out to the dunes near Stovepipe for some beautiful sunrise photos on the dunes. Today will be an easy day,not too much traveling and plenty of downtime to process and download and to recharge our human batteries that are running pretty low at this point. Laurie, Chris and I have been shooting nonstop since the 17th and we are ready for an easy day. i can see how people come back here time and time again to photograph. There is so much to see and it changes hour by hour so it is never the same at any two moments in time. You could photograph here forever and never get the exact same shot twice. Laurie has no heat in her room and I only have hot water in the shower, not in the sink which makes those 4:30 am wake ups a shocking experience when you splash the ice cold water in your face to get washed up. The air here is so dry that it has sucked all the moisture out of my skin. Even the palms of my hands are dry and flakey.
It is time for a nap before heading out to the dunes again. We will eventually be out there three times today, each in a different lighting situation. Each making the dunes appear differently. A good day for experimenting.
Okay need to sleep now, bye!

The Big Move

It has been a very busy past two days. Yesterday we spent the day up at Eureka Dunes where we photographed cream colored sand dunes We had gorgeous clouds that made for wonderful shadows along the dunes.
Today up for another sunrise shoot in the Alabama Hills, breakfast, and then leave Lone Pine for Stovepipe Wells. We are now actually in Death Valley. We are at sea level where we had been at about 3000 feet elevation before hand. Should make for warmer weather.
Another busy day of shooting here as well. We went along the Artist Drive and over to Golden Canyon for a short walk into the canyon. It was beautiful, we are going back again on Saturday to catch the early morning light. We finished up the day at Zabriskie Point.
Tomorrow we have a very early start, we leave at 4:30 am for Dante's View for sunrise. Will fill you in on that later, must go to sleep now, it's 9:30 and I have to be up at 3:30. Until later!

It's How Cold Outside?

Let me preface my comments by saying that for the week prior to my coming out to Lone Pine, CA I had been diligently checking the weather conditions. And according to all sources it was in the low to mid seventies during the day going down to the forties at night. This seemed perfect. Well all I have to say in that matter is that they lied! It has been nowhere near seventy degrees since getting here, we have gad gale force winds, and the mountains have received several feet of snow in the upper elevations, which is to be expected.
Well this morning as I opened my door to go out to the car at 5:15 am I was greeted by a blast of Arctic air and a fresh three inches of snow on the ground. Time to rethink the wardrobe. Quickly went back into my room and adjusted. Went out in a tank top, covered by a turtleneck, covered by a cashmere hoodie, covered by a fleece hoodie and a coat! Wool socks, wish I had long underwear but my jeans had to do. My question of the morning was can yoga pants fit over my jeans, like long underwear, but only on the outside? Finish the image off with gloves filled with hand warmers and there you have my ensemble for the day! I have no idea what the actual temperature was, all I know is that it was freakin cold! Was it worth it, yeah I think so!
I guess it is possible to wear everything you brought at one time!
We have classes during the middle of the day and then go out to photograph in the late afternoon. This time I will remember my foot warmers as well as my hand warmers.
I will put up another slide show after tomorrows day long trip to Eureka Dunes! If we can get to it. We have to go through a pass that is at 6000 feet and it may be closed due to snow. Unfortunately, won't know until we get there! I will keep you posted!

The Wild West Adventure

The Wild West Adventure has begun. First step Boston to Las Vegas, seems simple enough. A direct flight on Jet Blue. The flight was pretty uneventful except when the flight attendant came on the loud speaker to announce that someone had been smoking in the bath room and if this continued they were going to lock the bath rooms. Hope you can hold it!

Arrive at the lovely McCarron airport only to find no luggage for me. After spending an hour with the Jet Blue representative she has finally located my suitcase. It is in Aruba, my suitcase went on a Caribbean vacation without me. To complicate matters further, they can not just put it on a plane due to customs regulations they are going to have to FedEx my suitcase to me in Lone Pine, CA (population 2000).

With a quick stop at the Gap and Walmart I am reclothed and ready to head out to Lone Pine. I am traveling with two friends, Laurie and Chris, both photographers. So we head out on our 4.5 hour drive over the mountains to Lone Pine nestled in the shadow of Mount Whitney in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

We have two days of photographing before the workshop starts in earnest. We have covered a great deal of ground. We have seen Manzanar, a Japanese internment camp from WWII, and amazing photography gallery in Bishop, CA and of course some of the most inspiring landscapes. We witnessed the full moon rise over the mountains, and watched as a major snowstorm dumped feet of snow on the surrounding mountain ranges. Tomorrow we have our first early start, meet at 5:15 and we roll at 5:30. Out for sunrise! And so we begin!