Yet Another Death Valley Landscape

I'm starting to get bored posting my pictures from Death Valley. My car has not been working for the last month, so getting out to take pictures has been impossible. Here is another shot from Death Valley.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/9.0, 29mm, 1/200 sec
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Where have you gone mon ami?

Where have you gone mon ami? 

Is your old worn out Beat ghost

Haunting those back roads

And those desolate Cascade peaks. 

-Another Dead Poet

This was a rainy day in Death Valley. This was the road of welcome that we received. My old friend the open road can make even a rainy day a long enjoyed adventure for other friends to share. With each obstacle that was placed in our way, the adventure endures. Listen to me wax all poetic and such. Found this in my buffer directory forgotten and waiting to be rediscovered.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/9.0, 30mm, 1/200 sec

Sunset on a diamond.

I stopped by the beach at the end of Diamond street in Laguna Beach last night. It was sunny with blue skies at home so I drove down to Laguna Beach hoping to get a nice sunset and what do I find? Grey. Lots of Grey. I was just about to give up and all of the sudden I see the clouds starting to part and color starting to come in. So I stood there for a good 15 minutes waiting for enough color and sky to get a good picture.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4, 23mm, 1/200 sec.

I can see the light!

The neon lights of the rides over at the SM Pier. I was surprised that I actually caught it with all the lights bright and nothing else to pollute the light of the picture. There was a lot of light pollution and I have no idea how this one came out. I think that it has to do with ramping up the ISO and going with a faster shutter speed. We shall try it again one day when I find another well lit Ferris wheel at night. Had a little fun with the colors too, look below. It's not often I post two pictures in one post.

Canon 600D, ISO-3200, f/5.6, 55mm, 1/400 sec

The Lone Flip Flop

So This is another picture form Thousand Steps Beach. The flip flop in the bottom left corner washed up on shore. I thought that this was a great setting for the picture, but I've been having problems processing it. It never came out just right.

Canon 600D, ISO-1000, f/4.5, 18mm, 1/30 sec
http://jdabbeyiii.blogspot.com/

Under the Pier Downtown....

Under the Santa Monica Pier. I took this on my photowalk. I've processed this image time and time again. I finally got a semi decent image and now I am posting it. I just noticed that I have posted this picture already. Oh well, nobody has noticed yet so maybe I should keep my yap shut.

Canon 600D, ISO-320, f/5.6, 53mm, 1/15 sec

Trails in the sand

So we stopped by the Mesquite dunes and I walked out to take pictures while the guys sat next to the car not wanting to walk out to the dunes. I saw that the wind wasn't just kicking up sand, but it was also making really cool trails along the dunes.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 34mm, 1/640 sec

Into each life some rain must fall.

I went over to Dana Point this morning to go paddle boarding with my cousin. He didn't show so I just wandered around taking pictures. I saw this and I was surprised that someone actually does rainwater collection for their business around here. I like the design that they use, from what the proprietor of the building said, this has been the design since the building was built pre-WWII. I forget the exact year as I was shooting instead of listening. It was not actually raining this morning, it was just cloudy and foggy.


Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 55mm, 1/80 sec

Steps to nowhere

So we were walking up Mosaic Canyon in Death Valley and There were these pieces of rebar cemented into the rock face. From the positioning and the hand rail, it was obvious that they were steps, but the top three were missing and the rock face kind of ended at the top of them so we weren't sure what to make of them. But I got a picture just in case.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.0, 18mm, 1/200 sec

Old Number Three

Well, this one didn't have any rust or paint. No need to leave color on it, except for the 3 on the side and the ford emblem. Over 70 years and the ford emblem is bright and shiny. I think that the headlight needs a bit of adjustment. I also think that the tires are a little low on the tread.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.0, 20mm, 1/160 sec.

I'm Black, I'm White

A new take on the Hinkle Rose. I felt like messing around with the picture and I like it, I think that I will do the same thing with some other pictures. I was actually trying to get more definition of the original picture form the previous post, but the colors were too bright, so I tried taking the color saturation all the way down and I liked how it came out. Then I experimented with removing the background because it was taking attention away from the rose.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4, 21mm, 1/160 sec.

Every drop in the ocean counts.

This was a fun picture to take. It was one of the first ones I took at Thousand Steps a couple weeks ago when I went. I was still warm from the drive over there, the sun was still out and my feet had not been engulfed in a wave from not looking where I was standing. I'm not complaining, it just seemed like this picture came to me too easily. But if I count in the rest of the time I spent at that beach that evening, it was a lot of work to end up with this picture. I guess it matters which direction you come from it.

Canon 600D, ISO-640, f/5.6, 35mm, 1/50 sec

If you rest, you rust.

For a truck that has been sitting out in the desert for a minimum of 58 years, this is pretty impressing. It's only surface rust, give this thing a paint job, and an engine and I bet it still runs. This was one of the cars rusting out behind Scotty's Castle. It was an old Ford so I had to take a picture.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f8.0, 18mm, 1/160 sec.

Rosie, how can I persuade?

So I was a bit bummed out on Saturday. I went all the way to San Pedro and didn't get sunken city photos/ I went over to the Hinkle household on saturday evening so we could get started early Sunday morning on Easter festivities. Well, we all slept in, but the sun was out and the Hinkles have some great flowers at their house. This was actually much brighter than it is in this picture, I had to pull the color back. I hope that you enjoy it.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4, 21mm, 1/160 sec.

Backseat Driving

The view from the back of a car in the junkyard behind Scotty's Castle. As you saw in the truck pictures when I first started this post, there was a collection of old rusted cars behind Scotty's Castle. I really hope that they never remove those rusted out cars. They are fun for people to enjoy who go off the beaten track. Of course there were signs every 30 feet or so telling us to stay on the road which of course we had to disobey on principle alone.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.7, 40mm, 1/100 sec

Old and Grainy

So I had some fun with my shoot down on Thousand Steps Beach. I am not a fan of high ISO and this is one of the few that I actually like. There was an older couple jogging along the beach and I'm glad that they were standing together for my picture. And this was after I did some noise reduction. I like the grainy old style look to it. Let me know what you think.

Canon 600D, ISO-3200, 34mm, 1/50 sec

My First Lighthouse

I've always like the idea of lighthouses. Maybe I romanticize them, but they seem like such unique ways to live. I went over to Point Fermin to get pictures of Sunken city, but as I said in my last post, there was a cop posted right next to the only way I know to get through the fence. Instead of drawing attention to myself, I decided to walk around the park and take some pictures. This is the lighthouse there and it's my kind of Lighthouse. A home with just a light atop it. Let me know of any other great lighthouses in california, my goal is to take pictures of all of them.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 18mm, 1/125 sec.

Can you hold this while I grab a beer?

So I headed down to Sunken City on Saturday to get some pictures. I got there an hour before sunset, but there was a cop chillin in his car right next to the best place to get over the fence. I decided to walk around and there is a little local pub. Outside the pub, I met this guy who regaled me with stories of his misspent youth. Then as he saw the cop about to leave, he asked me to hold his joint while he went in and ordered a beer. A little blurry because there was no light, but I had to share it. For the record, I did not hold his joint while he ordered a pint. It's not my kind of substance.

Canon 600D, ISO 125, f3.5, 18mm, 1/40 sec.

That's one big rock!

So this picture is from a few years back. My father , Eva, and I were taking the boat down to Mexico to have the hull repainted. While we were leaving Morro Bay, I took this shot. I did a little post processing on it. Believe it or not, this giant rock was too colorful for me, so I made the rock monochrome. You can still see it's greenish yellow hue in the reflection in the water. This was back when I was editing with The Gimp. Easy software to use, but not as extensive with the filters as Photoshop.

Sony DSC-P100, ISO-100, f/5.6, 8mm, 1/250 sec.

Do I see his turn signal flashing?

OK, so this is far from my comfort zone. I haven't gotten the hang of sky photography, but I was out on my balcony trying to get the moon (which did not turn out) and there was a plane circling and I gave it my best to get a shot. I like how you can see the blinking red light on the backside during the long exposure. Almost looks like a Doppler shift. Would be better if the starboard side lights were blue. For those unfamiliar with the Doppler shift, that is the scientific principle that tells us that the universe is expanding. The light on the tree outside was very bright so I tried my best to pull it back, but the moon was very bright with a 30 sec exposure. Let me know what you think.


BTW: this is Saturday's post a little early. I'm hitting up Sunken City tomorrow for pics, then I'm off to Brandon's for Easter weekend. Pool party for Easter sounds very southern California. I will post the sunken city pics on Sunday evening.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 35mm, 30 sec.

Once more into the break, dear friends

So I've never really tried taking pictures of waves. First picture of some waves. The break is too close to the beach to surf here, but it allows me to get some detail without a zoom. I really like this picture and I may mess around with it, maybe blur it a bit to compensate for the noise caused by the high ISO. I took classes to teach me about the relation of ISO and noise and the relation of f stops and depth of field, but that was at least a decade ago if not more so I've forgotten it all and am learning from scratch.

Canon 600D, ISO-640, f/4.5, 30mm, 1/40 sec.

The point of exposure

So, yes it was cloudy when I went down to thousand steps beach, but I made the best of it. Some clouds are great for pictures, but not these clouds. I had to take some long exposures in order to get even a little definition from them. Luckily waves always look great with long exposures. I'm going to go down to Thousand Steps again when the sky is a little more clear to get you some more exciting pictures. I do like this one and I hope that you do also.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5, 41mm, 15 sec

Mists of Laguna

OK, so I kind of lied. It's a raw image not a bracketed shot. I had to up the exposure and color in Photoshop, so it's a bit altered but not a full HDR image. This was down at Thousand Steps. I was working on trying to get a picture with the terrible light that I was given and this was a pretty good picture IMHO. I decided that if it was going to be a long exposure that I would stop it down a few stops and make it a longer exposure.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/29, 29mm, 5 sec.

A view from a parking lot.

So we came out of Mosaic Canyon and were coming back to the car. This was taken from the parking lot at mosaic canyon. Even from a parking lot, the views in Death Valley are amazing. Actually I took this while the guys had a beer break, because finishing a hike means you get to celebrate with a beer. I can't see any issues with that logic.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 29mm, 1/800 sec.

Sunset at the Pier

OK, I know that I have said it before, but this time I mean it. This is my last image from the Photowalk. I couldn't turn down another sunset shot though. So Today is my last picture form the Photowalk. I'm afraid I posted my images too quickly and I'm starting to run out. I guess that I need to go take more. You might notice a crazy ISO below, that is me playing around with shutter priority instead of aperture priority. Only image that turned out with shutter over aperture priority. You will also notice my new signature.

Canon 600D, ISO-160, f/4.5, 28mm, 1/200 sec

Photographic Amnesia

So I was looking at this image and I remember working on the raw file for it and processing it, however I do not remember taking it. I have complete amnesia regarding this image. I have no idea where it was in Death Valley. From the time-stamp on it, I know roughly where we were, but I don't remember taking the picture. I assume that this will happen more often the more pictures I take, but there were so many beautiful nature shots in Death Valley that I can't remember one specific point. So here is yet another Death valley shot. I am taking more pictures so I will diversify.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 28mm, 1/800 sec.

220 Steps, Not Thousand Steps.

So today I learned the value of looking at the forecast before planning a Photo shoot. So I had planned all week to go out today and take some pictures of the waves and sunset at Thousand Steps beach. I checked the tides, I checked what time sunset was, but I didn't check the weather forecast and it was cloudy and no pretty colors at sunset. But I did have fun with the waves and I did take a few pictures of the point and what not.


Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/14, 18mm, 30 sec

Pacific Wheel

I know that I said that I would not post any more pictures of the pier, but this is of the Pacific Wheel on the Santa Monica Pier. I do wish that people would show some manners and not walk in front of a camera when people are taking pictures. I swear... Some people's children..

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/7.1, 20mm, 1/30 sec

This Pier is getting tiring, why don't I post other things?

OK, so I promise this is the last picture of the Pier that I will post. I just really liked the colors in this one. I pushed the detail and saturation as high as I could go without making it look like crap. I think that this is going to be the last picture from the PhotoWalk last month. I am going to be travelling around orange county this weekend looking for pictures. I may even hit up sunken city with my nephew and chica to get some pics there. Hej, that's a great idea. I think that I will actually do that.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 18mm, 1/25 sec.

Hot and Dry! Hot and Dry!

Last time I checked, deserts are supposed to be hot and dry. Our first day was rainy and it snowed not far up in elevation from us. We did move down the mountain the second night, but we also spent the evenings in the cars the second night because it was too windy to get a fire started to stay warm. It finally settled down, and that is when I snapped this picture of one of the mountains in the park. I was an amazing view but the wind was furious from the perch where I took this so I was only able to get one picture. Next time I am hoping for better weather, but the trade off is if I go when it's warmer, it will be over 100 degrees. Well, great picture none the less.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 18mm, 1/800 sec.

Don't run backwards here naked at midnight

So this is at the edge of the Devil's Cornfield. I'm actually looking away from the cornfield and only getting a few of the desert wildlife that gives this area it's name. And although it's not like a regular cornfield, I wouldn't run through this one naked either. There isn't much to say about this picture, there were damn cars and tourists blocking my other shots so I had to take one looking away from the cornfield. I'm not upset though, I love how it came out. The mix of clouds, mountains, and distant desert work for me. I've also included another style of signature that I am thinking of. I stole this style from Lucky Bastard since he is moving onto a new style. I like it because it leaves my photo untouched.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 30mm, 1/1600 sec.

Chemical weathering and hydrothermal alteration

So the cause of all of the colors on the rock at Artist Drive is Chemical Weathering and hydrothermal alteration. Now I know, and knowing is half the battle. I've also made a little change to this image. A friend of mine recommended that I make myself a watermark/signature. I'm playing around with a few ideas, one of which is the one in this image. It's my family crest with JDA III 2012 © underneath. I's still working on it, but feedback = awesome. I did my best to make it unassuming, and I'm not even sure that I want to compromise my picture with anything. Maybe I can do a bottom border like Lucky does. We shall see.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/9, 33mm, 1/250 sec.

Chip off a slab and make me a kitchen counter

So during our Death Valley trip, we visited the mosaic canyon. Without giving you a full geological history, the walls of the canyon are marble. Now the lower part of the canyon is very tight, only a foot wide foot path at some points. This is higher up in the canyon where we decided to hike. There was a sign that said that the first part of the canyon was 1.4 mile in. So we obviously went there, but the sign at the parking lot said that 2 miles up there was more to see. We hiked the two miles and it was not as awesome as the first 1/4 mile. It was awe inspiring though. I took a number of pictures there, but I will only be posting a few.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/5.6, 50mm, 1/320sec.

Igor, I think we should call an electrician.

So, from the nail picture, I have already explained my personal enjoyment of antique tools. So I will probably be corrected by a friend who was there since I wasn't paying much attention to this equipment, but I think that this was an old 1920's arc welder. The handle just reminded me of something that would be found in Frankenstein's lab. We were all bouncing around the workshop checking out the equipment. We were like kids in candy stores. My friends also share my like for vintage and antique technology. It usually sparks conversation and if we drink enough, they may get a rant from dear old J.D. about what life was like in the olden days when I used to walk to school barefoot in the snow uphill both ways. PS: I lived in los angeles as a kid. Not a lot of snow.

Canon 600D, ISO-800, f/5.6, 47mm, 1/60sec.

Where is the concession stand?

One of my favorite things about National Parks is the lack of commercialization. Yes the general store and gas stations bend you over and have their way with your wallet, but they are limited to one small area inside the park. If this were anything but a national park, there would be a concession stand selling Artist's Drive T-shirts, mugs, playing cards, and artist's drive smoothies. The reason the guys and I do these camping trips is not to purposely damage our livers beyond repair, but to get away from the trappings of modern society. We DON'T want starbucks, we don't want a 10 item or less line or electric carts for fat people. We want to rough it, enjoy nature and focus on life instead of all of us sitting around the boob tube watching reruns of It's Always Sunny. So there was a nice rant because I have nothing to say about taking this picture besides I got out of the car, clicked a few pictures, then got back in the car and took a nap. I will post my other Artist Drive pictures separately.

Canon 600D, ISO-100, f/4.5, 18mm, 1/1250sec.

Dune, the sequel

So at first, this was my favorite dunes picture, but I had missed the first one I posted. This one has a tumultuous sky, but it lacks the bright definition of the dunes in the other picture. I eventually chose that one to post first and for this one to follow. This one had the sand storm which I though took away from the detail of the mountains. I'm not sure if I got this one level mostly because there were dunes going every which way and it was too windy to sit there and watch my level. I wish that I had gotten the mountains on the left side a little better.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 34mm, f/5.6, 1/500 second

Stop and smell these...

So everywhere I go, I end up taking pictures of the wild flowers. We had hoped to match up our trip to Death Valley a week after it rained, however we made it the day that it rained. These were the only wildflowers we really found. They are pretty and yellow, but I had hoped for a lot more flowers on our trip. Not complaining, great trip, but next time, more flowers. Gee, that sounds manly. Maybe if I say it in a lower register. More flowers please. Nope, didn't help.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 46mm, f/10, 1/320 second

More Pier Please!

So another Picture of the sun setting on the Pier in Santa Monica. Now first I should say that I really enjoyed the photowalk, however. You know that the first part of that sentence is now null and void once I add the qualifier 'however'. No, really I did learn from it and hearing Trey speak, but there wasn't much to shoot where you could still hear him without shooting the crowd and you may have noticed that I don't shoot people. I may explore that in the future but for now, I only do landscapes and what not. So, another picture of the pier because it was the only direction where there were not hoards of people. I like the stray stream of orange sunlight coming out from under the pier.

Canon 600D, ISO 125, 27mm, f/4.5, 1/250 second

Like a scar across the skin of the desert.

So, yet another road going through Death Valley. There were so many roads with so many views that Christian and I took hundreds of pictures from the roads. I have to say that I only appreciate the roads for making it easy for us to explore the national park. But from a conservationist point of view, they are like scars gouged into the skin of the desert. You have this wilderness and you lay down an asphalt track across it. What sense does that make to conserve our national parks? Well, I don't want to start a rant, I'm sounding like Edward Abbey instead of J.D. Abbey. I find the flat never ending roads boring, I needed a bit of character and the dips in the road give just that.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/500 second

I've got a sandstorm blowin' in my head

So the little dust devils and sand storms we saw in Death Valley were not that impressive, but you would tell a different story if you saw Christian driving through them in his new car while listening to the sand slowly eat away the paint job. The wind was starting to die down when I took this picture, but I love how bright the valley floor is while the ominous looming clouds slink through the skies.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 37mm, f/5, 1/640 second

I to the world am like a drop of water

So in 2005 I took a trip to Maui with Eva to explore and visit family. We were exploring the beaches and I saw these waves breaking on the rocks and the sight was epic. I grabbed her camera and started shooting away. I think I took 20 pictures just to get this one exactly right with the waves and the mist coming off of it. The lens was a little damp at this point so please excuse the blurry sections. I also ran this through a few plugins in photoshop in order to get some more detail out of the flying sea water. Point and shoots aren't the best, but her old Sony was pretty good for taking these pictures. Well, I would have sat there all day if Eva hadn't dragged me away kicking and screaming, but it's ok, I got loco moco right after that so I didn't complain much after we hit the restaurant.

Sony DSC-P100, ISO 100, 24mm, f/5.2, 1/160 second

Don't Bogart That Joint!

So, I took this back in 2007 on a trip to the states while living abroad. In 2007, I was living in Sweden and Eva and I took a trip to visit my family in the states for a month or so. On our trip I got to act as a tourist since I didn't get to live in a US city. I got to revel in a double-double, drink piss water american beer and enjoy it's low cost. A bottle of Budweiser at the "liquor store" in Sweden was $2, and that is ONE normal long neck bottle. Eva was not very familiar with drug culture in america nor was she very interested, but I took her for a tour of the Haight and after we grabbed a pint at the Magnolia brewing company, I snapped this shot. Mind you there are more colors at that intersection, but I was feeling artsy fartsy to I removed all colors except blue from the image. I like how it came out. BTW, I did the color editing in Gimp which is what I used up until last week.

Sony DSC-P100, ISO 100, 24mm, f/10, 1/125 second

Nailed It!

Well, I don't know about you, but I love to explore antique workshops. I am fascinated by antique tools. I just love to see how we got from a rock and a stick to a Skilsaw. So over at Scotty's Castle in Death Valley, we checked out his garage (nothing very impressive) but there were a few tools in the back. And sitting under the table holding 500 lbs of vintage electrical equipment was this board with nails in it completely looked over for years. So I got a mouse's view of it. I look at this and my mind imagination runs wild as to how the cement or plaster got on the nails. These are a strange shaped nail, when were those used. Could they have been part of the antique cars, maybe part of a truck bed? Well, that is just some fun with DoF and Nails. Again, not an HDR image and coincidentally Liz's favorite.

Canon 600D, ISO 200, 44mm, f/5, 1/60 second
Desaturated to monochrome.

You can't study the darkness by flooding it with light.

A sunset sandstorm to welcome us to the valley floor. After we had the extreme weather at the Wildrose campsite, we decided to move closer to the valley floor from the hills. We ended up at mesquite springs campsite. It was more like a parking lot than Wildrose, but it wasn't that bad after the first night when everyone left for home. We had 5 or 6 neighbors that day and it was great. So back to this image, I took this from the road on the way to our new campsite. I had to get a sunset picture and this is a very unique one for me. I finally figured out how to fix my off kilter images and adjusted this one counter-clockwise, then I took out the colors from everywhere but around the sun. I really wanted to give a good idea of what we saw. The sun was colorful, but there was no color anywhere but around the sun.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 53mm, f/5.6, 1/3200 second

Campsite #1

So, on our death valley trip, we chose the camp ground on the internet based on the lowest number of sites in the area. We don't like a crowded campground. So we chose Wildrose up in the hills of Death Valley National Park. We got there at night and it was an adventure from the first hour of setting camp. Christian's tent pole snapped from the wind and it was getting pretty frustrating setting up in the wind. We got to sleep and when we woke up, this is the view up the canyon. Could you imagine being the ranger that gets to live in that little cabin? I wish that there was some more blue skies for some contrast, but the detail in the clouds was great.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 27mm, f/5, 1/60 second

Kelp! I Need somebody! Kelp! Not Just Anybody! Kelp!

So I took a few different directions with this one. I've done five different versions of this image and I'm torn for my favorite between two. This is the more colorful version. I will post the other one later. This was on the Photowalk yet again, but I really enjoyed working on this one. The clouds were a bit tough to work with, but the colors and shadows made it a blast to manipulate and learn with. It was just fun. BTW: I also rpotated the image 3.8 degrees clockwise to get a flat horizon. I will be coming through all my photos fixing this since I found the functionality in Photoshop.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 18mm, f/3.5, 1/100 second

Not Frank Herbert's Dune

The Dunes in Death Valley are a pretty strange thing. They seem to stay in their own local area and there does not seem to be any differences in geography with the land surrounding the dunes. Well, this is one of my favorite pictures of the dunes, but I was really out of luck with the clouds that day. The pictures from the day before had better clouds, but there was massive amounts of winds so there were sand storms. Liz says that I pulled too much green out of the bushes and I agree, but it was necessary to pull out the color of the dunes.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 55mm, f/5.6, 1/800 second

Anyone Up For a Game of Skee Ball?

I'm not sure about you folks out there, but ever since I was a kid, the second I walk into an arcade, I make a B-line for the Skee Ball. I suck at it because the only hand-eye coordination I have is touch typing. Well, I lied on a previous post, ot on purpose, I just forgot that I took this picture. This was the last HDR picture that I took on the Photowalk with Tom and Trey. It just reminded me of when I was younger and I would do anything to go to a place called playland.

Canon 600D, ISO 3200, 42mm, f/8, 1/30 second

The Artist's Drive

Those of you who have been to Death Valley knew that this one was coming. It's not the picture that you expect, but it is from the Artist's Drive. There isn't much I can say about this one, the colors just caught me and it seemed like the best picture to take. And it came out better than I could ever have hoped. I could do without the road on this one, but it was there and I wouldn't have gotten such a great picture if I didn't include it. C'est la vie. So I think that I am starting to see the composition of the shots while I am taking them. You can see a difference between the Photowalk ones and the death valley ones. I have a lot to learn, but I'm seeing progress and I like that.

Canon 600D, ISO 100, 46mm, f/5, 1/1600 second