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.

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.

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