Wandered out to the Mesquite Sand Dunes and found some neat shapes

Wandered out to the Mesquite Sand Dunes and found some neat shapes

Rolling Wave

The last time I visited the Mesquite Sand Dunes in Death Valley National Park things were a bit of a disaster. Willie loves to arrive early to things, which is usually great. It gives us time to get settled, scout out an area, find the best views and make sure we don’t screw anything up. That’s normally fine ... except when it’s 85°F with absolutely no shade and sunset isn’t for 4 more hours. After getting little sleep the night before, Willie woke me up from my nap to demand we head out to the sand dunes. We spent hours trying to hide from the sun after realizing we had gotten out there way too early. Determined not to make the same mistake again, we got a few tips from David on where to head once at the sand dunes. We had left his house in Las Vegas at 3am and made the trek over to Death Valley in time for sunrise and we lugged our massive “Bazooka” telephoto lenses out with us. We arrived early but not too early! Although David pointed us in a general direction, we still struggled to find compositions. Both of us ran around trying to find the shapes and patterns we had seen others find. Willie stayed in a small area while I explored further. At one point I found this view, setup, and fired a few quick photos before running off to try a different view. It wasn’t until I got home that I realized I had found a spot with these beautiful rolling sand dunes! Nikon D800 w/Sigma 150-600mm f/2.8: 165mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 100

Barbeque Dunes

There’s a few things that Death Valley National Park is known for and one of those is beautiful rolling Sand Dunes. On my first visit to Death Valley I was surprised to find that the Mesquite Sand Dunes area is quite small and that there aren’t tons of other sand dunes located throughout the park! Our first visit to the sand dunes, years ago, wasn’t very successful. Willie took us out way too early and we were left in the hot sun without shade. This time, though, David Thompson gave us some tips that paid off and we didn’t nearly die of heat exhaustion or waste time walking up and down massive sand dunes! While running around a particular area of the sand dunes I noticed the way the shapes of these dunes criss-crossed back and forth and knew I had to take a snapshot. Using a long “bazooka” telephoto lens I was able to compress the mountains in the background so they appear closer and larger than they are (they’re many miles away). A fun photography optical illusion! Nikon D800 w/Sigma 150-600mm f/2.8: 165mm, f/11, 1.0 sec, ISO 100

Wandered out to the Mesquite Sand Dunes and found some neat shapes

Come cool patterns in the sand dunes

I just loved the shadows in this series of photos at the Mesquite Sand Dunes

I just loved the shadows in this series of photos at the Mesquite Sand Dunes

I just loved the shadows in this series of photos at the Mesquite Sand Dunes

Peace be the Journey

Death Valley National Park is one of those places that is filled with dichotomies. It has both the lowest point (Badwater) and the tallest point (Mt. Whitney) in the United States; it has salt flats next to sand dunes; and oasis next to desert. It’s also both absolutely gorgeous yet incredibly difficult to photograph. I’ve been to Death Valley on a number of occasions but never really come home with photographs that I was happy with ... until November of 2016 when I returned with one of the most successful photo trips I’ve been on. Willie and I flew to Las Vegas where we met up with David Thompson and then eventually made our way to Death Valley. We knew there were several playas filled with beautiful mud cracks and made our way to this particular patch. It was a photographers heaven, with beautiful compositions of foregrounds everywhere we looked! When I saw this particular mud-crack I immediately thought “this look like a peace symbol!” We still had an hour or so before sunset, so I dropped my hat at the spot to mark it for later, and kept exploring. Just before sunset, we noticed clouds had settled over the peaks behind us and were set to light up for sunset! I raced back to the peace symbol just as the clouds lit up with beautiful oranges and yellows! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 14mm, f/11, 1/15 sec, ISO 100

Enjoying some mud cracks!

Charlotte's Web

I’ve visited Death Valley on a number of occasions and almost always left frustrated by the lack of photos I’ve come home with. It was common to watch beautiful clouds disappear right before sunrise or sunset, leaving a giant hole in the sky of all my photos. On a November trip in 2016, that all changed. Willie and I flew to Vegas, met up with David Thompson, got a few hours of sleep, and then left super early in the morning to drive to Death Valley. Every morning and every evening was beautiful! Both Willie and I agree that this was one of the most successful photography trips we’ve ever participated in. We photographed two beautiful sunrises over the sand dunes, a colorful sunrise over salt flats, and 3 colorful sunsets at various playas. David, the Death Valley expert, gave us amazing recommendations that turned out instrumental for our success. On this particular evening we wanted to find a particular playa known for its amazing mud-cracks. We arrived early, hiked in a general direction of what we thought was the playa, and happened to guess right! We ran around looking at amazing pattern after amazing pattern, leaving various pieces of clothing on the ground to mark our “favorite” spots. And of course right as the sun set, a patch of clouds popped in over the Panamint Range and doused the whole scene in beautiful reds and yellows! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 14mm, f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 100

Silent Night

Death Valley National Park has some crazy dichotomies in its landscape. The most popular photos of Death Valley usually feature sand dunes, salt flats, or muddy playas. When Willie and I planned a trip to Death Valley for November, we had hopes that we’d take photos of all of those. After a quick couple of hours of sleep at David Thompson’s house in Las Vegas, we woke early and drove to Death Valley, took some sunrise photos, and setup camp. David had given us some tips and we set out for a patch of mud-cracks with no idea what to expect. When we found the mud-cracks you should have seen the look on our faces! We were like little kids in a candy store, running around at all the amazing patterns and foregrounds. Sunset was beautiful, as clouds had rolled in and lit up with pinks, oranges and reds. The color lasted into blue hour, when the stars came out and the clouds bristled orange from the Las Vegas light pollution. I loved the shape of the cracks here and had to use it for my night-time photo! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: Foreground: 14mm, f/11, 1/5 sec, ISO 100 Sky: 14mm, f/2.8, 10 sec, ISO 1600

Enjoying some mud cracks!

Enjoying some mud cracks!

Our Playa

There’s a couple scenes that Death Valley is known for: beautiful salt flats, rolling Sand Dunes, and plays filled with mud-cracks. On this particular trip in November 2016, Willie and I managed to photograph all 3 of these, and perhaps a little bit more. On this particular evening we hiked out to a playa filled with mud-cracks and ran around like giddy school-boys as we found amazing pattern after amazing pattern. We left clothing in various locations to mark our favorite spots and then watched as clouds rolled in just at sunset to give us an amazing sunset. I had to force myself to stop and let it soak in, before frantically getting back to my camera to try to take as many photos as I could, with a number of different compositions. After the sun went down we decided to wait for blue hour to kick in so we could take some star photos with the playa. As we waited I noticed that the color in the sky never really faded ... it just kept lingering. So of course I kept taking photos! Saturn even popped into view, as you can see the bright spot in the middle of the sky. I named this photo “Our Playa” because the shape of the mud cracks, at the bottom, forms both an “A” for Aaron and a “W” for Willie. Special thanks to David Thompson for giving us some amazing tips! Nikon D800 w/Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8: 15mm, f/4.5, 10 sec, ISO 2000

David's Dunes

When you live only 2 hours away from Death Valley and you love to photograph nature, you start to learn the tricks of the National Park. That’s exactly what David Thompson has done — Death Valley is his place! Willie and I were treated to an amazing 4 days in the park under David’s careful direction, and boy did he spoil us. Willie and I arrived in Las Vegas, picked up our rental car and some supplies, and spent the night at David’s house. Perhaps I shouldn’t say “spent the night” because we got less than 3 hours of sleep and then were off to the Mesquite Sand Dunes. David had given us tips on around where we should look for compositions but we really struggled the first morning. He arrived at the park that evening and promised to show us where the spot was. Sure enough, David traipses out into the sand dunes and takes us right to this spot. Beautiful rolling hills and hills of sand dunes. All we had to do was wait for the light to get good. And before we knew it we were running around with our heads cut off trying to make sure not to waste the gorgeous light! Nikon D800 w/Sigma 150-600mm f/2.8: 200mm, f/11, 13.0 sec, ISO 250

A tree somehow survived out here ... until it died

While photographing the sand dunes on our second morning, I couldn't help but notice how the sun was dropping down on the mountains behind these dunes ... so I fired a few shots!

While photographing the sand dunes on our second morning, I couldn't help but notice how the sun was dropping down on the mountains behind these dunes ... so I fired a few shots!

The Mesquite Sand Dunes

David Thompson took us out on our 2nd morning in Death Valley and showed us where all the great spots were!

David Thompson took us out on our 2nd morning in Death Valley and showed us where all the great spots were!

Willie photographing the Mesquite Sand Dunes