The most significant highlight of the day trip to Death Valley was stopping at the Dunes on our way back to Lone Pine. You would think that going into the Valley would have been a great day for Images taking, but I felt like it was a tourist trap, and when you get up at 3:30 am to drive to a spot where another 75 photographers are lined up, I just didn’t get into it…
…..but here on the dunes, Moose acquiesced and gave us a brief what to take, and off I went, this place is special…, light, color, mountains backdrop and a few cool people…the energy was there from the get go…..I’ll admit, I ran about, capturing silhouettes of people walking, bushes, cloud formations, and setting sun, framed by the top of the dunes. I have a number of unique Images from that evening….
But one set of pictures is very special,..I met two wonderful college kids, having a great time on the expansive plateau of the red/orange dunes, with the wide open blue sky, they owned this whole wonderful world as they danced, frolicked and did cartwheels. They were polite enough to allow me to shoot them from a distance with my PCE 45mm. I didn’t want to get closer, it was their time, place and space…and the lens selection is equivalent to watching their blissfulness from a normal viewing distance.
Once they wore themselves down, we spoke for a while, they were traveling and headed to Colorado, when he is finishing up his major in graphic arts. I’m in need of a website logo and we’ve since corresponded that he’s checked out the site and has a few concepts for me and we’ll see where that take us…but they captured the essence of the desert that evening.
You can say what you want about kids and people, but I definitely met some nice people on this Sierra trip, who made this trip as memorable as seeing the mighty 14,600 foot high Mt Whitney at dawn…
LOVE this pic! They are all amazing – but this one stands out to me.
thanks for the comment. It is one of my favorites also… fun people on a fantastic landscape with unique desert lighting …It is a compelling Romancing the Landscape composition …. kudos to you for the good eye to recognize it….
Hi Ed:
I loved the Desert Dune Frolic! And the images of the young people you met on the mountain. The Dune image reminded me of the image I sent on with the English lady with her hands behind her head. She and her new husband walked up to Moose at sunrise and introduced themselves. He is a fan of Moose’s blog. I walked up to her at sunset on the Dunes, took the shot and then introduced myself. We ended up doing a portrait set with their camera….hopefully they turned out!
Your pano of the Eastern Sierras are awe inspiring.
You are right, you meet some of the nicest and most interesting people on photo ops.
John
HI John,
Thanks from someone else who was on the dunes that evening. I got lost in the revery of the landscape and these great kids enjoying it. It has turned out to be a popular post. I have to say, not much positive feedback from the Master when I showed it to him …. glad I went my own way.