January 7, 2005 - Indio, CA (Death Valley)
Yup. More Death Valley pictures. We really enjoyed our time there, can you tell yet?
Well, yesterday evening while on the Ranger led picture taking excursion into Badwater Basin, Barb decided that she'd break out the old Kodak and give some of what the Ranger was talking about a bit of a try. And the first chance she had to do that was the very next morning. Early morning. Very early morning! Like we had to be at the sand dunes at 7:30 AM for another Ranger-led picture taking excursion. But the price was right (free), and we're sorta morning people anyway and I was impressed with the guy's depth of knowledge, so why not. As we were getting there (some 25 or 30 miles from where we were parked), we came up behind this VW bus. I'd heard him leaving as we were getting ready, so I suspected he was going the same place we were. And it was a joy to follow him. Our very first RV was a VW, and not as nice a one as this one. But we did go up hills slowly, and we chatted about the places we'd been and things we'd done back in 1978 in our VW van. Turned out that the driver was Bob, one of the Marimba band guys. We'd heard them practicing in the evenings sometimes from our campsite. And when we got to the dunes, it turned out we weren't the only crazies up at oh-dark-thirty in the morning, either.
The Ranger is showing us his morning "exercises". He's pretending to be pressing the shutter of his camera! Great guy. And then a Raven protesting our presence, of course.
See that guy with the backpack standing next to Barb who's wearing her yellow hooded sweatshirt under her green jacket? Well, I forget his name, but he has a camera quite similar to mine, but it uses film rather than digital, and I'd not paid a great deal of attention to him. Later in the morning I was struggling to get a shot I wanted and he came over and gave me some tips based on his camera, and between us and the owners manual I carry with me, we got the problem solved. What a great lifestyle this is, eh? Oh, and that guy's backpack is full of camera gear! His tripod cost as much as my camera, too.
Barb took these shots of the fun tracks in the sand, etc. Not bad for an "old" camera, eh? Well, let's give credit where credit is due. Barb has a much better eye for the artistic than I do.
There is mud in here as well, and it makes for interesting patterns.
While the class was going on, Barb wandered off to check out what there was to see. Critter holes, interesting patterns in the sand, and trails that started nowhere and went nowhere. The different colors in the sand were as much a function of the lighting as actually different colored sand.
The instructor/Ranger took us to different locations so we could test various techniques. He'd set up his camera on something he thought was interesting or that showed a point he was trying to make, and then we'd all go peek and see what he was talking about. Remember the VW bus we followed? Well, in the foreground of me struggling up the slippery sand dune with the tripod over my shoulder is Bob, the VW owner and marimba band member. Hope we see him again when we get to Quartzsite.
The place was full of contrasting textures, and Barb caught them all. Technique sure can't beat a good eye, can it.
Well, these two pictures were taken in about the same place, but no attempt was made to "stitch" them together. It just looks like that. Sort of. Wonderful fun.
Sand balls and rabbit tracks. Are all rabbits left pawed? (put their left front paw down first) No end to the stories told by the dunes.
That's about it for the sand dunes. Picked up some tips on what we hope will improve the picture taking, and enjoyed another facet of Death Valley.
Well, I suppose it could be argued that these bushes give the impression of corn shocks standing there waiting for pickup, but we'd probably have given a different name.