Death Valley, California, USA. 

The journey to California from the West Midlands is a long drawn out affair. With a now four year old daughter in tow, it is even more of a grind. Our daughter is no stranger to transatlantic flights and fortunately for us, rather seems to enjoy them. We all get tired though and door to door it involves over 20 hours of travelling. There are many positive things to look forward to. This is not one of them!  

On these trips to see the family, I have historically always liked to give the managing director a bit of space early on. It is after all her family and friends that we are visiting. By making myself scarce, it offers her the freedom to catch up with old friends and for the grand parents to shower their granddaughter with affection. Not having to worry about me being bored is a blessing and subsequently allows her to fully relax. 

It is this personal act of unselfishness that motivated me to book two nights accommodation, hire a car and set off at 03:00 on the 5 hour drive to Death Valley National Park. 

My planning for the trip was exhaustive. The night before I left, I googled how far the drive was to the hotel and noted 3 areas on the map of interest. With the planning complete, the rest of the trip was going to be left to good old fashioned instinct. 

There was some great light waiting for me on arrival.

Day One

After a stop to fill the car with gasoline (It is what the Americans call petrol), I left the I15 at Baker and headed north on the 113 mile leg to my destination. It probably wasn't this far but there was a sign post for somewhere nearby that was this distance. It could also have been further of course as I left the 127 early to head to Badwater Basin. It is not a detail that is really important. I just remember the sign post for some reason.

The sun was starting to rise in the desert as I approached the southern edge of the national park. As someone who lives in the centre of the UK, it is difficult to put into words how jaw dropping the landscape is. The vastness of the space in all directions would seem almost unimaginable to someone who has never witnessed it.  The photographer side of my brain already knew that I would be utilising the panoramic features of my camera. It would be the perfect format to try and emphasise the space of the open plains. As I crossed into the national park (and with the obligatory stop to photograph the sign that denoted the boundary), the early morning light was already starting to give way to cloud. 

My initial goal for the day was the area known as Badwater Basin. Logistically it made sense being one of the most southerly areas of the park that I was travelling north to reach. It is also an area that had received a lot of international press coverage during the two weeks preceding my trip. The coverage was focussed on the unprecedented amount of water that was present in the valley.

Badwater basin is the lowest point in the USA sitting approximately 282 feet below sea level. There is no natural outlet for water that gathers here. It predominantly arrives by seeping into the valley through the rocks and is collected in this way from a radius spanning up to a 1000 miles. The heat generated in the valley then evaporates the water (normally) leaving behind these incredible beds of mineral deposits. What you may perceive in some of these images to be snow is in fact salt (that's unless it is on top of the mountains then that is definitely snow). For now though, the water was pooling and it was generating a lot of media coverage. I was fully aware that this was a very unique event and that there was also a high probability that the water would be gone by the time that I arrived. To my surprise, it appeared as though the water levels had actually risen.

Reflecting on the trip, it is difficult even now for me to fully understand how unique the event was that I had witnessed. The three days that I spent in Death Valley were the only ones that I have ever spent in Death Valley. The basin has had water in it for 100% of the time that I have known it so to imagine it with out water is in a sense impossible.  

As a side note,  I have just been sent an article from California as I am in the process of writing this blog. Four weeks after my visit, heavy winds have passed through Death Valley and subsequently moved all of the water in the lake 2 miles north. Mother nature is a truly incredible individual. 

The unprecedented level of water offered up a very unique opportunity

The initial few images in this blog were captured during this first morning. The panoramic format for me suited the landscape perfectly. The overcast sky diffused the light and with the sun off my back, the saturation of colour offered up a perfect start.  

I proceeded to make my way along to the official viewing area complete with car park and toilet facilities. Over the years, a massive part of the enjoyment I have received from photography is not the photography itself but the educational opportunities travel and observation afford.  I had read little about Death Valley before departure but now that I was here, I wanted to absorb all of the knowledge that I could about the environment. 

It was during this exercise of self fulfilment that I first noticed an individual on a road bike who had stopped near by. 

In the world of social media, we all follow certain individuals or subjects that appeal to us. In my case, this amounts to a core of four photographers from various locations around the world that I have followed religiously for years. The quality of their work and production have always appealed to me and they have been real tangible benchmarks to aspire towards. Anyway, despite him trying to be incognito on Valentines day dressed in Lycra and sporting a cycle helmet, I recognised Ben Horne instantly. It is fair to say that he is an absolute gentleman and as pleasant in person as he is in his videos. We ended up having a decent chat all while taking in the amazing views.

Of course, the downside of having followed someone on social media for such a long time is that I felt like I knew everything about him.  The juxtaposition being that Ben would have known absolutely nothing about me. I became very aware, very quickly that I may have sounded like a bit of a stalker. I have a brain that remembers facts so Ben, if I started quoting phrases from your videos at you then please don't be alarmed.

Rumour has it that the bike ride back to his car was really ******* fast . 

I spent time trying to capture images that gave justice to the vast expanse of the national park.

After this rather unexpected and plesant start, I went off exploring. Desolation canyon (What a great name) and Zabriskie point for a bit if tourism filled the rest of the morning. A trip to the tourist information centre and hotel check in then followed. It was getting late by now and the jet lag that had worked in my favour at 03:00 was starting to exact it's revenge. Evening was going to be spent at the Mesquite sand dunes. The 40 mile drive was pleasant and consisted of more open landscape. The dunes, as to be expected at sunset were covered in people.

I found the sign telling you to be mindful of Sidewinder Rattlesnakes  reassuring as I headed off for a wonder across the dunes and between the arrowweed and creosote bushes. In reality, I was too tired at this point to concentrate and left without any real progress. The drive back to the hotel gave me an opportunity to reflect. I had two full days left. I was determined now that it was not going to be aimless.

I now had had a very rough idea of the landscape and a basic understanding of the geology that I was looking at. It was these various elements that were going to be the focus of my attention. I had made up my mind to try and photograph in a documentary / landscape format. This would hopefully afford me the opportunity to write a detailed blog of my visit and give my images some meaning and depth. This seemed like the most productive use of my time and would produce an outcome of interest. This is in fact something that I have been toying with for a long while. On a larger scale, the real difference between the top photographers and everyone else is in the delivery of their work. As individuals, we are bombarded by hundreds of images a day. As a photographer, to take an image that makes people stop in their tracks and say "wow!' is pretty much impossible in the digital format.  

Images need to be given life and it is the photographers that do this best that rise to the top of the pyramid. 

Blue hour at Badwater Basin. It has been a long while since I took a photograph pre dawn.

Day two. 

The overnight thought process led me to one logical conclusion. I had to spend time at the basin. I could return to Death Valley every year for a decade and not witness conditions like these. I had to maximise this small window of opportunity. Parking up at the side of the road, a 1/4 mile from the view point, I headed down to the shore line to see what would happen. The first moment of note was finding myself getting the camera out for blue hour. This is something I would not be doing under normal circumstances but as will become apparent in future instalments, and for a reason that I have still not fathomed, it became a staple of my time in America.  Photography is all about shape and as the sky transitioned from darkness to daylight, I found myself looking at the unique shore line. The snow covered mountains and salt laden foreground were the norm now having been there 24 hours so probably are not worth mentioning. 

Although everything was new to me, I knew that I had to make the most of the unique conditions that were present. I may never get another opportunity like this.

The morning itself was reasonably still. Unlike the day before, the sparse cloud cover that was lingering during the blue hour quickly gave way to clear skies. The transition from trying to capture epic images to enjoying the epic landscape was rather rapid. I had soon packed up and had started wandering around. By this point, a few visitors had begun to arrive  into the area. With a slightly more documentary mindset, I set about trying to capture a few images for the purposes of prosperity and documention. 

Tourists admiring the unique conditions during sunrise at Badwater basin, Death Valley national Park

The atmosphere was one of serenity. Water and reflections have a habit of calming the senses and slowing everything down. With the sun now firmly established in the sky, it was time to leave. My next area of interest was a small area of washes a few miles down the road. I had passed them a few times by now and fancied poking my nose in to have a look. It is a landscape far removed from the ones that I had photographed so far and I was intrigued as to what I may find. 

The images above are meant to serve as an illustration of the area that I was covering. The walk from the car was over a baron area of rock and boulder debris as depicted in the first image. It was one of those walks where after 20 minutes, the rock face was just as far away as it was when you started walking but looking backwards, the car was now a dot in the landscape. The best bit of the walk for me though was the sound. With no ambient noise, the crunching of the stone under the feet was amplified. I found it as therapeutic as the morning chorus of bird song back home. 

Over the next few hours, I worked on a few areas but never really created anything that I was truly happy with. That said, from a documentary perspective I think I achieved my goals. The early morning light was behind the mountain range so I was relying on reflected light for illumination. In hindsight, dusk would have been a better time but that is the beauty of exploration. I did have fun playing around with the image below. It is symbolic of the terrain that I was walking across and is a good illustration of the varied geological elements to be found in the landscape at Death Valley. 

I was looking for a scene that showcased the differing geological elements at Death Valley.

Another of the abundent features of Death Valley is the mud. More importantly, the cracked mud. It is not only a staple part of the landscape but the range in textures and patterns  to be found is bountiful for those that are interested in creating images from it. From my first walk into Desolation canyon where I discovered small elements of cracked mud that glistened like fresh toffee, to the wonderings amongst the sand dunes the previous evening with the hard baked mud patterns found in the dune's depressions, I was aware that at some point, I had to capture an image or two during the remaining time that I was in Death Valley. As with hunting leaf litter in the woodlands back home, I have a complex and convoluted process of decision making when it comes to scenes like these. I mostly just walk around until I see something that I like, then I photograph it. It was during the walk back to the car that I saw something that I liked. 

Drying mud and the patterns that the drying process creates are ever present across Death Valley

As photographers, we all have an attachment to our images and this can sometimes cloud our judgement on it's execution. On a personal level, this image to me is representative of Death Valley. It is a harsh, unforgiving landscape that has claimed many lives over the years. It is also one of extreme wonder and intrigue.

As a side note, human fatalities in Death valley come rarely from Rattlesnakes or Scorpions but through road traffic accidents and/or the affects of the heat. The mantra of "Carry a gallon of water and make sure that you drink it!" is to be found on every notice board. It is the harshness that I tried to convey in this image and is probably why I was drawn to it in the first place. 

By the point that I captured the photograph above, I had been out and about for about six hours. The decision was made to head back for dinner, grab another much needed shower and to get ready for an afternoon back at the Mesquite sand dunes.

The plan after the rest was to drive to a spot to the east of the dunes and enter from there. The theory was that in doing so, I could avoid the crowds and the human impact (read footprints) as best as I could. 

Mesquite sand dunes, Death Valley National park

Now! I do not know if I mentioned it before, but I am from the West Midlands in the United Kingdom. My knowledge of desert environments is limited and by limited, I mean that all 100% of my knowledge was obtained from reading Bravo Two Zero. This is a story about an ill fated SAS patrol into the Iraqi desert. The main lesson to take away from an environmental view point, was the false assumption that because it was the desert, it would be hot. As a result, the patrol were not prepared for the freezing temperatures that they encountered.

Using my extensive knowledge of desert conditions during winter, I made sure that in my carryall for the trip were two pairs of gloves, two woolly hats, two jackets of varying thicknesses and 3 sets of base layers. I was going to the desert in winter and I was not going to make the same mistake. 

Wandering across the Mesquite sand dunes at 14:00 on a late February afternoon, the sun blazing on my skin and sweat running down my back, I couldn't help but thinking that it was not as cold as I had envisaged. In fact, one might suggest that a better use of my luggage space would have been the allocation of room for some sun tan lotion and cap to protect my head and eyes. 

Here I was though, traversing a 14 square mile area of desert wilderness. A man that had travelled nearly 7000 miles to visit literally the hottest place on earth and for some reason thought that when he got there, it would be cold. 

I am nothing if not kinesthetic in my learning. 

Sand patterns, Mesquite sand dunes

I spent the two hours on the dunes before fatigue and jet lag once again started to take it's toll. Struggling to find an image that I wanted to sit on until sunset, I decided to leave and relocate to the busier area of the dunes. The higher elevations and the sweeping patterns may offer up something. Besides, I had also found some animal bones the day before and had spent the last 24 hours regretting not photographing them. A second opportunity would be welcome.

As with the day before, I was not feeling it. I arrived too late to spend any quality time finding something that I liked and still hot and uncomfortable from a day in the heat, the enthusiasm was also waning a little. I found my animal bones (see the top of the article) and captured an image looking across the dunes before retiring back to the hotel for an early night. 

The evening was once again one of reflection. I had learned a lot about Death Valley over the previous two days. I had dedicated my time to the area between Badwater Basin and the sand dunes. A lot of the roads in the park were actually closed, still suffering from the affects of a hurricane that passed through in late 2023. That had hindered any desire to get up into the mountains.

The shear scale of the park was also starting to dawn on me. The alluvial fans flowing out of nearly every wash screamed out for exploration and I had made a conscious decision to not even attempt the area to the north of the sand dunes. I had learned from my early forays into Scotland that by trying to do everything, you actually end up doing nothing. This is something that I have been aware of for a long time and is my antidote to temptation.

In reality, I could have walked every day for six months in Death Valley national park and not covered the same piece of ground twice. In a way, the vastness assisted in giving me more focus for the next day.

I was going to return to the basin for sunrise. There was a path leading down to the flats in an area known as the "Devil's Golf Course". I did not know what to expect, but from driving past it on a few occasions and seeing the water levels from a distance, I assumed that that would be a good starting point. I had also made the decision to finish the trip back on the sand dunes. This time I was going to give myself a few hours to meander and find a subject that light permitting would give me a hero image to go home with. In the middle, who knows where I would go but I would find something. 

Devil’s golf course. This was not what i was expecting when I set off in the dark.

Day three. 

On the Bortle scale, Death Valley is measured as a 1. The night sky is truly incredible here and the drive out to the Devil's Golf Course is as mesmerising at night as it is in the daylight. Parking the car, and after 20 plus minutes of walking in the darkness, my journey onto the plains was abruptly halted . The road had finished at a turning point.

At the time I was a little devastated. The expanse in front of me was remarkable but the photographer inside of me was not overly impressed. Part of this was due to the disconnect with the landscape in front of me and the vision that I had in my brain, and also at myself for not really doing the preparatory study that would surely have made what I am now discovering obvious. For the record, I never really do any preparatory studies but at times like these, I like to use it as a good stick to beat myself with. 

The sun was now beginning to rise and there was not enough time to relocate. A few deep breaths and a moment of rationalising the situation calmed me down.

I was in Death Valley. The matriarch had her space and if I had had an alcoholic drink on me, I would have offered up a libation to Hermes. Before me was the most incredible diverse and expansive landscape.  Rich calcium and mineral deposits set against the omnipresent backdrop of the Panamint Mountain range. I reminded myself the photographs are a bi product of the experience and not the other way around.  It was time to wind my neck in and appreciate what I had.

There was a light cloud cover in the sky which diffused the light somewhat and after a short while reflected some great pre sunrise colour onto the landscape. The air quality allowed for some nice contrast in the mountain range which in turn gave me an opportunity to capture an image that showcased not only the mineral deposits, but also of the alluvial fans that spread down from the mountains. 

Enjoying the sunrise, and having made something of the morning, I decided on a meander back to the car. 

Fate as we all know works in mysterious ways. To reuse a quote that was uttered to me by a great photographer many years ago, "You will not find anything if you do not look!"(I also remember other phrases that have been uttered to me in the past such as "Where is the shape?' and "Who ate all the crisps?" The last one may not have been a quote from a great photographer). 

The lack of preparatory study that I was beating myself up for 20 minutes earlier was about to go through a redemption arc tighter than Kylo Ren's in The Rise of Skywalker. 

One of the reasons that I do not plan much, or anything at all is because over the years, I have found it to be more of a hinderance to productivity than offering any great benefit. I am not very good at pre-visualisation and instead often rely on the weather forecast to guide my choice of location rather than rely on my own predilections. Once at a location, it is then a practise of observation.  The light will dictate nearly 100% where it is in the landscape that I go and what it is that I look for. This may be a throwback to the days of wedding photography where I became very comfortable with and subsequently enjoyed the process of figuring out the lighting on any given day or location. 

If I had planned this mornings session, I would never have chosen to visit the location that I chose. The fact that I did is why I ended up with the image below. 

There were some small areas of pooled water on the landscape. It was one of these that offered up a perfect pre dawn reflection of the spit of land jutting out into the basin. The panoramic format suited it perfectly and I ended up walking away with an image that I suspect is truly unique to Death Valley National Park. 

I would never have captured this image if I had read about the location before hand.

The morning as you can imagine ended on a bit of a high and the walk back to the car was one of accomplishment. The image was a little more abstract than my usual preference. Maybe the departure from the long standing projects that I have been undertaking in the UK had given me a bit of freedom from the self imposed conformity that I normally operate in. Either way, I was pleased. 

Next up was another area of washes, this time a little closer to the hotel. Checkout was at 12:00 and I still had to get back and collect my things at some point. The washes did not really produce although the walk out to them did. Since my arrival two days prior I had wanted to capture an image that really show cased the sparse and expansive nature of Death Valley. This image below is undoubtedly my personal favourite from the entire trip. It is the kind of image that I had wanted to photograph ever since the sun came out on the drive across the desert and to execute it really put the icing on the mornings efforts. 

The real testimony to any image is it's longevity. It is over four weeks since I captured this image and I still have a great desire to see it in print which I will hopefully do shortly. 

This image satisfied my desire to capture an image that truly reflected the landscape

An hour at the hotel to shower, collect my things and checkout was followed by lunch in the canteen. I had an entire evening and a long drive back to Southern California ahead of me. I was going to need all the energy I could muster. Dominating my thought process now was sunset at the Mesquite sand dunes. With five hours still standing between myself and my date with destiny, and with all my belongings stowed away safely in the car, I took myself off on an exploratory drive. I headed westwards past the dunes and to where the road climbed high into the hills. The few dirt roads that actually went into the hills were all closed and after reaching the summit and watching the now low fuel gauge start to creak, I was soon heading back down the way I had come. Having earlier passed a signpost for Mosaic canyon which is located near the village of Stovepipe Wells, and with my options limited, the decision was made to fill up with Gasoline (it's what the Americans call petrol), then head up the dirt track and see what it was all about.

The usual signs about drinking water and being mindful for snakes and scorpions were neatly placed in the car park and after some brief reading, I set off on what is clearly a very popular trail. 

Walls of marble, Mosaic Canyon

The canyon soon narrowed and I found myself climbing through what I now understand to be Noonday Dolomite. The rock in this area is over seven hundred million years old. The tectonic activity in the area has uplifted the entire canyon and exposed from the ground the incredible dolomites and marbles that we can see today. 

If anyone wishes to read more about the formation of Death Valley then I can recommend THIS article. 

The smooth and delightfully curved rock soon gave way to walls of marble. The reflected light was intense and enough to make me stop and capture the image above. After that it was into the main body of the canyon and beyond. 

The main body of Mosaic canyon, Death Valley National Park

A few hours meandering around and it was soon time for the last hurrah before heading back. I had parked the car a few hundred meters down the road from the main car park at the Mesquite dunes. This was already full which was to be expected. February is the busiest time of year in Death Valley due to obvious issues with the heat during the summer.

The weather had been mostly overcast all day which had taken the edge off the heat. After suffering a little bit the day before, I had decided to do absolutely nothing about it and was still without adequate protection from the sun. It was on the wain now though and with just under two hours left until sunset, it would only be getting cooler.

I had made the decision to photograph the big dunes. If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly and all that.  The plan was to push out along the western edge, get as far past the main body of tourists as possible and photograph looking back. If I had learned one thing about tourists from my years in Scotland, it is that if you walk for 15 minutes away from the car park, you will not see one (I appreciate that I am in fact a tourist and the irony is not lost on me. I also do not carry a mirror so technically I am also correct in that I will not see one).

The sun, if it made an appearance would be slightly off my back which is my normal preference for sunset images.

I can not claim at this point to have been overly optimistic. The cloud was quite low and relatively dense by this point. To quote Ben Horne in one of his videos "The cloud in Death Valley has a tendency to disappear right before sunset". This is not guaranteed but it was the hope that I clung to.

After some searching, I finally found an area that appealed to me. The big sweeping dome of a sand dune set against the mountains worked well. I was never going to get away from footprints in this area but I could mitigate for a lot of them and there was always photoshop for the rest. This was the last of the tall dunes before they shallowed out to the north. Setting out my stall and working on my composition was followed by a long period of waiting. This was the first time during the entire trip that I waited for the light. Back home, this only really happens when I am up high and I have climbed for a specific vantage point. It had been a great trip. The morning was still at the forefront of my mind and the walk into Mosaic canyon had been a pleasant surprise. Now I had two hours before sunset just to take it all in.  The time leading up to sunset was spent in an overcast haze. As sunset approached, gaps appeared on the horizon and if they remained, I was fully confident that the sun would drop into these.

A lifetime of being an Aston Villa fan has taught me to curb my expectation and instead of excitement, I just felt calm. There was no pressure. I do not know if the effort of the last four days was catching up on me but there was a lethargic malaise about my attitude. It could also have just been the massive sandwich I had demolished of course sending me into a food coma but we shall never know. 

The sun did in fact make an apperence in the most dramatic fashion.   

It was ten minutes before sunset and as soon as the first image was captured I knew that it was wrong. The light on the landscape changed everything and I moved quickly to salvage it. Changing the camera angle and widening the lens diminished the full frontal attention of the sand dune. It was designed like this and under soft light it looked reasonable set against the two triangular peaks that straddled it. With more dramatic light, it did not!  I opened up a bit of space and in turn created some three dimensionality. Doing this  also allowed me to incorporate the triangular shadow that you see into the image. I don't know if I mentioned it before but I do like geometric shapes in the landscape.  

Golden hour on the final day came through for me and capped a wonderful end to a great trip.

It was a great way to end my three days in Death Valley. The intensisty of the light quickly diminished although the colour stayed around for a period of time. I had no intention of waiting until after sunset as I had a long drive ahead of me. My satnav had also depicted the fastest route as being over the Panamint Range and along the valley on the far side. Part of me wanted to experience as much of this in day light as I could. 

The drive home left me reflecting on a great many things. I had left home with no plans and no expectations. A day of acclimatising to Death Valley led to the decision to embark on a mini project. The focus and clarity that this gave me is unquantifiable. Not only did it help me for this portion of the trip but also for the following week which I will document at a future time. 

I have long term goals at home and have been working consistently over a period of time to bring these to fruition. Having projects takes away doubt and regardless of the conditions, state of mind or fatigue, offer up a much needed and valid reason to leave the house. 

Applying that same reasoning on a smaller timescale was a bit of an epiphany that has only taken 15 years of photography to realise. It might also be because since 2017, I have focussed all of my attention predominantly on two parts of the UK. I have not been on a dedicated photography trip to somewhere that hasn't been part of my portfolio building since then. 

I have a few trips planned for the year and I fully intend to incorporate some sort of goal within the wider goal during those expeditions. Writing this blog has been enjoyable and It has allowed me to give words and meaning to my work that hashtags can not. I fully intend to produce a lot more in the future. 

Anyway, enough from me. I hope that you have found this interesting. I would love to hear your feedback if you have any. 

Until next time. 

Mark