POTD: Ubehebe #3

Ubehebe #3
Death Valley, National Park, California
2017

Even more mind-boggling than the view of this convoluted landscape is the thought of having to walk across it in the summer heat, in a hurry, before your water ran out and the 100+ degree temperatures fried you to a crisp.

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POTD: Ubehebe #2

Ubehebe #2
Death Valley National Park, California
2017

A while back I posted a shot of a raven at the Great Wall of China (here), making reference to the Game of Thrones. Here is another raven Watcher on the Wall, this time the rim of the wall of the Ubehebe crater.

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Maturango Reception

I had a great time at the reception for my exhibit at the Maturango Museum on Friday. I knew it was going to be a good day when I was sitting at an intersection waiting for the light to change and saw my name up in lights across the street. That’s a first for me! (Click on the video below to see a short video clip of the scrolling message on the display.)

A very engaged group of about 35 people showed up for the reception and I enjoyed the conversations and discussion, especially those following my artist’s talk titled “The Importance of Vision, Inspiration, and Theft in the Creative Process.” Here’s a photo of some of the audience. They are all smiling either because they enjoyed the talk or because it was finally over!

All in all it was a great evening and I’m thankful to Andrea Pelcher and the other staff at the museum for providing the opportunity to exhibit and all the work they did for the reception, and of course to everyone who showed up.

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POTD: Ubehebe #1

Ubehebe #1
Death Valley National Park, California
2017

Early one morning, I spent a couple of hours hiking the rim of the Ubehebe Crater in the northern part of Death Valley. I only walked about two miles total but the mostly dark volcanic ground combined with various contrasting plants and soils, aided with the long shadows from the low morning sun, made for some great photography. It seems like I often only walked a few steps before I saw something else worthy of pointing my camera at. That slowed my progress on the hike considerably.

This particular image shows the interior slope of the 600′ deep crater where it meets the flat, dried crater floor. The very light color of the crater floor was, I presume, alkaline material left on the ground after rainwater runoff collected there and then evaporated.

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POTD: Death March

Death March
Badwater Basin, California
2017

When in Death Valley, a pilgrimage out into Badwater Basin is almost obligatory because in the middle of it lies the lowest point in North America, some 279 feet below sea level. The day I was there it was a balmy 70 degrees, so it was pleasant walking. In fact to get the absolute lowest point would have involved some wading as recent rain had left a fairly large pool of water in the middle of the basin. I imagined though, trying the same trip in the 130+ degree temperatures they sometimes get there in the summer. That really could become a death march.

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POTD: Roadkill View

Roadkill View
U.S. 6, Nevada
2017

I had been photographing along the side of the road for a good 10 or 15 minutes before I ventured out on the pavement and spent a minute or so getting this shot. Not a single vehicle went by in either direction the whole time. In fact I drove all the way from Ely to Tonopah, some 168 miles including several stops like this one, without overtaking or being overtaken by another vehicle going in my direction and only passing about a dozen vehicles going the other way. That’s my kind of highway.

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POTD: Hand Crank

Hand Crank
Ely, Nevada
2017

It looked like all sorts of interesting things would happen if I turned the hand crank, but I didn’t test that thought. Perhaps nothing at all would have happened given how old and rusted everything was.

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POTD: Lever and Chain

Lever and Chain
Ely, Nevada
2017

I stopped here in Ely last night on my way to Death Valley and eventually Ridgecrest, CA for my art exhibit opening. I was surprised that it’s as cold here as it has been recently up in Montana. I arrived just as the sun was going down so had a few minutes to photograph at the Northern Nevada Railroad yards before it got dark. This was part of the release mechanism for the storage bins on an old railroad car of some sort.

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