The Open Road

I love these shots. I tend to wander to the middle of roads and shoot them whenever I can. 🙂

Gives me goosebumps when you think about these roads that meander through quiet places and disappear at the horizon line. Whispering for you to follow it. Wish I could… just start walking and see where it takes me.

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Into the Valley

Another shot from the Valley of Fire about an hour north of Las Vegas. Saturated the already red rocks a tad bit more to bring out that incredible color… also liked this view of the mountains in the distance. Truly an incredible place to shoot… Happy Friday, and enjoy your weekend!

Morning Silence

One of the many benefits of having this passion for photography is you seek out places that you don’t soon forget. This shot was taken right before you enter the Valley of Fire- it’s pure desert. From the tip of your toes to that distant horizon there is nothing, nada, as in, zero.

I remember standing in the Redwood Forest and closing my eyes and feeling “life” around you, you could smell it, hear it, it was almost overwhelming that feeling of living things surrounding you… everywhere.

This place was the direct opposite. It felt lonely. It felt desolate. It felt forgotten. And yet, there was a beauty to it that drew your eye to the colorless ground, the shrubs, the distant mountains and the rising sun.

Enjoy!

Sunburst at Sunrise

One of my favorite moments is when the sun makes its appearance over the horizon. The beginning of a new day is heralded by those spreading rays of light- golden, and brilliant, albeit only for a few moments before it overpowers everything else and the light turns to mush.

This was taken at Rainbow Vista in the Valley of Fire, thought it would be neat to capture that sunrise from this vantage point, with the desolate desert at my feet. Opened the aperture which allows for those “bursts” and rays of light to really be pronounced, and bracketed 5 frames to process this HDR image in post using Photomatix. I think sunrise and sunsets lend themselves to HDR very nicely, as they capture those details in the shadows- you just have to work it in post to reduce the “HDR-ness” of the image, make it more natural and reflect the scene as it was.

Good morning! Enjoy!

Morning Rises in the Valley of Fire

The Valley of Fire is a cool place (with an even cooler name!). It’s about an hour North of Las Vegas and is filled with some interesting shooting locations. This is by Rainbow Vista. A great place to watch the sun rise. I’ve got it on my list of places to “redo” when I get a chance, since this was my first time to the location and I wasn’t 100% sure what the hell I was doing or where I was going. 🙂

One of the really neat things are the sand waves created by the winds blowing through the rocky corridors. The grains pile up into thin strips, thick ribbons, and little dunes around the large rock formations. This ongoing and ever changing pattern caught my eye, so I got low to the ground and tried to find a location that captured the essence of the place- the red rocks, the sand waves, the scrubby trees clinging to whatever they could find to anchor their roots.

An amazing place that I can’t wait to revisit one day.

Enjoy!