Jeremy Pierce's photostream

Here's a hidden gem... Sycamore Canyon.

I've also heard it referred to as... "The Little Grand Canyon."

My wife and I camped out about a mile from the rim here on Easter Sunday. For a solid two days, we had the whole place to ourselves. Not a bad way to spend the Holiday...

This was the first time I had been out shooting since my trip to DVNP. And I haven't been out shooting since...

So... I'm sure my image posting is going to be pretty slow for awhile, unitl I can get out and explore a little bit.

*If you have any questions regarding location, technique, or equipment, feel free to ask

www.jeremypiercephotography.com

It's been pretty difficult deciding which images to post from the trip Matt and I took to Death Valley back in February.

And I've also been pretty slow at processing them...

I finally had a few days off work, in a row, so I figured a new image was due. One, every 2-3 weeks isn't too bad... Is it?

This was an awesome morning for photography... And was very rewarding watching the morning's first light slowly fade down the Panamint Range.

*If you have any questions regarding location, technique, or equipment, feel free to ask

www.jeremypiercephotography.com

I learned something while in the Valley of Death...

I'm not a fan of hiking up and down sand dunes...

As I eluded to in a few earlier posts, nice skies were just not in our favor this trip. So... I continued to focus on more abstract compositions.

As most of you probably can recognize... This shot came from the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes near Stovepipe Wells.

Matt and I arrived well before sunrise, in hopes of scouting out a location to shoot from. But... I learned quickly that it just doesn't work like that. In fact... It's pretty much impossible to know where to shoot for sunrise while photographing sand dunes. Unless you visit the same location 2 mornings in a row, and under the same weather conditions...

Our trip didn't allow for that.

It's a crap shoot... You have to be lucky.

Or... Be crazy good at running up and down sand dunes before the light changes.

And it changes fast... And I'm not good at running up and down sand dunes...

Again... It's a crap shoot... You just have to be lucky.

I found an hour or so after sunrise to be the perfect time to capture a few of these shots looking East. The sun position was NE out of frame and highlighted the ridge of a sand dune perfectly about 75 yards away. Any earlier, and I would have gotten some horrible lens flare. Any later, the shadow would not have lined up with the ridge where I wanted it.

I'm just about finished processing my shots from DV. I probably have 1 or 2 more that I will post and I'll move on to some different images. I wish I could say that I've been out shooting recently...

I can't.

In fact... I haven't shot a single frame since the DV trip.

O well.... Life happens I suppose.

I haven't seen any of Matt's shots from this particular morning. Keep an eye on his stream though... I'm sure they'll be killer.

*If you have any questions regarding location, technique, or equipment, feel free to ask

www.jeremypiercephotography.com

Since our trip out to the Racetrack was postponed... We ended up heading out to the Devil's Golf Course for sunset.

The salt formations here are pretty wild... We started by walking through an area that was almost knee high, then came across a relative flat area.

The flat area was pretty cool for 2 reasons...

First, It was much easier to set up a composition without scraping my clothes on the sharp edges of the taller salt formations.

And secondly, It was easier to incorporate some type of leading line into the foreground.

Even though we had some pretty good clouds that evening, the "epicness" we all search for, never showed up. There was some dappled light here and there, but it just didn't stick aroud too long.

This particular image is one of my favorites from the trip...

I feel it really shows off my style of shooting... Except for the fact, I didn't use a gard filter. I also really liked the way the light was hitting just the peaks along the Black Mountains which are part of the Amargosa Range. And by looking at the map, I believe the mountains further in the background are the Owlshead Mountains, which are part of the Panamint Range.

And if you head on over to Matt's stream, he just posted a killer shot of the Devil's Golf Course.

*If you have any questions regarding location, technique, or equipment, feel free to ask.

www.jeremypiercephotography.com

Matt and I knew where we were headed and the driving time involved, but figured a little reassurance from the Ranger's station in Stovepipe Wells wouldn't hurt. Much...

For lack of better words... The trip was, "ill-advised", due to a winter storm hitting higher up in the mountains with a strong chance of rain/snow. I'm pretty sure the Ranger was just playing it safe, but since neither of us had ever been there before... We figured we would play it safe as well.

We stayed below sea level...

That left the rest of the day open, and both of us scrambling to find a place to shoot at sunset. We talked over a few different ideas, and then we remembered an area we passed earlier that morning, while scouting near Badwater.

We figured if the storm rolled in, like it was forecasted to, we would have just as muck luck at the Devil's Golf Course as we would anywhere else. That area was pretty open and would afford views in any direction, should there be a light show at sunset.

I haven't got around to processing any of those images yet, but Matt has. Check out his image here.

I tell ya... Putting off shooting The Racetrack another day, only excited us more. It's funny... We were both pretty giddy all the next morning as we headed North to the Racetrack.

Unfortunately... The giddiness stopped as soon as we passed Ubehebe Crater. We hit the 25 mile (one-way) washboard road... And it wasn't fun anymore.

I have to say though... The Racetrack is well worth the bone-jarring, and teeth-rattling drive to get there.

It's an awesome experience...

*If you have any questions regarding location, technique, or equipment, feel free to ask

www.jeremypiercephotography.com