IMPORTANT: Read on for an important update to this April Fool’s Day 2011 that I have posted near the bottom of the page below the original story.
From a quick iPhone snap as I drove through this part of Death Valley a few days ago. Sometimes it seems like only thing higher than the temperature in Death Valley is the price of gasoline. I tell you, after putting 30 gallons in the Hummer, it will be a long time before I can afford to take another vacation!
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NOTE: This photo apparently “went viral” recently, on disinformation posts on social media claiming that this is the price of gas in California today. LOL. I have a bit more to say about that below in an “update” and in the comments section.
If you enjoyed this (hint!) April Fool’s Day post, you might enjoy these, too:
And, of course, the rest of this site features years of my photography, along with articles and stories on photography-related subjects.
And, more fun with Photoshop…
UPDATE 3/10/22: Because the image in this post was ripped off by right wing disinformation posters on social media and used as a fake news meme… I need to give readers the full truth. (Sadly, it does kind of wreck the original April Fool’s joke, but here we are.)
In early 2011 I was in Death Valley to make photographs. I passed by this gas station at Furnace Creek, which is known for having some of the highest posted gas prices in the country. (Smart visitors get their gas for much less at nearby Stovepipe Wells or to the east of the park in Nevada, with it is way cheaper.)
For several years I had been doing an April Fool’s Day post with some preposterous story. (See links in the story below.) It occurred to me that I could do one this year (2011) by photographing the sign and Photoshopping preposterous gas prices in place of the actual prices. I don’t actually recall the real prices at the time, but they were probably in the $3-something range. So I pulled over and made an iPhone snap of the sign. (Some wonder: Did I buy gas here. Are you crazy! No! See the previous paragraph. And, no, I do not own a Hummer. ;-)
Conveniently, the “6” on the price for “Supreme” was easy to invert, so I used it to create a “9” that I photoshopped in for the dollar amount. And on April Fool’s Day 2011 I posted the image and the text you’ll find lower on this page. There were several obvious hints in the story about its April Fool’s Day trickery, though I did manage to fool a few folks.
That was the last I thought of it until (I think) 2019 when someone contacted me to point out that the image had been ripped off and posted by alt-right conspiracy theory disinformation social media accounts as “evidence” of the outrageous prices for gas in California. Yeah, our prices are higher than the national average, but not this high! Several media outlets contacted me about it, and if you look around you might still be able to find a few of the stories in which I debunked the claim and pointed to this old post.
So, if you see this “photograph” somewhere online along with claims about the high prices of gas, let them know it is fake and point them here for the truth. ;-)
And now… since this has actually become a media story* I probably need to clarify some things.
A social media entity used this photograph as “proof” of the high prices of California gas. Seriously. One media representative who contacted me said, “Your photo has gone viral!” ;-)
Here we go:
I have photographed in Death Valley National Park annually for about 15 years each winter and/or spring. Sometime before April, 1 2011 — I believe it was in March of that year — I was in the park to photograph when I got the idea of creating an April Fool’s Day post based on the gas prices at the Furnace Creek gas station, a place notorious for regularly having the highest prices on gas in this part of the state. (Even back then the prices were typically $1/gallon more than other gas stations within a one hour drive.)
So I made an informal iPhone snap of the signs at this Furnace Creek gas station with the plan of photoshopping the numbers to produce what at that time would have been obviously preposterous prices, and then to share the picture in this April 1, 2011 April Fool’s Day post. (The photoshop work was pretty simple – copying and pasting different parts of the existing sign to create the pricing shown here.)
The post went up on April 1, 2011. It actually fooled a few people. You might enjoy the comments that are still here.
I do not believe that I have the original, un-doctored photo any more. As I wrote, it was just a casual iPhone snap. Someone asked what the actual prices were on the sign before I altered them. I don’t recall for sure. I believe that I only replaced the first digit of the original prices with the “9,” leaving the remaining numbers intact. I’m positive the price was way less than $5/gallon, and pretty sure it was less than $4/gallon, so my best guess is that the real prices are found by replacing the “9” with “3” or “2.” (Remember that this was eight years ago!)
So, this isn’t evidence of anything other than my sense of humor and my photoshop skills.
What are the actual prices of gas at typical gas stations in California today? My last fill-up this week (2019) in the San Francisco Bay Area cost me $3.89/gallon. I was in Death Valley twice this year, at the beginning of March 2019 and then again at the start of April 2019. I paid $3.19/gallon for regular gas at the Stovepipe Wells gas station in the park several times. At the station in the “photo” at Furnace Creek, I think that the typical “all the traffic will bear” price was $5.01.
It kind of wrecks the April Fool’s Day joke to have to explain it… but at least it is and eight year old joke!
Dan
Because it came up today — a long story that I won’t recount here — the reason that this was posted on April 1st, 2011… should be obvious. And several of you did catch on.
To the person whose (mis)use of the photo in 2011 prompted this update: “There’s a fool born every minute…”
Aw, is today April 1? I forgot… ;-)
I can’t believe I bought this prank hook, line, and sinker this morning and I only figured it out after I shut my computer down and went to work and realized, hey, this is April fools day! And I played. Yikes, And when I look the numbers, you can see where the 9 has a different shade to it. Even still, great job Dan! You got me! :-)
I hear that the price will go way down after April 1st…
Shoot, it was only $7.50 just 2 weeks ago!
Yikes!!!! Better not go there, bad enough here in North Eastern Oregon. $3.76
I just got back from lunch with my wife Nancy. She took today off of work from the college and since she knows Dan, she told me that, yes, this was a April’s Fool joke knowing Dan. I was thinking about cancelling my DV trip in a week or so but not now…good one Dan.
Oh, Edie – you didn’t hear that I’ve replaced my Suburban with a Hummer? They are really cheap right now…
The major clue: “…my Hummer”. April Fools!
Ugh. I can’t figure out if this another one of Dan’s April Fool’s posts or if it’s really that expensive since it is plausible. Argh!
This is getting ridiculous, where is this station in Death valley? I need to make sure I fill up somewhere out side the park before entering. I don’t think this is Stovepipe is it??? Glad I stepped down in SUV size last year but this still doesn’t make it any easier. My heart sunk when I saw this post…
I think my next car will be a Prius! Yikes!!!