“Fields of Desert Gold” — Fields of desert gold flowers and desert mountains, Death Valley.
Forgive me for sharing yet another photograph featuring fields of desert gold flowers, but they appeared in impressive numbers in Death Valley in late February. This is usually a dry and generally beige landscape (with some exceptions) but these flowers turned gravel fans and some hills yellow all over the valley.
The foreground flowers are obvious, but if you look carefully you’ll see more fields of the flowers further up the gentle slope leading to the base of the Black Mountains. The more distant color — yellow mixed with green — may seem subtle, but to those of us used to more typical Death Valley conditions it is striking.
Our late-February visit to Death Valley mostly focused on two subjects — Lake Manly and the wildflower bloom. At first I thought we might forego visiting the dunes at all on this trip, but on our last morning we decided to make an early-morning stop before we headed out of the park.
We arrived quite early — too early, actually. It was still dark when we got there, so we took our time getting our gear together before walking out into a quiet section of the dunes. The ight conditions were not promising, as the sky was rather overcast. While that wasn’t great for photographing the dunes themselves, the soft light was good for photographing small plants and other intimate subjects, like this brown-eyed evening primrose plant.
“Observation Deck, Evening” — The day’s last sunlight on an observation deck and trees.
This is a place I visit frequently, to the point that some individual trees start to feel like old friends. Among these trees there is a small observation platform, placed there for people who wish to view birds in the nearby ponds. I have stood on the platform many times!
I would not usually photograph this scene — though I have done so in thick fog on a few occasions. But on this evening the scene was a bit special. The warm late-day light was part of it, and the reflection was clear in the unusually still water.
“Dark Terrain, Evening Light” — Evening light and distant clouds above scattered desert plants growing on dark soil.
On this afternoon we decided to make a late run toward the northern end of Death Valley to photograph a particular feature. We perhaps got of to a slightly late start, but the light was still interesting as we approached. Nearby there is an area of very dark soil (which I assume may have volcanic origins) with very sparse plants. I’ve tried to photograph it before but with limited success. There was lovely cloud-dappled side light when we passed so we stopped to photograph.
The plan was for a brief stop before continuing to our planned destination while the light was good. But “the best laid plans” and all of that… Once I wandered into this spare landscape I found more and more interesting things to photograph — the plants on the rolling hills, tiny wildflowers just poking up through the soil, small playa-like areas of dried mud, and more. Before long we noticed the sun dropping behind nearby mountains… and by the time we got to our planned destination the light was fading.
