Just went to Death Valley this weekend, for a 48 hour, whirlwind trip. Also just got my first, ever, red filter for B&W shots, a Tiffen #29 red, to go over a very dirty (and soon to be replaced) circular polarizer.
So, then:
Very possibly the most astoundingly lucky thing I've ever shot.
Zabriske Point, Death Valley. Just after mid day. Light so unbelievably, insanely bright, I couldn't see my viewfinder.
I saw a runner, out in the middle of effing NOWHERE, running down a ridge, going to nowhere. Headed down from on high to what's known as The Golden Valley. I had no idea if I could capture the pic, but put my hands around my forehead and my EVF and hoped it would turn out well.
Badwater Basin. Famous. Shot so often that I didn't know how to get something interesting. Big name talent making extraordinary shots of places in the basin I don't know yet.
So I got what amounts to the isolation of other photographers trying to capture what my little light sensor couldn't.
Sunset creeping in, taken from the same place as above, somewhat later, looking NE from waaaay out in the salt pan.
The Mesquite Dunes, shot rather too late in the morning, groups of photographers everywhere, and I mean everywhere, except when one walks a good 2 miles straight out into the middle of the dunes. Footprints from earlier days, animal tracks, gorgeous nevertheless.
One from the middle of the Mesquite Dunes, where no one had stepped for a few days. Dead trees, coming out of the sand.
Thanks for looking, folks, I am humbled by the massive, truly massive nature of Death Valley and it's immediate surroundings.
Huge beyond huge, and I thought I'd been everywhere worth seeing in CA.
Newp.
Oh, yeah: one in color, as well.