Death Valley and California Poppies
After my Death Valley detour in April’s blog, I wanted to visit the park again to photograph Lake Manly before it disappeared for good. I returned to the park in early March as the weather started to warm up.
It seemed like everyone had the same idea I did, as the park felt noticeably more crowded compared to my previous visit. Finding moments of peace proved to be a quite a challenge. I struggled to find still scenes without people. Despite that, I still managed to create a few memorable photographs. This time, the winds were negligible, allowing for some still reflections on the surface of Lake Manly.
Work obligations over the next two months prevented me from venturing on any more trips. Instead, I photographed closer to home. Wildflower season had just begun in the Bay Area. This year, I focused almost exclusively on looking for California poppies in the foothills of Mount Diablo. I had tried to photograph them last year, without much success.
Many of the scenes I found were high contrast, directly facing the sun, and well beyond the capacity of the films I use. For all my wildflower photos, I leaned on my Nikon Z7. I’m hard pressed to imagine many of these scenes turning out as well on film as they did here.
Now that work has calmed down, I’m excited to venture back out to the Sierra Nevada as summer approaches. Next month, I’ll be sharing some of my work from a few days in the Sierra and the White Mountains.