keyword pages:  1  2  >  
< 1 of 15 >
The Crazy Colors of Death Valley I had no idea Death Valley would be so full of colors! Of course, the HDR process takes the existing colors and really helps them to stand out… and, as everyone knows, that’s perfectly cool with me!I was close to this area back in college when I used to have a double-major in geophysics and computer-science. I ended up dropping the geo bit of it because of a fight with the professor, but I’ve always kept my fascination with rocks. I don’t know enough about everything I see… like, when I see this below, I have a few ideas on what probably made it like this, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it’s awesome… I’m glad for all the sulfur and iron in the area and its apparent randomness!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Milky Way over the Burning Bush I took this photo in Death Valley one evening. The bush is red and mysterious because of a bit or light-painting with my headlamp. My neck got a bit tired from multiple tries. That glow around it? I don’t really know… maybe a bit of the dust from the desert caught the red light. Either way, I like how everything looks all funky and zen.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Ancient Muds of Death Valley Death Valley is a pretty harsh place. It’s especially harsh if you happen to live your life as mud.I saw these kinds of cracked mudflats in many places, but this was one of my favorites. It was very close to some giant sand dunes. I’m hardly an expert on deserts and sand dunes and whatnot, but I was surprised that these were so close to endless miles of dunes…- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Burning Through the Deserts of Death Valley This was my first real experience in a proper desert. The thing that surprised me most was the blast of hot air that kept rushing into my face. I was only here in Death Valley for a few days, so I’m not exactly an expert in deserts. But, while I was there, a nonstop wind full of hot, wet, heat that was pounding into me. The “wet” part was the most interesting… it did not feel as dry as I expected.The other thing I noticed is that walking up these sand dunes is not as easy as it is in video games.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
An Endless Desert This was my first trip to a proper desert. It’s the kind of desert that I imagined after watching Lawrence of Arabia countless times (it’s one of my favorite movies). Getting up and down these dunes in the middle of a hot summer day is enough to make you collapse. I think I lost one liter of water per dune.After a while, I started to find it a little easier to walk around once I could better predict the hard parts and soft parts of the sand. But, by then, I had already made all my mistakes and my shoes were completely full of sand. Trudging around with 15 lb feet makes the effort across the dunes extra-special.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Polar Opposite Here is another photo from this mysterious part of Death Valley, where the rocks appear to move on their own accord. If you’d like to see the other photo I took of this place at midnight under the moon, just click on the “Death Valley” category under this post.In the distance there, you can see that tremendous, heavy black rock. It remains in the middle of the lakebed in that pronounced manner, like a giant iron ship that is using ancient magnets to direct rocks around the lakebed.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Painted Mountains of Death Valley I woke up on the final morning to go find this special area of Death Valley. I tried to get to things as early as possible before the heat came along. The middle of August is about the worst time to be in Death Valley, but it did do an excellent job of getting rid of the crowds for me!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Mysterious Rock of Wonder The day in Death Valley was about 115 F (46 C). It wasn’t a dry heat either… there has been a lot of humidity here and there is flash lightning in the day and night. This location here took a lot of time, effort, and 4×4 to find. I took five gallons of water, a map, and some warnings from the place that rented the jeep that this area was inaccessible because of recent road wash-outs from rivers. Well, they were right! So getting the 4×4 over and through the washed out rivers took many more hours than expected. I only suffered one minor injury when my head slammed into the rollbar during a clumsy maneuver. But after I finally found this place I’ve always wanted to visit, it was late afternoon with plenty of time to hike around before night fell.I look forward to your theories (from the boring to the surreal) of what makes these rocks move across the playa on their own!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the entire post over at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Dock in the Desert Here is a new photo from the most recent Burning Man.The playa is covered with endless artistic creations — every year new and fresh. This was a strange but inspired idea to build a dock that slowly rises out of the desert. It attracted all sorts of strange characters and activity.I didn’t take out my main camera too much because of the sand problem, but I did for this occasion. This was a standard 5-exposure HDR with some cleanup to fix the problem of movement between frames.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Crazy Colors of Death Valley


I had no idea Death Valley would be so full of colors! Of course, the HDR process takes the existing colors and really helps them to stand out… and, as everyone knows, that’s perfectly cool with me!

I was close to this area back in college when I used to have a double-major in geophysics and computer-science. I ended up dropping the geo bit of it because of a fight with the professor, but I’ve always kept my fascination with rocks. I don’t know enough about everything I see… like, when I see this below, I have a few ideas on what probably made it like this, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it’s awesome… I’m glad for all the sulfur and iron in the area and its apparent randomness!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(2439960244,'',XLarge,'',513,768);">The Crazy Colors of Death Valley I had no idea Death Valley would be so full of colors! Of course, the HDR process takes the existing colors and really helps them to stand out… and, as everyone knows, that’s perfectly cool with me!I was close to this area back in college when I used to have a double-major in geophysics and computer-science. I ended up dropping the geo bit of it because of a fight with the professor, but I’ve always kept my fascination with rocks. I don’t know enough about everything I see… like, when I see this below, I have a few ideas on what probably made it like this, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it’s awesome… I’m glad for all the sulfur and iron in the area and its apparent randomness!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

The Crazy Colors of Death Valley


I had no idea Death Valley would be so full of colors! Of course, the HDR process takes the existing colors and really helps them to stand out… and, as everyone knows, that’s perfectly cool with me!

I was close to this area back in college when I used to have a double-major in geophysics and computer-science. I ended up dropping the geo bit of it because of a fight with the professor, but I’ve always kept my fascination with rocks. I don’t know enough about everything I see… like, when I see this below, I have a few ideas on what probably made it like this, but I don’t know for sure. Either way, it’s awesome… I’m glad for all the sulfur and iron in the area and its apparent randomness!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.
keyword pages:  1  2  >  
< 1 of 15 >