I’ve been playing around with some older RAW files lately, and remembered a series of shots from my February Death Valley trip. When we arrived in the park, we immediately walked a short distance out into Badwater (Lake Manly when it has water in it), just to admire the scene. Afterwards, we drove up the road, turned on to the West Side Road and were blown away by the amount of water present. Overall, the light was drab, and I wasn’t too excited about the photos I was getting.
However, I’ve been able to resurrect some of these “blah” images as black and white photos–the clouds were present, the contrast and tonality was present, why not make a black and white image? To that end, here are a couple of images.
Panamint Mountains, Late Afternoon, February 2010
Stormy Skies, February 2010
The lesson here is simple: like these images AND in Death Valley, things may appear bleak on the surface, but if you’re willing to take the time and dig into them, you can find beauty just about anywhere.
To see all of my Death Valley images, click here.
The second one especially came out great. The depth and tonality are striking.
Those are both great as black and whites in my opinion. Moody and dark, which is sought after these days.
Many thanks, PJ and David. I thought these photos–the second one especially–were very powerful and moody.