Memories of a Recent Expedition

Ascending the Trail Beneath the Manly Beacon
Feb 27, 2015  Death Valley, California
(click in the image for a larger version)

I returned a couple of days ago from accompanying my daughter's 8th grade class (two classes, actually...52 students, plus at least half as many parents and teachers) on a week long camping trip to Death Valley. I came home a couple of days early to get ready for my trip to Iceland.

Although hiking with approximately 70 other people may not seem like the ideal hiking experience to many, when you're a parent, there is something inherently satisfying about accompanying your children, their classmates, teachers, and fellow parents on excursions such as these. As a photographer who was always lingering behind to take photos, I was often the designated "sweep", making sure that no kids were behind me. This role often meant that I was some distance behind the main group, and able to photograph them as they passed through the desert landscape. I was drawn to the interesting visual contrasts of the line of small dark figures against the immensity of the terrain they were crossing. This is the back side of the iconic rock monolith that is more well known when seen from the other side, viewed from Zabriskie Point.

I leave for Iceland tomorrow and will be there through the 20th, leading my Winter Landscapes, Ice Caves, & Auroras workshop. I'll post images here when I can, depending on acccess to wi-fi while we are roaming the countryside looking for grand landscapes, great light and those ephemeral, often elusive northern lights.