DEATH VALLEY: THE RACETRACK

At the end of January, I went for a week to Death Valley and spent some quiet time just going around and shooting in this incredible place. I came back energized, my brain and spirit full with memories of all the colours and shapes, the geology, the history and the nature. Of course, I also brought back a few GB of cards full with images which I slowly started processing, printing and adding to my artworks catalogue on VIERI BOTTAZZINI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY. To this end, I created a new DEATH VALLEY gallery, to which I will add new images as soon as they are ready. The first instalment of Death Valley pictures features one of the most iconic places in the park: the Racetrack, with its magically moving rocks.

Crossing paths, III

Arriving to the Racetrack, after a few hours driving on paved and rough unpaved roads, one is greeted by a perfectly flat dry lake bed. The pavement is cracked dry mud, and on it lay rocks of all shapes and sizes; and they move, leaving very clearly defined tracks behind. How and why, quite nobody knows; what we are left with is the mystery and the beauty of this phenomenon.

Indecision

With the sun still relatively high on the horizon, just by looking at the scene the choice of using B&W came natural to me. Shapes, shadows, tracks, trails, cracked mud, all called for a toned B&W to express the feeling and drama of the scene.

Heart of stone

The race

End of the track

Intersections, II

However, once the sun set, the pastel colours of the sky and of the Racetrack won again, and I left the plasticity of the toned B&W aside in favour of a cooler palette with a splash of warm skies.

Going away

Escapes

OK, this is it for the moment, you'll find many more images on my VIERI BOTTAZZINI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY website for your viewing pleasure.

Plug: if you like beautiful Fine Art Prints, printed masterfully in-house on Hahnemuhle Fine Art paper, want the security of my unique 6-POINTS WARRANTY and of my CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY, look no further: check out VIERI BOTTAZZINI FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY!

Now for the technical stuff (click to go to the related product page): all images shown here have been shot with a Nikon D800E equipped with the Nikon 14-24mm f/2.8 and the Nikon 35mm f/1.4G AF-S; a SB-910 Speedlight controlled via PocketWizards MiniTT1, FlexTT5 & AC3  has been used at times as well. For support I used a Gitzo tripod equipped with an Acratech GP-s ballhead; last, but certainly not least, I also used Singh-Ray filters, including a polarizer & various ND filters. Photos have been developed in Nikon Capture NX 2 and finished in Adobe Photoshop CS6.

Thank you for reading this far, and stay tuned for more!

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