Death Valley wildflowers rising in major bloom

[David_Senesac]

As I expected in the earlier sub-forum thread, Death Valley Flash Flood, all that rain during the flood is now producing a major vegetation bloom with most of it coming from the enormous 2005 seed bed that has been laying there dormant for a decade. Glowing reports are that southern areas of the park from Artist Drive south to Jubilee Pass are exploding, especially with brown-eyed primrose just like it began in 2005. All the other usually species including desertgold are rapidly rising. That region is also the lowest zone of the park, much below sea level as it is the end of the Armagosa River basin. It is also not only the warmest part of the park in winter but also about the balmiest location in our Southwest deserts. Note the LA Times just broke a story on the bloom yesterday January 22 that is sure to generate a lot of interest.

An unknown after the flood was what parts of the park actually got unusual soaking rains because there is only a single weather station for park at Funeral Creek thus most of the park can only be assessed vaguely from Las Vegas weather radar. We did know mid-northern sections up by Scotties Castle had heavy rains because that was where most of the damage news played. But now the green plants rising in the south answers that question. I was also uncertain about when the bloom would rise and peak so tentatively thought mid February to mid March might be the peak. But the late October deluge set the clock running early and my suspicion is those annuals can rise at any time during the winter season after a delay from adequate rains. Of note, SR178/Jubilee Pass Road west of Shoshone is and apparently will remain closed as is under repairs. To the south of the dogleg, Harry Wade Road (dirt) is open but marginal for high wheel base 4WD. What that means is anyone driving south from Funeral Creek SR190 south down Badwater Road to the flower areas had better have a full tank of gas because it will be an out an back effort.

Am thinking of making the long 480 mile drive from the San Jose area by next weekend but uncertain whether to spend a whole week down there or not because other areas I have major plans for at higher elevations in the north regions of that national park that I'll need another week for will remain dormant for a couple more months. For more info on weather and road conditions Google "death valley morning report"

[Sirius Glass]

We plan of going to Death Valley early Spring this year.

[Nodda Duma]

I remember the floods of '05 (though I thought it was '06), which turned badwater into a shallow lake....large enough that kayakers were out on it. The desert flowers were beautiful then too. Even in Indian Wells Valley where we lived.

...and then the bugs swarmed in on the feast of flowers.

[Jim Noel]

Check the DV web site for a daily update on weather, roads and flowers.

[Sirius Glass]

I remember the floods of '05 (though I thought it was '06), which turned badwater into a shallow lake....large enough that kayakers were out on it. The desert flowers were beautiful then too. Even in Indian Wells Valley where we lived.

...and then the bugs swarmed in on the feast of flowers.

We went one weekend then and the park was empty, just the rangers and us. The floor of the valley was carpeted with yellow and purple flowers. Visibility 150+ miles with nice clouds. That weekend that Los Angeles Times ran a Travel Section article about how great is was and two weeks later fights were breaking out in the gas lines.

[Drew Wiley]

It's hard to predict because it might actually be late fall or early winter rains which trigger a particular kind of bloom. There are actually websites dedicated to
California drylands bloom predictions, with steady updating, covering not only true desert like Death Valley and Borrego, but places like the Carrizo plain and
Antelope Valley etc. I've been in Death Valley twice in my life where there was a thirty-mile long lake in it, in the last instance with people kayaking in it. I took
a shot or two from the hills above, and a number of 8x10 color negs of clay hills all tinged with green. Trying to get film to properly respond to the all those rare
mineral colors in DV is a very difficult task, quite different than capturing the secondary light of sunrises and sunsets like people generally do. The only thing that worked well was the old pre-E6 Agfachrome sheet film -grainy as hell, but responsive to hues that modern film somehow can't even see, including fluorescent lichen.

[Drew Wiley]

I might add that I prefer things slightly before the "peak" bloom. Not just to beat the crowds, but because the first crop of wildflowers tends to be lower to the ground and more cooperative in terms of depth of field with big cameras. On that last trip a decade or so ago, I left Death Valley and hit the Carizzo at itself the
beginning of the bloom, with vast intricate carpets of shallow flowers, well before all the tall growth.

[David_Senesac]

Just earlier than peak bloom also tends to be more nicely greener.

As a color landscape photographer, Provia 100F has excellent color fidelity with natural day light conditions. Unlike many who are focused on early or late warm light, my preference for exposing Provia in order to bring out the best natural rock color is usually an hour or three after sunrise or before sunset. Many types of rock transmit most saturated color when sunlight has enough altitude to be absorbed to short depths by rock surfaces, (since many minerals have translucent components) where white sunlight is hue filtered and then reflects out.

Flood washes just south of Golden Canyon March 2005.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_B/05-D-19.jpg

Same area a month later early April after desertgold rose up.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_B/05-E-20.jpg

And some paleozoic landscapes near Jubilee Pass March 2005 where the ancient rock has light pink and orange beige hues.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/images/print_05-D-34.html

The classic DVNP icon subject for colored rock is what one can see along Artist Drive. An icon subject shot millions of times. However there are better landscapes with those same colors in that zone the public never sees and for which tripods have probably never looked out on. Beyond that Amargosa Range geology, there are some other landscapes in the park to the north I will be visiting later in the winter that have colors people will be absolutely amazed no one had earlier brought to public light. And that is all because much like I found in Petrified Forest NP 3 years ago, there are vast areas almost no people ever venture into. As a DVNP ranger told me in 2005 after we talked about some of the unusual places I explored, "frankly most people are afraid to hike cross country in a waterless desert even in the winter season".

David
http://www.davidsenesac.com/2015_Trip_Chronicles/2015_Trip-Chronicles-0.html

[Sirius Glass]

We went one weekend then and the park was empty, just the rangers and us. The floor of the valley was carpeted with yellow and purple flowers. Visibility 150+ miles with nice clouds. That weekend that Los Angeles Times ran a Travel Section article about how great is was and two weeks later fights were breaking out in the gas lines.



Same area a month later early April after desertgold rose up.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/Gallery_B/05-E-20.jpg

And some paleozoic landscapes near Jubilee Pass March 2005 where the ancient rock has light pink and orange beige hues.

http://www.davidsenesac.com/images/print_05-D-34.html

Now that is what I was talking about! :cool:

[Drew Wiley]

Believe me, there are some places in the backcountry that have far more incredible colors than Artist's Drive, and Provia won't touch some of the mineral greens
worth a damn. There are all kinds of strange rare things in those rocks. It's not like taking pictures of flowers. But of course, there are many other exciting things that most E6 films will respond to. But there are some ethical issues involved. I'd hate to see someone stumble onto some of these sights that even the Park
Service wants to keep secret due to their sensitivity, and have someone plaster pictures all over the place with specific titles and damned GPS coordinates. But
if you don't carry a big canteen nobody will have anything to worry about anyway.

[David_Senesac]

Believe me, there are some places in the backcountry that have far more incredible colors than Artist's Drive, and Provia won't touch some of the mineral greens
worth a damn. There are all kinds of strange rare things in those rocks. It's not like taking pictures of flowers. But of course, there are many other exciting things that most E6 films will respond to. But there are some ethical issues involved. I'd hate to see someone stumble onto some of these sights that even the Park
Service wants to keep secret due to their sensitivity, and have someone plaster pictures all over the place with specific titles and damned GPS coordinates. But
if you don't carry a big canteen nobody will have anything to worry about anyway.

Agreed about color gamut film/sensor limitations in nature of course and that goes beyond rock. A important task for photographers is to find light for difficult subjects that can render within the range of film/sensors. And as you noted as someone well acquainted with minerals and geology that is not always possible particularly with close-ups. However film and image sensors given good lighting can display the vast majority of non-contrasty landscape colors with reasonable fidelity those judging color would be satisfied with.

And I'm glad you have that attitude about special places. Much the same as attitudes of tight-lipped fishermen for backcountry lakes with lunker fish. My website displays many fantastic places a lot of people would like to know where they were taken. But my audience will have to be content reading vague regional references. Otherwise..."Put your boots on, get outside making an effort exploring, then you too might just happen upon special places."

[Sirius Glass]

Drew, sometimes a polarizing filter will help bring out the mineral colors.

[Drew Wiley]

More likely a polarizer would either kill many of these hues or render them false. Iridescence, fluorescence, interference, all kinds of strange things going on.
In the latter case (interference), sometimes just changing the angle of view a few degrees utterly changes the hue. Manganese deposits, desert varnish etc - you
look at it straight on and its basic rusty brown. Twenty degrees off its can be electric blue or purple, just like the wing of a Morpho butterfly. If I showed a few of
these prints to somebody today they'd accuse to of Fauxtoshopping them. The only problem with that idea is that the hues are actually more intense, and everything else in the scene looks credible. Printed on something like Cibachrome, it all becomes downright iridescent, just like the actual subject from the correct angle. Well, quite a few films can handle that; but Death Valley is quite a gem and mineral museum in its own right, with many unusual challenges.
Sometimes the colors can be almost unbelievable, yet in a very exotic sense, and not like something you can cook up with inkjet. But most of that terrain I'll
have to enjoy in my memories. I'm not much of a hot weather hiker anymore.

[Sirius Glass]

I will stick to the Kodak Ultra Color until I use up the stock that I have in the freezer.

[Drew Wiley]

Got a film stretcher to turn that into 4x5? I haven't been there since my 8x10 Portra 160VC days, but do have some recent shots on Ektar from parts of NV not too far away. I'm optimistic, but with no time to print color anytime soon.

[Sirius Glass]

I have Kodak Ultra Color in 135 and 120; I have Kodak Vivid Color in 4"x5".

[Drew Wiley]

160VC was a good stepping stone for me. I worked out a lot of color temp issues and darkroom tweaks with that last DV shoot, hung a number of 30x40's in a corporate installation, all very nicely framed, and probably much better than average for this kind of decor application, but other than a couple of them, a bit too picture-bookish and not something I'd keep for myself. A serious learning curve, which I can continue monitoring for permanence under less than ideal display conditions. I expect better results from Ektar, in which case I have printed a number of exotic warm neutrals from volcanic areas in Hawaii, but not from SoCal
deserts yet. But there are still issues. No film is perfect, and mere saturation is no substitute for overall neutrality. I am bagging certain hues I never could get
right with any E6 film, but of course am sacrificing others. I haven't resorted to the "nuclear option" of dye transfer printing chromes yet; but even RA4 can be
tamed for a high level of chrome printing if b&w tricolor separation negs are made first, something I am equipping for right now. I expect distinctly better results
than either the inkjet or interneg routes. But that is more of a retirement hobby sort of exercise. Most of my color printing will just be advanced RA4 tweaks right from color neg film originals. It's all fun anyway, even the mistakes along the way.

[David_Senesac]

http://www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Trip_Chronicles/PB02535w.jpg

Above not LF but small digi info pic of my dispersed camp site location for 3 nights.

After returning from a Death Valley road trip February 12>16 has taken 3 on and off weeks of work post processing images then coding the html feature for my website. Numbers of large images with he largest 18700 by 9000 pixels. Although I had my 4x5 Wisner Expedition along with Provia loaded into a bag full of holders, the time when the breeze was calm enough even for a digital camera was rather limited so just did not make time for it. But you folks can see what the park has been looking like on link below. The road trip was February 12>16 that is on Page 2 and Page 3 of this Contents page:

http://www.davidsenesac.com/2016_Trip_Chronicles/2016_Trip-Chronicles-0.html

Will be returning sometime between the end of this month of March and mid April dependent on how all this current stormy weather plays out. Much of my work on that trip will not be about the vegetation but rather rock so won't have to worry about them bobbing about in the wind and in fact the usual slow shutter speeds I'm used to at f32 ought to be fine.

David

[Sirius Glass]

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/el-nino-rains-cause-rare-explosion-of-color-in-death-valley/

[richardman]

Speaking of colors...

http://richardmanphoto.com/PICS/20160305-Scanned-1492.jpg

I wish you can see this one large. The tonal and Color range is unreal, thanks to #kodakportra #largeformatfilm. #sunrise light with this sublime quality only lasts but about tens of seconds. Glad I was there #filmisnotdead #deathvalleynationalpark #Grammasters3 #chamonixviewcamera #zabriskiepoint

[Drew Wiley]

That's such a magical spot. But it sure does bring back memories. I remember a couple attempts climbing the clay face of Manley Beacon in the background. It was like trying to climb a bar of soap. So down I went! Fortunately, the bottom tapers just like a playground slide. I must have been nuts, but you know kids! The backside has been straddled to get to the top. I suppose that is spooky enough in its own right. As I recall, that pointy hill is about 500 feet high.