Trips & Travel – Alexander S. Kunz Photography

Middle Basin Morning

2023/01/23

A sliver of warm morning sunlight falls onto the vast expansive of Middle Basin, with an ephemarl rivulet winding through the coarse desert landscape. Interesting cloud shapes hang over the snow-covered peaks of the Panamint Range. Death Valley National Park, California; January 2023.

After the sunrise at Zabriskie Point we went on to hike Desolation Canyon, which is just a short distance away. As mentioned in the previous post, clouds began to move in quickly. We drove down from Zabriskie Point, made our left turn from CA-190 onto Badwater Road, and wow! A beautiful stripe of warm morning light illuminated the landscape.

Sunrise at Zabriskie Point

2023/01/222023/01/22

Morning light begins to illuminate Manly Beacon and the badlands; two hikers have made their way up onto a ridge in the hills (center left). Photographed from Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, California; January 2023.

It’s in the visitor guide for Death Valley National Park: Zabriskie Point is “a spectacular spot for sunrise” — one really does have to experience it at least once… even if it means pretty much guaranteed crowds on the Sunday morning of a long weekend. :)

Lava Hill, Death Valley

2023/01/202023/01/20

Volcanic rocks diagonally sticking out of the ground; Death Valley National Park, California; January 2023.

I’m trying to keep up the pace with my blogging in a more documentary and trip-report style and this is the second entry from our recent Death Valley trip.

Rain In The Desert

2023/01/18

Southern Panamint Valley in rain, seen from Slate Range Crossing along Trona Wildrose Road, California; January 2023.

We spent the long weekend in Death Valley to get out of the house just for a little bit. This time, we had a reservation at Stovepipe Wells and drove via Ridgecrest, where we stopped for lunch*, and then continued via the Searles Valley and Trona into the Panamint Valley.

Hiding Reality

2022/12/26

An impression of deep forest right at the urban edge of Portland, Oregon in the Hoyt Arboretum of Washington Park; September 2022.

“…the camera’s rendering of reality must always hide more than it discloses” (Susan Sontag)

Has this been done?

2022/11/112022/11/11

False color rendition of the most famous Japanese Maple tree in Portland's Japanse Garden at Washington Park, Portland, Oregon; September 2022.

As I’m trying to compile twelve images for a 2023 calendar that I want to offer, I find myself rather paralyzed by the backlog of photos that I’ve yet to evaluate, from the two big destinations of 2022: Death Valley, which we visited twice in February, and the Pacific Northwest and Northern California.