Death Valley Off-Road Adventures

Me too. The place was getting pretty overrun. The newest locations were also very unsightly given the dark color of the natural surface now covered with a network of light colored disturbed soil. Another location the victim of social media. Horseshoe Bend near Page, AZ is another one where the impact went up exponentially in just a handful of years. Places right next to a paved road are of course the most impacted. And places like this that are on a natural route to/from a major tourist destination even more impacted.

The funny thing about the Rainbow Canyon photographers is that I actually found almost all their photos to be exceptionally boring. Almost everyone out there just brought the biggest lens they could possibly afford, slapped it on an APS-C body and potentially even cropped from there. What you were left with was an airplane occupying the entire frame and blurred streak of brown behind it. Might as well have been taken at an airshow. In the lion's share of the photos from that site the entire context of the site that makes it so impressive was entirely lost. Even a lot of the videos are similarly done with way too tight a composition solely on the aircraft and far too much panning/tracking. The random cellphone videos almost did a better job since you could actually understand it was a plane flying down a canyon and have a sense of scale for the place. Just my opinion of course - aesthetics is always up for debate and there isn't a "right" answer.

 

Arguably, most photography is boring and lacks visual interest. Almost all of it is based on something someone saw.

 

Sure, and to be fair many of the plane watchers actually care as much or even more about the tail numbers they see or unusual configurations that fly by than the scene it is all happening in. I heard one of them describe it as “plane fishing”. So they know what they are going for and what their audience is looking for. And they use the right equipment and have a lot of practice in the technique to get those tight shots.

To me though the best photos are usually “previsualized” in which rather than stumbling on something you see or copying something you saw someone else image you visualize a composition ahead of time and then go out and make it happen. Which of course can still mean a lot of waiting for something to happen but now you know what you are waiting for and are in the right place with the right composition ready before it happens. If you just stand in the same place as everyone else using the same composition as everyone else has for the last ten years you’ll probably get a boring shot even if perfectly executed.

But again that all depends on the audience.

 

All that is what separates professionals from amateurs. Unfortunately, aspiring professionals copy styles, compositions, etc. at such a great rate, the pros get beat out by the free or very cheap amateurs posing as professionals crew.

 

My goodness yes. Seems like such a difficult time to try to make a living as a photographer. Not that it was ever that easy from what I understand. For most it always seemed to require a variety of revenue streams to make it work but it seems more and more of those potential streams are being chipped away to practically nothing these days.

It’s funny, I’m able to cobble together some decent photos as a hobbiest and kind people frequently say “oh those are wonderful, you should sell those, I bet you’d make a bunch of money.” Which of course is probably usually just a polite nothing meant as a compliment and I appreciate the sentiment. But handful seem to genuinely think you can take pretty pictures and make money from them and I’m always close to asking “have you ever paid money for a photo or do you even know of someone that has?”

I have an in-law who is actually a professional photographer and has made a good living by focusing on a specific niche that is mostly done in the studio but requires quite of bit of direct experience and unusual technical expertise. So he’s sort of the go to guy for anyone needing work in this area which gives him a good single stream of commercial assignment work. But that seems rare these days.

 

Welp looks like the Scotty's Castle repairs have slipped again - now estimated Fall of 2021. And even though it is done they are keeping the road out of the park to the NE closed until then as well.

https://www.nps.gov/deva/learn/nature/flood-2015.htm

 

@DVexile

So which dude is Rock Novak @ Ballerat? The hunchback dude with the cheesy mustache that offers moonshine for a pettily "donation" of $30 or the older more round dude that sits on the porch?

 

I’m guessing Rock was the older guy on the porch because he still stands straight as far as I know. He has had a mustache from time to time but most often not I think? I rarely stop in Ballarat and haven’t ever stopped to actually talk to Rock or any other occasional residents. There are lots of pictures of Rock on the inter webs. Here’s a whole vignette of him from The Atlantic.

 

Rocky's moonshine is actually really good, he also prefers to barter goods for it.

 

yes, two quarts were gracious "traded" for a $30/each "donation"

 

Facebook group says Lippincott is open again!

 

We're talking about the same guy who offers up freshly slaughtered burro, right?

 

Mmmm burro asada.

 

"whachutalkinboutwillis?"

 

So.... My buddy bailed out on me.. Is it safe to head to DV with one vehicle? This will be my first time.

 

If you're prepared than yes. It's prime season right now so there will be plenty of traffic out there.

 

How bad is Tetus? That's one of the main places I want to drive through. I have a stock taco.

 

Titus is easy just some areas of washboard. All you need is good tires.

 

Washboard as in Really bumpy? I have stock tires still. Will airing down help?

 

Airing down is key. I don't know what stock tires you have but if they are rugged trails I wouldn't go out with those.