I'm so glad that I used the zone system

And good old Kodachrome 64

This image was made summer of 1981 while I was living in Death Valley.  I drove up to Dante's View a few thousand feet directly above Bad Water, the lowest point in the USA.

I rememver the evening vividly. Yes, it was hot out, well over 100 but oh so gorgeous view.  But I digress.

To make this shot I spot metered the dude on the rock. The closest ridge and the distance.  I knew I wanted detail in both areas so I shot mid point. I love this image looking north into Death Valley, the dude ads scale to how big that place is.

A little in the foreground gives you depth to perspective

Its an old trick, but if you have items in the foreground your perspective as to depth and sense of place increases. I used this technique in these two images shot from the year I lived in Death Valley's Furnace Creek.

Dantes View was just a short drive, under half hour from Furnace Creek. I loved to go up there to just watch the sunset and the color of light change during that event. It was so enjoyable I made that trip many times, it certainly was relaxing to sit and watch the shadows of the Panamint Range slowly creep across the valley floor.

If you look closely the richness of color has not faded after all these years. Why? I shot mostly in Kodachrome back in the day and you just couldn't match the capability of that film with any other, at least in my not so humble opinion.

Enjoy....