The Valley of Fire Never Disappoints: Out Of This World Landscapes Beckon

pm-r · March 27

Two years ago I was doing my normal thing, exploring the Western USA on my motorcycle. I discovered this Nevada State Park that I had heard the name of many times but have never been there. I thought it was a national park like Joshua Tree or Death Valley, but it's not. I paid the $10 to ride through it after just having ridden through Joshua tree the day before and it was love at first site! I made a promise to myself that when I got back home to Tennessee, I would buy a plane ticket and fly back to spend more time there. In September of 2023, I did just that and spent four glorious days there, waking up hours before dawn to head out and be ready for twilight and then sunrise. I returned each evening to do the same for sunset. I created a portfolio over that week, and with much good advice from Artisan Don Smith, I also scouted the area for a potential workshop.

Fast forward to this week when I hosted my first ever Valley of Fire Landscape Photography Workshop, which just concluded. We had a great time together out there in the surreal landscapes, and each of us made some spectacular photographs.

What did I take on this, you might wonder? I took the same exact kit that I had with my last year: The Sony A7CII, the FE16-35G, and the FE70-200mm f/4G II Macro lens. Regrets? Yes. Next year I'll bring the 300GM too as the moonrise and moonsets were pretty awesome but I lacked the reach to capture them properly. Enough of be jabbering on... Here are a few of the many images I made this week:

Workshopper Philip J. checks his Photopills app to see how much longer till sunrise. The app was invaluable this week as we could see the exact tracking

through the sky the sun and moon would make before they arrived.