Valley of Fire – Page 2 – Ken's Photography and Travel Blog

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 22 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a multiple part blog of a sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

The rock features in Valley of Fire take on different looks as one moves around, viewing these from various positions.

To Reach the Gold, One Must Overcome the Obstacles

The Funnel is my name for this location. The rock texture just seems to “funnel” one into the scene.

Light tops off the distant rocks like a sweet, golden frosting on a multilayered cake, with a dollop of whipped cream on the edge.

Everything in this image is in the previous one, but less. I moved in to reduce the scope of the image, then cropped in more in post processing to make the sky more prominent and emphasize the large rock feature at the bottom right, which was in the bottom left of the previous image. I think this makes the scene more dramatic, but that is in the eye of the beholder.

Evening sky flows and glows over Valley of Fire, Nevada, highlighting some features and casting others into deepening shadows.

This wraps up this sunset shoot, but there will be another.

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 21 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a multiple part blog of a sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

In Part 20 of this blog, I included a similar photo made by standing closer to the big rock in the foreground. I think that image is more dramatic, but I backed up to included the little bush at the bottom left in this image to add a bit of “life” in the image.

It is the “rainy” season here and there is new greenery softening the hard rock desert.

Occasional small ponds give evidence of recent rains in this soon to be baking landscape.

Pathway – Muted footprints of previous visitors in the sand

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 20 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a multiple part blog of a sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

There must be a geological explanation of how the spines running across these rock layers form. My initial thought was that the spines represent more well cemented sand, but how does the cementation process cross the layers? Ancient water flow vertically? Or maybe the spines are a result of some erosional force that affects some areas of the rock and not others as much. Maybe water drainage patterns down the rock face? Can wind erosion do this?

Daylight fades, but the desert rocks will endure the extremes of weather here for many more days.

Maybe he was just adjusting a circular polarizer, but he is in my shot.

Rocks in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada exhibit varied and interesting structure, patterns and textures. I have tried to capture those features in many of my photographs in this desert area. I made a series of photographs in the vicinity of this image to showcase the rock fabric from various viewpoints.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 19 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a multiple part sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

The rock features here remind me of ocean waves and ripples on a shoreline.

A desert shrub stands as if on a stage in a spotlight as the late day desert light show begins.

In a harsh, rocky, dry desert environment life finds a way to survive.

Desert vegetation staying close to the rocks. Is it because that is where the sand is deepest, where more water is available from run off from the rocks or is there more protection from the elements there? I suspect all of those are factors in desert life survival.

These vertical rock protrusions remind me of fish fins.

This is a good place to end this post, but more of this sunset shoot to follow.

Until next time,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 18 – Sunset Shoot

This sunset photo shoot will be presented in multiple posts.

These rocks seem to be looking towards the late day sun.

The rock texture here looks like a river or spring flowing from beneath that little arch.

Rock seems to be flowing like a spring from beneath the rock above it. There is even an eddy current or whirlpool near the left side of the rock spring.

Rock makes sand, sand makes rock, cycle repeats.

Interesting rock formations in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. I can imagine those cross cutting, linear features as veins feeding into a strange creature’s brain.

Life is gone from this desert bush, but it still casts a shadow upon the rock beside which it once thrived.

Shadows lengthen as the peace of evening descends over Valley of Fire, Nevada.

A quiet, peaceful evening is fast approaching in Valley of Fire, Nevada.

Rock texture mimics a waterfall.

The rock fragments accumulated in the “whirlpool” like area of this rock feature look like debris swirling around at the base of a waterfall.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 17 – Return from the Fire Wave

On our hike back to the parking lot, we took an obvious route towards a large feature that we had hiked past on our way in. This route went alongside the rock outcrop from which the Fire Wave is formed.

That large rock feature towards which this outcrop points, is our destination for joining up with the official trail back to the parking lot.

Early morning shadow and light seem to be divided by the meeting of two different rock formations. The meeting of these two different rock deposits forms a low area, where sand accumulates and desert vegetation takes root.

I noted many small pebbles accumulated in the ridges of this rock outcrop. Initially, I thought maybe tourist were tossing these into the grooves, but now I think it is a natural accumulation. Maybe strong winds blow the pebbles along the rock face until the pebbles drop into a place that is somewhat protected from the wind.

That’s all for this hike and early morning shoot,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 16 – Fire Wave

One of the better known and most popular geological features in Valley of Fire is The Fire Wave. The beginning of the hike to this feature is well marked and apparent, but the trail soon becomes not so apparent. We found a couple of others on the trail in the early morning of our visit , at least one of whom had been there previously, and he was confused about the trail, too.

We headed in opposite directions, wandered around for awhile, found a marker telling us we missed the trail, doubled back and eventually found our way to the Fire Wave.

The two we had separated from earlier had also found their way and another photographer had arrived before any of us. Those three were occupying the best vantage point for shooting the Fire Wave in the AM, so I shot from other directions, until those arriving first vacated their spots.

The shadow of one photographer and his tripod can be seen in the lower center of this first image.

While waiting for the other photographers to finish their shooting, I wandered around to the east side of the feature to see what it looked like from there, making a couple of images.

After the other photographers were satisfied with their shots, I moved into a better spot for shooting this feature. The Fire Wave is best shot at sunset, rather than sunrise, but then one has to deal with a crowd of folks, since most ordinary visitors do not get out at sunrise.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 15 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

This concludes the sunset shoot on this day.

Until next time,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 14 – Sunset Shoot

This is a continuation of a sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada.

To be continued,

Ken

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 13 – Sunset Shoot

Photos from another sunset shoot in Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. The day after the storm at sunset, we returned to the same area for another photo shoot. Some of the photos in this post are similar to the evening prior, but with different lighting and sky

To be continued,

Ken

Tag: Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 22 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 21 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 20 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 19 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 18 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 17 – Return from the Fire Wave

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 16 – Fire Wave

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 15 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 14 – Sunset Shoot

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Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada – March 2023 – Part 13 – Sunset Shoot

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