The Dragon of Death Valley
Hello and welome to My View for Monday, June 23, 2009.
Hello Everyone,
I hope you had a great weekend.
Craig Tanner, a fantastic teacher and great friend with whom I work teaching workshops and on The Mindful Eye, and I spent the weekend with a great group of people here in Atlanta at our first Inspirational Weekend with The Mindful Eye. It was a lot of fun, we saw many old friends and made some new ones. Thank you to all who participated!!
Today’s image is a whimsical shot I took in Death Valley earlier this year in the days after the Death Valley Workshop when I was out shooting for myself. I came across this piece of wood in the desert near the Devil’s Corn Field area and immediately laughed out loud when I saw it — crazy woman, standing in the middle of the desert, laughing to herself!!
I keep coming back to this image as I scan images for preparing workshop presentations or for My View. Today, I’m in a lighthearted mood and decided to post it for your amusement. 
As always, your comments and critiques are most welcome.
Death Valley Dragon
Death Valley, CA
Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35 2.8L lens at 16mm, ISO 100, f/8, 1/45 sec, Bogen Neotec tripod.
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Marti I like that dragonesque sculture a lot!
Maybe it isn’t an option, but I wonder if it could be dramatized by shooting around twilight with a small supplemental light to illuminate the subject?
(It could get pretty alien spooky-lookin..)
Bruce
Comment by PixAlchemy — June 23, 2009 @ 11:43 am
Hey Bruce — Thank you for being here!! Yes, your idea of shooting at twilight and light painting would be very neat. I was walking out of the desert after shooting at sunrise on this day, and I’m not sure I’d be able to find this desert drift-wood again. It is a neat idea! If I find it again, next year when I’m out there, I’ll have to pay attention to it’s location relative to the surrounding area and try to get back in there around twilight. It really was in the middle of the desert!
Comment by martijeffers — June 23, 2009 @ 12:10 pm
I am laughing, too, Marti. Wonder what I would do if I cam upon this creature at night or during the day, whatever. It seems to have a forked tail as well as a forked tongue. It is nice that you shot low and captured the dragon’s head against the great sky. For me that is a nice place for me to starting looking at the image. I guess that is the high contrast area, right? Glad you were light hearted enough to share this with us, Marti.
Wes
Comment by wes — June 23, 2009 @ 12:38 pm
Marti
I haven’t commented for a while but just wanted to let you know that I continue to enjoy your posts. This image made me smile. I also see some kind of serpent in the bottom right of the image – or perhaps I have just been watching too much Star Wars with my 6 year old boy! With best wishes, Kenny
Comment by kenny@grape.ie — June 23, 2009 @ 6:17 pm
Marti, Love how you’ve framed this guy, great use of the diagonal. I’m wondering if getting ride of the brush on the right and left would help simplify this wonderful image. Hope your doing well and getting some R&R.
Comment by mikeh — June 23, 2009 @ 10:08 pm
Not only the dragon shape is well spotted, I also like the composition with those many triangles. And you have a quite punchy postprocessing, making the sculpture stand out very well.
Comment by Markus — June 24, 2009 @ 12:01 pm
Hi guys,
Thanks for stopping by with your comments on this “for fun” image. And, thank you for all of your suggestions.
Comment by martijeffers — June 24, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
Hi, Marti – I too had to laugh at this hunk of dragonesque driftwood! Can’t decide whether it’s friendly or not, lol. Great find. Thanks for sharing.
Perhaps you could pp it and come up with a faux light painting effect, like Bruce suggested?
Love & Hugs,
Flo
Comment by tonebytone — June 24, 2009 @ 8:23 pm
What a great find Marti – and wonderfully portrayed.
Comment by Mark — June 28, 2009 @ 5:40 pm