Death Valley, California, United States of America - Code: DE6575631SQT

Title: WIND AND SAND
Location: Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, Death Valley, California, United States of America
Code: DE6575631SQT
Portfolio Type: “ THE ONE ” Fine Art Portfolio
 
It was about 5.30am and I was out on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley, California. In the brief time that I had before the shooting light began, I looked back on the last 24 hours and agreed that there was no other place so apply named, but yet so beautiful. It began with a sign saying “Death Valley” that was buckled from the heat, then another sign say “Turn your air conditioning off to stop your vehicle from overheating”. This was good advice, for as we climbed up 5 miles of hill the car started to overheat, glad I switched it off, but as soon as we started coming down, I switched it back on as you could feel the heat engulfing the inside of the vehicle. 
 
I was with my two girls and we came across Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes which I’d listed on my map as a place to possibly photograph. I check the clock and it was 2pm, hottest part of the day and it was the middle of summer, as I parked the vehicle, we looked at each other questioningly. Then I said “Ok so who’s coming with me to check this location out” Sasha said “yes” and Measjaya said “no!”… smart kid that Measjaya. I’d experienced some hot places like the Australian and African deserts, I thought, no worries, I opened the car door and it was like opening the fan forced oven door at home and stepping into the oven. Straight away I knew this was the hottest environment I’d ever been in, what was adding to the heat was the 25 mile an hour wind. I ventured with Sasha to about 50 metres from the car and stopped, you could literally feel the moisture being taken from your body… how the hell does anything survive in this heat? We looked at each other and said “Yep” and then headed back to the car.
 
We didn’t get much sleep that night as there was no bricks and mortar accommodation available, so we had to camp, luckily the campground had a pool. But when we went to try and sleep the ground was radiating an incredible amount of heat that it made sleeping nearly impossible. It was with great relief for me that 4.30am came, it was time to get up and do some photographing.
 
So here I was on the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, 500 metres from the vehicle, the temperature was actually quite comfortable and the light was starting to get good, it was time to get to work. After spending two hours photographing, I decided to call it a morning and headed back to the vehicle, I could feel the heat hot on my tail, the temperature was rising again.