# Sunrise across Ivanpah



## abraxas (Sep 29, 2007)

Morning sun across Ivanpah Valley toward Clark Mountain, Mojave Desert, CA.


----------



## Coldow91 (Sep 29, 2007)

This picture totally blows me away!!


----------



## RKW3 (Sep 29, 2007)

Wow abraxas, good stuff as usual.


----------



## abraxas (Sep 29, 2007)

Thanks Coldow91 & RKW3.


----------



## just x joey (Sep 29, 2007)

nice dood, u always have wonderful images.


----------



## abraxas (Sep 29, 2007)

Thanks Joey-


----------



## kundalini (Sep 29, 2007)

I always look forward to your posts.  The colors are very pleasing.  Not too sure about the fall-off in the front.  And is that a tow truck crossing the desert floor on the left?


----------



## gordon77 (Sep 29, 2007)

another wonderful abraxas photo! i love the texture in this, is this digital or film?


----------



## marcuspeddle (Sep 29, 2007)

Beautiful colours.  Is the greenish haze on the horizon normal for your area?


----------



## craig (Sep 29, 2007)

Nice! I just crossed thru the Mojave desert to get to Death Valley. Near Shosone CA. Where is this in relation to where you visited? 

Love & Bass


----------



## abraxas (Sep 29, 2007)

kundalini said:


> I always look forward to your posts.  The colors are very pleasing.  Not too sure about the fall-off in the front.  And is that a tow truck crossing the desert floor on the left?



No, that's a tree out there- not sure what kind though.  Thanks!



gordon77 said:


> another wonderful abraxas photo! i love the texture in this, is this digital or film?



Thank you- Digital.  



marcuspeddle said:


> Beautiful colours.  Is the greenish haze on the horizon normal for your area?



Thanks, the the green isn't normal at all.  I blew it on the sky treatment.  I shouldn't touch the 'hue' slider.  Thanks for pointing that out.



craig said:


> Nice! I am going to post some Death Valley pics in a moment, but they not as beautiful as this.
> 
> Love & Bass



Thanks.  DV is gorgeous.  I'm sure you'll do it justice.  Can't wait to see them. I won't be able to get out there until late November/December, will have to live vicariously I guess.


----------



## abraxas (Sep 30, 2007)

marcuspeddle said:


> Beautiful colours.  Is the greenish haze on the horizon normal for your area?



I tried to clean it up a bit.  I won't see my 'color corrector' (wife) until tuesday.  Hope I didn't skritch it up too much..

Here's a link to the 'green' version.
http://aeve.com/1tpf/mp/780c3589x.jpg


----------



## abraxas (Sep 30, 2007)

craig said:


> Nice! I just crossed thru the Mojave desert to get to Death Valley. Near Shosone CA. Where is this in relation to where you visited?
> 
> Love & Bass



This is south and east of Shoshone maybe 80-90 miles or so.  Out there that's the same nieghborhood.  I stayed in Nipton and went out to a place called Desert Crossing to get this.  Nipton is due south of Stateline, Nevada.  If you look at the bottom of the mountain, there is a lighter colored line running across the image.  This is the 15 freeway.  To the left, west is Barstow/LA, to the right, east, is Las Vegas.

Shoshone & Tecopa are cool.  Check this out: Shoshone Interactive Satellite Image

Nipton is a trip.  I stayed in the Nipton Hotel- 6 rooms, two baths (you share).  

Hotel Nipton





Nipton, California


----------



## NJMAN (Sep 30, 2007)

I was on my way to nominate this for POTM and saw that someone beat me to it!  Bugger!  Well anyway, the colors are just fascinating.  True art at its best.  I wish I could give you a critique, but I cant find anything wrong with it.  Astounding.

NJ


----------



## abraxas (Sep 30, 2007)

NJMAN said:


> I was on my way to nominate this for POTM and saw that someone beat me to it!  Bugger!  Well anyway, the colors are just fascinating.  True art at its best.  I wish I could give you a critique, but I cant find anything wrong with it.  Astounding.
> 
> NJ



I see that   Thanks!  Seems to be a good month for me.  I hope it keeps up.  Craig's pictures of Death Valley are driving me nuts right now.  I'm going the other direction in a few hours, and that's cool- sort of. I guess.

(pssst..  thanks Coldow91  )


----------



## Lrg (Sep 30, 2007)

wow amazing picture!


----------



## abraxas (Oct 1, 2007)

Lrg said:


> wow amazing picture!



Thank you.


----------



## meotter (Oct 2, 2007)

not that this is the critique forum, but why did you choose to keep the dark foreground rather then crop upwards so that it's colorful from the get go?


----------



## abraxas (Oct 3, 2007)

meotter said:


> not that this is the critique forum, but why did you choose to keep the dark foreground rather then crop upwards so that it's colorful from the get go?



I liked the shadow when I shot it.  I think if I do another go around with it for print sales though, I'll probably lighten it up just a little bit and see if I can bring just a little detail up.

It was shot to illustrate a summary mining history page.

Here's the finished product;

http://mojavedesert.net/people/prospectors-and-miners.html

I like to put a bigas watermark on my net shots to mess with bandwidth thieves.


----------



## ketan (Oct 3, 2007)

Beautiful photo... the bottom 20% is almost dark but does not hurt...


----------



## DPW2007 (Oct 4, 2007)

Wish I was that good at photography! Awe struck by that photo, magnificent contrasting colours and washes of yellow, green and blue.


----------



## meotter (Oct 4, 2007)

DPW2007 said:


> Wish I was that good at photography! Awe struck by that photo, magnificent contrasting colours and washes of yellow, green and blue.



not to detract from abraxis photo or ability, but i'd say that as much as 80% (arbitrary number i made up) of an amazing shot can be attributed to being at the right place at the right time with some device that captures images.

it's undeniable that it's easy to take amazing shots when the scenery is just kicking you in the head to take it's picture... however, amazing photographers can make  breath taking shots out of nothing at all.

so don't get down on yourself, just be more aware of your surroundings and carry a camera with you to capture it when you see it


----------



## abraxas (Oct 18, 2007)

I wanted to get away from this a few days before replying. My apology if my non-response has seemed rude or inconsiderate.



ketan said:


> Beautiful photo... the bottom 20% is almost dark but does not hurt...



Thank you.



DPW2007 said:


> Wish I was that good at photography! Awe struck by that photo, magnificent contrasting colours and washes of yellow, green and blue.



Thank you very much.



meotter said:


> not to detract from abraxis photo or ability, but i'd say that as much as 80% (arbitrary number i made up) of an amazing shot can be attributed to being at the right place at the right time with some device that captures images.
> 
> it's undeniable that it's easy to take amazing shots when the scenery is just kicking you in the head to take it's picture... however, amazing photographers can make  breath taking shots out of nothing at all.
> 
> so don't get down on yourself, just be more aware of your surroundings and carry a camera with you to capture it when you see it



Meotter, you're oversimplifying, and creating arbitrary statistics to backup an erroneous point is a fool's game.  There's a lot more thought and planning that went into this shot than merely slamming on the brakes and stumbling out of the car at the right moment.


----------



## Renae (Oct 18, 2007)

Beautiful photo!


----------



## abraxas (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks Renae!


----------



## NoK (Oct 18, 2007)

Your out of control, that picture is STUNNING!  Great job man.


----------



## abraxas (Oct 18, 2007)

NoK said:


> Your out of control, that picture is STUNNING!  Great job man.



 thanks, I needed that.


----------



## nossie (Oct 18, 2007)

> There's a lot more thought and planning that went into this shot than merely slamming on the brakes and stumbling out of the car at the right moment.


 
100/100
Enlighten the apes on how it was done please. Kit is a good place to start; camera, lens, tripod, settings, time of day but most of all why you did it this way? Did you have a little gizmo to tell you the angle of the sun etc?  What questions did you ask yourself and why did you chose your answers so. 
Did you know an hour of PS was gonna be needed? 

If you're gonna keep posting those fabulous shots get used to me tugging on you to teach me- That's another hour to your work load :thumbup:

Ray.
P.S. The green version has a cyan sky, totally faked.


----------



## abraxas (Oct 18, 2007)

nossie said:


> 100/100
> Enlighten the apes on how it was done please. Kit is a good place to start; camera, lens, tripod, settings, time of day but most of all why you did it this way? Did you have a little gizmo to tell you the angle of the sun etc?  What questions did you ask yourself and why did you chose your answers so.
> Did you know an hour of PS was gonna be needed?
> 
> ...



This was shot Feb. 2006.  It's more about the location and time than the technical aspects though.  It's nearly 200 miles from where I live so it was combined with a return trip from Death Valley.  To the left of the shot about 1-2 miles away is the ghost town site of Ivanpah a mining town built on the sweat and blood and gold produced by the Vanderbuilt mine several miles up in the Piute Mountains behind Ivanpah.

The Vanderbuilt mine was discovered in the 1870s by a Paiute Indian named Bob Black.  Bob was cheated, ridiculed and chased away from his discovery by white men who tricked him.  Long story short, Bob became a serial killer luring prospectors into the Funeral Mountains near Death Valley with promises of rich deposits of gold- He'd rob them and murder them and leave their carcasses in shallow graves where the coyotes would tear and scavange thier bodies.  Bob was killed by his brother-inlaw, a white man who was known for being a dangerous and nefarious character who had killed at least 7 men, (they didn't count Indians in those days), all in self-defense.  He killed Bob- in self-defense of course.

Several miles behind me is Crescent Springs.  A waterhole where in the 1890s another white man hating Paiute Indian started his 15 year killing spree.  He hated white folks with a passion- and for the way he was treated it was probably justified.  He was blamed for 34 murders although only 17 can actually be attributed to him.  A little overboard maybe, I figure he could of made his point with only 4-5, maybe 6 killings tops.  They never caught him and he just disappeared into the mountain cliffs near the Colorado River. Until one day...

Immediatley behind me is a railroad bedding (causing the long dark shadow).  One of the subjects I'm interested in is railroad development across the Mojave Desert.  I have many shots of and views from this railway across the desert.  It runs about 1/4 mile away from my house on the other end.  Footnote: This weekend I'm taking an archaeology class where the rail runs through the San Andreas earthquake fault where the Pacific continental plate grinds against the North American plate.  There's a prehistoric Indian occupation site where we'll be camping. So anyhow,...

Near where I'm standing taking the shot is the border to the Mojave Desert National Preserve.  Photographing the preserve is another project I've been working on through the last 12 or so years. The mountain, Clark Mountain is also in the preserve and while the Mountain Pass mine was operating, was the largest producer of rare earths in the world.

To the left of the mountain, just barely seen in the photo is Kokoweef.  The caverns there are said to twist and turn and drop down into an underground river that flows to the Pacific Ocean.  The source of the water (what this type of groundwater is called escapes me at the moment) is said to be from the inland seas that formed the Great Basin Desert millions of years ago.  Of course with all this paleo-water percolating through the limestones, those who have said they have been in the deep caverns claim that the underground river is laden with gold.  Funny story about that.  Also in the same range, in a very concealed and hidden location are the only dinosaur fossil footprints in the state of California.  I've seen them, a paleontology group took me there 

The stateline between Nevada and California is about one mile to the right.  For the glitterotti-types who see Vegas as the only thing of value in the wide-ass Mojave Desert, the Interstate 15 freeway to Las Vegas can barely be seen as a trace cutting along the bajada (the gentle slope at the base of the mountain).  

The scene is also a good example of geological strata, a creosote bush habitat (on the bajada), playa (dry lake) and corresponding white bursage habitat with the fairly narrow ecotone between the two.  High up and not seen in the mountains is a pinyon pine woodland and behind the mountains surrounding the valley is the largest Joshua tree forest in the world. Lots of rats, lizards and snakes live out there among other varmints and critters.  A red-tailed hawk sat at the top of the powerpole behind me and watched me all while I went through the session.

The Nipton hotel (behind me and to the left about 1/2 mile away) has quite a history dating back to the 1930s concerning oldtime silent film actress Clara Bow (the "It" Girl) -- drunken orgies, bi-polar manic depression and then living in shame on her nearby Walking Box Ranch.  Anyway, this can also be considered a shot of the view from the porch.

That's the location in a nut shell even though there's quite a bit more (geo-formation of the Colorado River, the Old Spanish Trail and transportation corridor development etc.)  It was chosen with all of the above in mind.  I shot maybe a dozen or so photos in the immediate vicinity that morning.  I walked from the hotel to the location during sunset and into the evening  checking out possible shots.  It took another hour for me to get back after deciding what and where and when (first sunlight) because I took a walk in the starlight.

When I'm out in the desert I usually know when and where the sun will rise and set, the current moon phase and times of moon rise and set.  I have a reasonably good grasp of the topography from experience and study. Maybe it all helps, maybe it don't, but that's what I was thinking.

Technical stuff is:
nikon d70
f5.6
1/125 sec.
iso 200
& a circular polarization filter.


----------



## Kristie (Oct 18, 2007)

What an amazing photo!! Beautiful!


----------



## abraxas (Oct 18, 2007)

Kristie said:


> What an amazing photo!! Beautiful!



Thanks!


----------



## nossie (Oct 19, 2007)

Yup super commentary.  It's great to read what brings a man to that 1/125 of a second.
This is funny though...


> A little overboard maybe, I figure he could of made his point with only 4-5, maybe 6 killings tops.


...but for sure 1 was never going to be enough.


----------

