So one of my favorite parks near Las Vegas is the Valley of Fire State Park, about 55 miles northeast of the city off Interstate 75. My undergrad was in Physics with Geophysics so I've long had a fascination with rock formations. The valley of Fire get its name from the bright red sandstones that are interspersed with layers of white limestones and darker shales and conglomerates. Over the eons, the rock layers have lifted and eroded to form beautiful bands of color.
This image is of the memorial to Captain John Clark. Clark was a Civil War veteran who moved to California after the end of the war. He was found dead under his wagon on June 15, 1915, near this spot. He was 72. While some think he died of thirst, others have pointed out that he regularly traveled the area and knew the location of water sources within a few miles of this location. They point to heat stroke or a heart attack as the cause of death.
The Clark Memorial is about three-and-a-half miles east of the Visitor Center and about 150 feet south of Route 169, before you get to Elephant rock. The white painted cross on a white painted brick plinth, installed in the 1950s, is somewhat incongruous in the landscape and so it is easy to see.
I read recently that some bozos took it upon themselves to smash the cross sometime overnight on July 26-26, 2011. I don't understand why people do these things.
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Production Data
Taken from a low angle towards the sun with the lens at a wide 28mm, the flaring of the sun in the lens lends a spiritual feel to the image.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D
Lens: Canon 24-105mm f/4L IS USM AF Lens (B&H)
Processing: Lightroom 3.6
Processing: Photomatix 4.02
Processing: Photoshop CS5
Processing: OnOne Photo Suite 6 (OnOne) 10% discount with coupon code rdavisphoto
