Artist's Palette in Death Valleyis accessible from a one-way road about nine miles north of Badwater. You have to be careful if there is rain in the area because flash floods down the canyons of the Black Mountains have been known to completely trash cars! You can get a decent view from your car but for this view I yomped a few hundred yards from the road.
The colors in the rocks are caused by the oxidation of various minerals as the rock weathers and is exposed to the air and rain. The reds, pinks and yellows are from different salts of iron while the purple is from manganese and the green from mica or silicate minerals.
It really is quite special to stand there and take in this natural beauty. At the time I took this photo, there was only one other vehicle making the detour and the occupants of that were also hiking these foothills. The place was most serene, the only sound being that of the wind. While there I recalled a time when I was in deep in the Libyan Desert, standing in a natural bowl on a windless day. There was absolutely no sound. Curiously, I started to feel pain in my ears as they struggled to discern the slightest vibration in the air. It was as though my brain was cranking the volume up to eleven but still not gathering any information. It got to the point where I couldn't stay still any longer, I had to create sound myself to relieve the pain.
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Production Data
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: Nik Software Color Efex Pro 4 Complete Edition (B&H)
