On the final morning of the recent “Mindful Eye” Death Valley photo workshop, participants split up for different activities. Only three of us headed to the Mesquite Dunes, accompanied by workshop leader Craig Tanner. With the small numbers, we all enjoyed prolonged, one-on-one teaching sessions. As the sky began to pink up, Craig shared insight on how he would approach the shoot, which resulted in me spending a full morning exploring leading line. Even pre-dawn, there was enough directionality of light and enough pattern in the sand to provide plenty of subject material.

Dunes, Soft Light, #1

As you can imagine, being the last morning shoot of the workshop and one of the best skies of the week, it was hard to put the camera away and head back for the indoor wrap-up. With the sun well above the horizon (and after a 20 minute hunt in the desert for car keys – that’s another story), it was back to Stovepipe Wells Village, to see the final presentations of the week and to say our good-byes.

Dunes, Soft Light, #2