The Long Desert March

The alarm went off awfully darn early, the chill in the air not to folks liking, but as we left the vehicles on the long march across the desert to the mouth of the cave, anticipation was high.

We reached the cave before sun up, looking up on its giant columns and depth was mouth dropping. RC with his bad back instantly felt better when he first came up to our morning shoot. Then as the sun started rise and the color came up, we ventured out to the other formations around us. Mouth dragged in the sand, from the cold and exhaustion as much as from the view.

Oh my, was it spectacular. Oh my, am I lying through my teeth about size and distance. This location is the incredibly fragile (horribly defaced by stupid humans) sand tufa world at Mono Lake called Navy Beach. These formations are no more than two feet tall. Kissing the sand, shooting up with the 14-24AFS at 14mm just helps bring to life the magical world of these tufas on their scale. It is well worth the visit. Oh yeah, it’s a five minute walk.

Go out this weekend and find your own magical location, big or small, and come back with your own images brightening up someone’s day.

Photos captured by D3, 14-24AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film