Badwater Serpentine

Welcome to the lowest point in North America at 282 feet below sea level. Badwater Basin was one of the spots we were looking forward to shoot the entire trip. I had never seen such a large salt flat before and this spot did not disappoint. Interestingly our first outing to Badwater was the previous night. We had originally intended to shoot the Mesquite Dunes under moonlight but after spending more than 4 hours trudging through the dunes we were finished with the dunes. Instead, we headed to Badwater hoping to catch some nice nightscapes.

 

We decided to try somewhere different than so we drove past the typical turnout a short distance and began our exploration a bit further south. Badwater Basin is so big that despite various visitors, almost no one else was within view. Scouting around for some time, I came across this impressive salt crack. It resembled a large fault line but what caught my eye the most was the squiggly and serpentine shape of it. At that moment I knew I had my spot. I shot in the opposite direction initially as the sun lit the mountains behind. After the sun had set I decided to reverse my direction and moved to the opposite end of this large crack. Despite the lack of clouds I focused on capturing the afterglow of sunset. Yet again to our disappointment, the clouds began moving in after sunset. Nonetheless I was still pleased with this wicked looking crack.

 

Canon 5D Mark II

EF 17-40mm f/4L

LEE 0.6 soft ND grad filter

(IMG_5612)

 

Done