"Dawn of Time" Death Valley National Park, California."By Robert Park

"Dawn of Time" Death Valley National Park, California."By Robert Park, a photo by Robert Park Photography on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Dawn of Time was captured on the 1st of January 2010 as a winter storm cleared leaving behind trace amounts of water in the Bad Water Basin of Death Valley. It was taken on one of my ritualistic treks to Death Valley for New Years. Dawn of Time was conceived several years prior to its actual creation; however, I had to wait for the right conditions in order to capture it. On my New Years 2010 trip to Death Valley, I had waited several days for a storm to clear that allowed the shallow lake you see in the image to form. I needed to have a smooth wind-free morning, so the lake would be like glass and give the reflection that I had pre-visualized. On the last day of my trip the storms cleared and the sunrise was spectacular with pink ribbons running across the sky, casting beautiful pink and magenta hues on the foreground and illuminating the Panamint Mountains as the sun came over the horizon. I positioned myself where the water recedes allowing the geometrical forms of the salt pan to poke through the shoreline of the shallow lake. Finally, I had the proper conditions that would give me the color, values, contrasts, and drama that I required in my pre-visualized image. Location: Bad Water Salt Flats in Death Valley National Park, California. © RobertPark www.robert-park.com/