travel
spent a january morning in death valley national park touring scotty's castle with the national park service & my camcorder. also known as death valley ranch, the expansive former residence has been closed for repairs since 2015.
spent a few days in orlando for work & while florida is not high on my list of favourite states a walk around the resort grounds with my digicam one afternoon did make things seem a little better.
I spent a weekend in my favourite national park recently, death valley, which is known for being the “hottest, driest, lowest” national park in the united states. right now though, thanks to our strange summer hurricane, pluvial lake manly (the ancient lake which once covered most of death valley) has made a reappearance at the lowest point in north america – badwater basin.
I had thought most of the water would be gone by the time of my january visit but it turns out lake manly decided to stick around a bit longer than expected. the cloud streaked blue skies & mountains reflected in the pristine surface of the ankle deep water made the whole experience feel otherworldly. like visiting the inside of a kaleidoscope.
a bright afternoon on the mesquite flat dunes in death valley. I have been playing with photographing the desert in black & white recently. there is just something immortal about the way these came out.
one freezing saturday morning spent wandering along boston’s charles river esplanade.
a few weeks ago I went to boston for the weekend to check out the john singer sargent exhibition at the museum of fine arts. sargent is one of my favourite painters & I couldn’t pass up the chance to see so many of his works in one place. arriving in boston just before 7 am on a saturday morning meant I had a lot of time to wander. I layered on hiking clothes & windproof fleece in the logan airport bathroom before heading into the city to brave 27 degree temps.
it’s been quite a while since I’ve experienced “real” winter. the sharp cold air & ice gathering along the rivers edge fascinated me.
took my little 2009 digicam to bar mini in washington dc last month.
the experimental cocktails here are absolutely incredible.
installations from bombay beach on the shores of the salton sea.
bombay beach was a popular getaway until the 1980s when the increasing salinity & receding water line of the salton sea destroyed the lake’s ecosystem & drove away businesses. bombay beach remains with a population hovering around 200 & is the lowest community in the united states at 223 feet below sea level. it has been undergoing a renaissance in recent years as artists & intellectuals have moved in. the town is now home to numerous art installations & the annual bombay beach biennale.
brought out my camcorder on my summer hike through the narrows in zion national park. I didn’t much enjoy the hiking – walking in knee deep (or higher!) water is not for me – but I did at least enjoy the scenery. I will continue to love slot canyons, but more when the water in them has long since disappeared.
sacred valley, peru
18-21 may, 2023
I keep thinking of hiking over the uneven stones half eaten by the jungle & thousands of individual feet. A path laid into the sides of mountains & etched through caves & over leaning bridges. What a place to have been.
Starting in a lush valley then continuing up up up above the treeline to the bright beating sun of the alpine with its sharp air & soothing breezes.
Then down again to alpine valleys, freezing overnight but you can still hear the distant music of the jungle as the sun sets behind the mountains. An explosion of stars.
Finally down into the Amazon with the thick foliage stacked on top of each other, all different shapes growing out of the rock & between the uneven stairs carved around them. The bird calls. The chorus of insects & frogs singing all night long.
The final push up slick jungle stairs rising vertically into the clouds. The locals call them "Gringo Killers" & I climb them using all of my limbs for balance.
Then, finally, the Sun Gate. High in the mountains perched hanging over the jungle. Sometimes this is your first glimpse of Machu Picchu, but on our Sunday morning the mist & clouds hung to the mountains like a white sheet in humid weather.
For the briefest of moments the mist rolls up, revealing the city & Huayna Picchu crowned in clouds. The hikers gathered around the Gate clap & cheer & then just as quickly the fog descends again.
The Sun Gate is the end of the Inca Trail but you're not there yet. You continue over the alternating smooth & jagged stones & through the mist & ruins until Machu Picchu finally reveals itself.
Huayna Picchu is always crowned in clouds it seems. Machu Picchu mountain is behind, & the city lays between these two sacred peaks. Machu Picchu the masculine protector & Huayna Picchu the feminine. The Inca viewed mountains as gods & holy places. As living things. They built into their natural form because they did not see themselves as the dominators of the land, in stark contrast to the colonizers who would shortly come to destroy them.
Machu Picchu city was abandoned in a rush to hide their most sacred places from the Spaniards who came to demolish them & slap a Catholic church on top – as happened in Cusco, once the capital of the Incan Empire. The plan to conceal worked, the city was hidden from outsiders for centuries.
after 4 days of hiking on the inca trail we reached machu picchu & were greeted by perfect clouds & blue skies.
a few half frame film shots from my day in death valley on a paleontology hike with the national park service (they do these once a year and I highly recommend it).
shot on kodak gold 200 with the kodak ektar h35 camera.
after four days hiking the inca trail & a morning spent in the ruins of machu picchu we stopped in machupicchu pueblo (also known as aguas calientes) for lunch. before catching the train back to ollantaytambo to start my return to cusco, I wandered the streets & the bustling market with new found friends & my little point & shoot film camera.
walking the bustling & narrow streets of cusco with my fujifilm x30. once the capital of the incan empire, now the main hub for peru’s tourism industry.
took a roll of lomochrome turquoise film to death valley a couple months ago. the results look like photographs from mars! the turquoise film is super fun even if I do have a hard time deciding when using it will create cool results or just weird ones.
shot on lomochrome turquoise 110 film with the pentax auto 110 camera.
three iphone shots from my time in death valley on a full moon.
the winter light in death valley is like a caress. rose-hued & hugging the mountains – curling between scrub grass & salt flat. driving the long curving roads like a wave craving sand.
while playing with my new (to me) fujifilm x30 in nyc I fell in love with this monochrome film simulation & the winter light on the city’s buildings.
I loved being back in the city, even if only for a handful of days. I was surprised to realize that as much as I love new york I am very grateful to have made my home in california.
exploring the lowest point in north america — badwater basin in death valley national park.
spent a saturday wandering around death valley – my favourite national park.
journal:
“I don’t think I understoond the word verdant until now. not fully. whereas dublin is grey & a bit blunt the countryside is lush & rugged & rolling hues of green interspersed with slate rock & peat bogs.
the roadsides are dotted with serene collections of mountain sheep grazing away as the cars move around them like a planet in orbit. they can sense the rain & lay down when it’s on its way. sometimes they lay together in little groups of 2 or 3 resting their pitch black faces on each other like woolen pillows.”
poulnabrone dolmen is the largest & best preserved of irelands some 172 dolmens or pass through tombs. the partial remains of at least 33 people have been found here, indicating the site was used for ritual rather than an long term burial location. the structure dates to the neolithic era, but was in use up through the bronze age.
explorations around the irish countryside with the lomography sprocket rocket camera.
