Day 6, Dawn
It is my last day in Death Valley, to be more accurate my last morning at Death Valley since after sunrise I will be driving back to Las Vegas and flying home. I can’t wait to hug my wife and son.
On my last morning at Death Valley I decided to photograph at Zabriskie Point. Morning photos from Zabriskie Point has become cliché. I heard stories of tens of photographers showing up there at sunrise. Strangely enough with several trips to Death Valley I’ve never been there. It was about time to change that.
Surprisingly I was the only person there… That’s one hour before sunrise. By sunrise there were 9 photographers and about 15 spectators.
I took several panoramas before, during and after sunrise. The sunrise was not very impressive – there were not much clouds in the sky. Only while reviewing panoramas at home I realized that I created a tale of light of that morning – I was taking a panorama every time there was significant change in light.
So here it is, a tale of light at Zabriskie Point. (Click on the images to see them in larger size.)
6:07 Deep blue of twilight. 
6:21 Sunrise moving across the sky. 
6:29 Touchdown. The gap between horizon and line of sunrise closed. The clouds lit up. 
6:32 Sun kissed the mountains. 
7:03 The light is deep in the valley. 
vitali prokopenko | fine art 