The first day was nice ... 70's ... nice cloud cover to accent photos. We stopped by Zabriskie Point and I filled the camera full of photo's. I took wide angle, standard, telephoto ... everything but macro shots. The clouds were amazing, perfect accents to the landscape. The lighting could have been better (it was around 3:30pm or so), but I'll take what I can get

On the second day the unthinkable happened .... FLAT TIRE! In the middle of nowhere! Mimi and I were caravaning with my parents. They were pulling a fifth wheel trailer and I was cruising along in our sedan. I stopped along side the road and a car pulled up. “Are you Chris? Chris Hughes?” I was like ... WHAT?!?! How do you know my name?!? “Your parents got a flat up at the summit!”

I hauled ass up the hill and found my parents ... they were happy to see us! Cell phones don't work in the valley. No roaming! You break down, you have to flag one of the few cars that go by.

The next morning, woke up early and shot the dunes by Stove Pipe Wells. It was exciting because it was the first time for me to really experience sand dunes. Even more exciting to photograph the dunes!

I took a ton pictures .. lots of junk, but a small batch turned into gems

My brother in law, Jason, was holding his 3 year old daughter while we were hiking in the field. She didn't want to touch the ground, so he held her the whole time. She was asking questions, as 3 year olds do, and he was explaining the world in 3 year old terms.

The lens aperature was fully open (f2.8) and I under exposed by a full stop to create the silhouette exposure. This helped keep enough sky detail in the picture. In Aperature, I increased the contrast through levels and brought up the saturation a touch. I shoot with a Rebel XT.

I really felt like the silhouette and the blurred background captured the feeling of a 3 year old experiencing the "big world" from her father's perspective. And likewise, the feeling of my brother in law sharing his knowledge of the world with his daughter.