Oasis

Anywhere else no one would care about such anemic stream of salty water creek. Here in Death Valley it’s an extraordinary spectacle! When you hear Death Valley, you think scorching heat, dry air, desolation… This meant that chasing a Milky Way reflection out of a small creek was something so out of the ordinary that the few we were there (my small workshop group and I) absolutely enjoyed every minute of it. The dying and tiny seasonal salty creek you see is barely an inch deep at this, its final destination, yet it still streams just enough to ripple the reflection. The areas without reflection in the center bottom is sand surfacing, not editing mishaps, enough to kill the reflection but still wet and shiny – it’s hard to picture how the stream really looks if you haven’t seen it. Airglow and the strong light glow from Las Vegas about 100 miles away mathematically centered under the Milky Way arch complete this nightscape that has apparently escaped most nightscapers’ bucket list so far.