California Dreaming | Death Valley Travel Photography

If you follow me on Instagram, or Facebook, you may have noticed that I traveled to California at the end of January with my bestie!  And, by “noticed,” I mean “been bombarded by a continuos, never-ending slew of pictures in your newsfeed.” My apologies- I couldn’t help myself.  This trip was a photographer’s dream.  We flew into Los Angeles, drove to Mojave, Red Rock, Death Valley National Park, Rhyolite Nevada, back to Death Valley, Amboy (via Route 66), Palm Springs, Joshua Tree, Santa Clarita, Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, and back to LA. In that order!  I traveled light, carrying only my favorite medium format film camera, 10 rolls of film, and my iPhone 5.  I packed light too- as you may notice by the one jacket, one scarf, one pair of sneakers, and several pairs of yoga pants below!  This trip was so refreshing.  It was one of the most active trips I’ve taken.  For all the driving we did, we did equal amounts of hiking and other outdoor activities.  We also ate well (well meaning healthfully).  Again, my Insta feed gives me away; I’m a very health conscious vegan/vegetarian eater, but on the typical vacation I’d indulge.  At every single meal.  I certainly indulged on this vacation, but in a different way.  We dined on fresh, local produce and ate primarily vegan meals.  We drank freshly made juice on several occasions!  Usually when I return home from a vacay, I feel like I need a detox, but after this I felt light as air.

If you ever get a chance to go to Death Valley, please take it.  I think you’ll be amazed by the fantastic hiking, gorgeous vistas, perfect temps (in January!), straight-outta-a-video-game roads, and peacefulness.  This entire trip was inspired by a single pic on a friend’s Instagram feed.  The power of social media!  Pretty amazing to think that we never would’ve thought to visit Death Valley if not for that one picture.

Most of these images were captured on film, but I snuck in several iPhone pics (including a selfie)!  This was my first trip with my newly upgraded iPhone 5 and the camera is a HUGE improvement from the last model, so I found myself taking A LOT more phone pics than usual.  I also learned of the panorama feature a few days into the trip.  I’ll spare you a blog post of 2,916 panoramas, but suffice it to say, I almost filled my brand new phone.  Next week I’ll share images from Palm Springs and Joshua Tree.  Enjoy!!