This issue has the details you'll need to plan your photo trip to Death Valley: when is the best time of year; when is the best time of day to be out there on the dunes near Stove Pipe Wells and the remote Eureka Dunes. Tips on sunrise at Badwater and Zabriskie Point and sunset from Dante’s View and on visiting Titus, Mosaic, and Grotto Canyons.
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Because Death Valley receives an average of under two inches of rainfall each year, great desert wildflower shows are very rare. Death Valley, however, has many other things to photograph besides wildflowers. Number one on my list has always been the sand dunes. They are located center on the map of Death Valley National monument, and extend three miles from east to west and are a half mile wide.

​The highest dunes are a hundred feet above the surface of the valley, which is just below sea level. You can drive to within 200 feet of the dunes on Highway 190, and park on the well-packed edge of the road and walk out into the dunes. Morning light is best because the sun rises over a range of mountains far to the southeast. In the afternoon, the sun drops behind the higher and much closer range of the Cottonwood Mountains in the west and the dunes are in shadow for at least an hour before there is any sunset color in the sky.

Crowley Lake is about 10 miles south of Mammoth Lakes and about 25 miles north of  the town of Bishop, California. Highway 395 follows the west side of the lake. From several viewpoints along the highway, you can see white cliffs in the distance on the east side of the lake. Avoid this hike after a wet winter when the white columns are under water. The lake can raise to the tops of the columns. The easiest access is at the junction called Tom’s Place, on #395. Follow Owens Gorge Road north to the lake where the road crosses the top of Long Valley Dam. Follow signs to a wide parking place at the trailhead to the white columns. Unless you have a 4x4 with lots of ground clearance, park at the lot at the foot of a steep and rough road. After a 2-mile hike you’ll come to a trail that leads down to the edge of the lake. You can avoid the hike if you have a kayak or boat. A boat ramp with rental boats and a bait shop is located on #395 on the west side of the Lake. You can get info about the columns there or call the Lake Crowley Bait Shop at: 760-935-4301

You will find more information on Great photo locations on Highway 395 in Issue #163 of Photograph America Newsletter.

Pack up your camera gear, leave the busy city streets of New York, cross over the Hudson, and head north to explore remote trails leading to landscapes that rival any in America. I traveled to New York City for a long exploration of the Hudson River, up the eastern edge of New York State. I found many fascinating places to set up my tripod during that trip. I made many stops to photograph the river while driving the narrow river road named 9J on maps of the east side of the river. Near Castleton-on-Hudson, I made a quick U-turn when I spotted a unique and abstract pattern of bridge supports beneath Interstate 90.

You will find more information on the Hudson in Issue #064 of Photograph America Newsletter. 

North of Lake Louise, on your way to Jasper National Park, watch for the sign pointing out the road up to the Peyto Lake Overlook at Bow Summit. After a short, but fairly strenuous walk up from the parking lot, you will be standing a thousand feet above a glacier-fed, blue-green lake. The panoramic view is breathtaking. Off in the distance, to the right, is the Mistaya Valley. This location is perfect for a panoramic camera. A very wide-angle lens, in the 17-20mm range, will frame the lake. Some of the most spectacular alpine scenery in North America is found along the route between Peyto Lake and the Columbia Ice Fields. Although you can easily drive from Lake Louise to Jasper in three hours, allow at least one whole day for the 144- mile trip. All along the Ice Fields Parkway, you will be able to photograph reflections of glacier-capped peaks reflecting in icy blue lakes and wild waterfalls cascading down thousand-foot cliffs. You will probably see mountain goats, elk, bears, and moose from the highway.

You will find more information on the Canadian Rockies in British Columbia in Issue #30 of Photograph America Newsletter.