ENTRY DESCRIPTION
Death Valley is this vast expanse of barren rock in a land filled with extremes: extreme heat, cold, dust storms, and when it rains, it can be a deluge. One of my favorite places to be in the early morning light is at Zabriskie Point. The morning I took this shot, the sun's rays barely touched the tops of the Furnace Creek Formation of Zabriskie Point, Death Valley National Park, CA. Timbisha Shoshone & Newe Sogobia Ancestral Homeland.

AUTHOR
Michelle Ranee Johnson is a self-taught, award-winning landscape, climbing/adventure, and fine art photographer based in Fresno near Yosemite National Park, California. She grew up being mesmerized by the photographs in National Geographic and Ansel Adams, and these photos transported her by her imagination to each different location. When she was nine, her best friend invited her to their family’s cabin in Mineral King in Sequoia National Park, CA. This was where Michelle learned beautiful places like what she saw in National Geographic weren’t so distant and far away. She picked up her mom’s camera and started exploring the natural world, looking through her camera’s viewfinder. She kept her photography as a hobby as she went to CSU Fresno to obtain her BA in Anthropology with a minor in Art History and received her Master’s in Geology. Eventually, her passion for photography led her to become a professional photographer. She has been commissioned by companies such as Mad Rock and Rocktape and has worked with numerous other companies (such as Arc’teryx).

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