IN THIS ISSUE.....

Death Valley

The Story Behind the Image

Drawing

I've recently returned from my annual two-week Death Valley trip. I had an incredible time exploring areas I had never been to and discovering two new sand dune systems that I was not aware of.  

But due to a camera mishap (actually due to "pilot error") I came home and found that I had not properly recorded the images from my trip! A new camera...an incorrect setting...and those two weeks worth of work were almost for naught.

Fortunately, through the kindness of others who offered technical advice, I was able to salvage many of those images. They are special to me because they represent the two weeks I spent wandering in the wilderness, and they are made more special because they are the images I thought that I had lost!

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Death Valley

The Story Behind the Image

In 2008 my wife and I went to Ukraine to visit my son who was serving in the Peace Corps in the little town of Beryslav. Two friends of my son, brothers named Igor and Artyom, knew of my work and invited us to a picnic with them.  

We gathered on the banks of the Dniepr River in the town of Nova Kakhovka, and were treated to a feast. These are very poor people by our standards but they had brought a tremendous amount of meat to barbecue and to make shashlik. I remember the brothers proudly asking me if I had ever seen so much meat and asking if I liked it.

They were so generous and wanted to impress us with how much they had, but instead I remember being impressed with how much they were willing to share.

The language barrier was impenetrable and because we only had my son and his girlfriend available as translators, not many words were exchanged. I wanted to thank them and so I created an image right there at the picnic for them.  

And this is the resulting image: "At the Picnic,"

Cole

Drawing

(Plate of Leaves)

 

About Cole Thompson Photography