Living Up To The Name

Bad Water -- Two hundred and eight-three feet below sea level. This is Death Valley, where LA thrill-seekers, adventurers and edgy vacationers go to be a little different from the rest.

I took this photo of my buddy Dean, who thought it would be cool to lay down on the road. There were no cars in sight except for our two, VW Westfalias.

In the mid 80s, my buddies and I used to travel all over California to explore back roads, hidden desert canyons and ghost towns. In those days, I was a full-time photographer averaging about $7.50 per hour. The VW van was my transportation and hotel room. I would not have traded those days anything.

Of course, when I was on assignment, my publisher would give me 3 rolls of Kodachrome 64 and ten rolls of Tri-X 400. On trips like this, I shot an entire weekend with a single roll of 64 and two rolls of Tri-X, as seen above.