Still Life Themes during the Dutch Golden Age

The masters of the Golden Age produce several different themes of paintings; here is a brief description of the most common ones:
Bouquet of Flowers: One of the reasons that these paintings were popular among the wealthy in XVII Century Holland is because paintings were considered to outlast nature and life. Having a painting with a bouquet of flowers was a secure way to have beautiful flowers to admire in winter which was pleasant and broke the monotony of the white covered landscape.
Ontbijt or “Breakfast”: Heda and Pieter Claesz were the creators and masters of the Breakfast pieces (Ontbijtjes is Dutch for small breakfast), these pieces were displayed objects made of silver, pewter, etc, very detailed, but lacked color or the sense of lush, exoticism that characterized later works. They were mostly almost monochromatic; due to the limited color palette used most of these pieces were quite similar. There is also a theory out there that they used these colors because they were economic and also, by limiting the color palette the painters could increase their profit. A typical breakfast in Holland at the time included wheat or sometimes white bread, butter, pickled herring, cheese, fried fish.
Banketje or “small banquet”: Banketjes were very similar to breakfast pieces but, the food items were what was typical in XVII century Holland dinner, they also displayed more sophisticated objects. Heda and Pieter Claesz were the creators and masters of this style. Other masters like van Beyeren named his pieces as banketjes but they were more colorful and with richer objects looking closer to pronkstilleven pieces. A normal main meal in a wealthy home would include fish or meat dishe, soup, porridge, or hodgeporridge with meat. Note that the lunch was the main meal of the day, normally eaten at noon.
Pronkstilleven or “ostentatious still life”: This was the favorite theme of While Kalf (1619-1693), Van Beyeren, Pieter the Ring and later painters who choose sumptuous objects and more vivid colors specially Van Beyeren, Janz Davidz de Heem, Peter de Ring and Floris Claesz van Dijck)
Vanitas: I have written several articles dedicated to this singular still life style, you can read them here.

The Flowers of the Dutch Golden Age Masters. Semper Augustus and the Viceroy

Some of the flowers painted by Ambrosious Bosschaert the Elder and other members of his dynasty (see previous article on this) were not exactly common in XVII century Netherlands. The flamed tulips commonly seen in most of these paintings were precious in those times,they were beyond the reach of even middle class people.

 

“Semper Augustus” and “Viceroy” tulips

These were rare and very expensive tulips. For instance a single “Viceroy” (bottom right) tulip bulb would be priced between 3,000 – 4,000 guilders, at a time when a skilled craftsman would earn around 150 guilders a year. The “Semper Augustus” (see at right) was around 1,000 guilders in 1623 and went all the way to around 5,000 guilders by 1637 (see picture at right)

Therefore, having a painting that included these and other flowers was probably cheaper and less risky than having the real thing.

Interestingly enough, the “flaming” was caused by a virus that “broke” the colors in the flower. Today similar tulips can be bought normally but the flaming effect is a courtesy of modern genetics.

In the “Bosschaert” style photo seen at left, you can peruse and find a “Semper Augustus” alike tulip. I have used these profusely in my “Bosschaert” collection. You can browse the gallery here or by clicking the tab at the top of this page.

Spring Cleaning…..

According to my website visitor data, that is searches, keywords and similar a  significant % of them find this blog by keywords like:

• Vanitas
• Vanitas symbol
• Pieter Claesz
• Kalf

Therefore, I have decided to use this information to make it easier for those interested in these topics to find matching images. I have separated all Dutch Golden Age Still Life  images into three groups Vanitas, Flower Bouquets and Ointbijt/Pronks/Banketjes.

Note the tabs at the top, they will take you to each of these galleries.

When I started producing these Dutch Golden Age Still Life photos, it made sense to have them all grouped. But now I have about 35 of these images, so splitting the galleries into “categories”or types would facilitate browsing them. Specially, since I am far from done, more will soon be coming.

I also decided to remove from my website those images that haven’t garnered much attention in the last few years. I took out about 5 of those, but more is needed. At certain  point, you want to have there only the best images. The caveat with this is that most photographers love their latest work the most and; as years pass, they tend to be less enthusiastic about their previous work.

Stay tuned, I will be back to the Flower Bouquets soon, I have some in the works.

Flower Bouquets in Dutch Golden Age Paintings - Ambrosious Bosschaert and followers

Some of the most priced paintings from the Dutch Golden Age represented beautiful bouquets of flowers. This style was popularized by Ambrosious Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621). He founded almost a dynasty as his three sons were also well known flower painters themselves although not as famous as their father. His brother in law, Balthasar Van der Ast was also a great painter, he took a young man named Jan Davisz de Heem as an apprentice who later became a master himself. In other words, when comes to this style of still-life Bosschaert’s bouquets of flowers were of great influence. At right “Bouquet of Flowers on a Ledge”, you can see the original painting at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  Below my own adaptation of Bosschaert’s masterpiece using today’s flowers. You can explore it by also clicking on it.
One of the reasons these paintings were so popular among the wealthy in XVII Century Holland is because paintings were considered to outlast nature and life. A painting with a bouquet of flowers was also a secure way to have beautiful, colorful flowers to break the dull colors of winter.

These paintings had flowers that were from different times of the year and as such impossible to gather in a bouquet. Bosschart and other Dutch masters sketched them while they were available and then assemble them into bouquets.
I absolutely love these paintings, it has been a great project to use them for inspiration. I did not intend to exactly replicate Bosschaert’s painting, but to use it as a model to emulate. For the bouquet's background, I chose a flat landscape because in my opinion, it would be a more realistic representation of a Dutch landscape which notably lacks hills or elevations.
More on this topic in upcoming articles. Enjoy and feel free to “Share” it, “Like” it in Facebook or “Tweet” it.

Symbolic Meaning of objects used in Vanitas paintings

Some of the vanitas objects had a quite direct meaning for instance the skull which is regarded as the universal symbol of death. Some other objects were more subtle and had more meaning in the XVII century Holland than today.

Please note that although I have done quite a bit of research on this, I am no expert in this matter. I am trying to share my recently acquired knowledge even if someone disagrees with it. Here is a list of common vanitas objects and their meaning:

• Skull: Death, this is a clear memento mori message, a universally recognized symbol of death.
• Watch or hourglass: time is limited and is passing. See a typical one handle XVII C watch at the lower right of the photo.
• Books: Human knowledge and its temporary nature.
• Artist’s instruments e.g. Palette, brushes, easel: Indulgence, very few could afford to be painters let alone patronize the arts.
• Shell: they were normally exotic ones not commonly available in the Netherlands. They were a symbol of the vanity that comes with wealth, as these were exotic items at the time, only a very wealthy person would have one of those.
• Insects, decaying flowers: transience of life. They were inserted in paintings depicting expensive objects as a reminder that life is temporary and moral considerations deserved more attention than material things.
• Broken glassware or Food: transience of life.
• Musical instruments: indulgency of the senses as a luxury
• Silk or velvet tablecloths or rugs: vanity, as these were expensive things. Silk being the ultimate fabric material and purple the most expensive dye, hence the Roman emperors wore purple tunics.
• Jewelry, clothes or mirrors: remember the temporary nature of beauty, wealth and wisdom. 
• Jars: Stoneware or porcelain were used for water or oil, both substance sustain life at the time.

Note that some of these objects made it to other types of Still Lifes, notably the Ontbijt (breakfast), banketjes (small banquets) and pronkstilleven (Sumptuous still life), Flower Bouquets and festoons.

Written messages in Vanitas paintings.

As explained in previous articles, Vanitas paintings were loaded with objects that were symbols. However, almost like if these were not clear enough, the Golden Age Dutch and other painters sometimes placed written messages in their pieces.

These were “memento mori” messages which are Latin for “remember your mortality” or “remember you will die”. The most obvious message was then “Vanitas, vanitatum omnia vanitas” which if you have read my previous articles then you should know it (otherwise click here). The painting in the top left is showing “nemo ante mortem beatus dici potest” No one can be called happy before his death and Sic transit gloria mundi which is Latin for "Thus passes the glory of the world". I used both in the following photo plus some other vanitas symbols like the globe, the dice, cards and writing utensils over a blue velvet tablecloth.

'Finis coronat opus' - 'the end crowns the work' or - refers to the serene happiness that awaits the pious in afterlife. It is symbolized by the laurel crown resting on the skull. The laurel crown was the highest honor that could be awarded to a Roman general, this main reason why all Roman emperors wore them for festivities.

Vanitas Paintings and their symbol categories

In the last article about Vanitas, I briefly discussed the socio-economic environment prevalent during the birth of this type of painting. Today I will discuss some of the objects and their symbolism.

The term ‘ Vanitas’ comes the opening verse of Ecclesiastes 1:2 in the Latin Bible 'Vanitas vanitatum, omnia vanitas': vanity of vanities, all is vanity. Because their symbolism and allegoric meaning, these were almost religious paintings but presented as still lifes. Vanitas symbols were common in many of the Dutch Golden Age paintings, decaying flowers, hourglasses, watches, etc.

These objects were meant to communicate the Vanitas message which as presented in the Gospel of Matthew 6:18-21: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Objects in a typical Vanitas painting were representative or symbols. Experts group them into 3 main categories:

About the transience of life and death: bones from humans or animals, time pieces e.g.hourglasses or watches. In this group were the candles and oil lamps with smoke wicks, soap bubbles, decaying flower, broken glasses or sometimes half empty. See first photo at top left as a good example

Our earthly existence: books, scientific, musical or artistic instruments, collectibles or just valuable objects like weapons, armor, shells, globes, precious metal coins or money, pipes, tobacco related articles, dice, cards and plaster sculptures. See photo at top left as an example.

Resurrection: Ivy, wheat or Laurel which are normally shown beneath or crowning the skull.

Quite often vanitas symbols made it to other type of paintings like the still life ‘banquets’, ‘breakfasts’, ‘sumptuous’ or flower bouquets. The photo at the bottom is a good example, note a small insect in the lower left corner and some soap bubbles around the globe.

Next article I will discuss some of the most common written messages in these paintings, like the one shown in the top-right photo

Following Willem Kalf’s lead…

As the Dutch Golden Age reaches its climax one of Still Life masters started a very ornamented, rich, almost ostentatious depictions of the Dutch wealthy. Richly decorated golden goblets, magnificent Chinese porcelain bowls, jars, dishes, highly decorated chalices or tazzas, oriental rugs, wine jugs, etc were neatly arranged with grapes, oranges and other exotic fruits. These paintings are known as “pronkstilleven”or “ostentatious still life” and they were the brainchild of  Willem Kalf . Others like Peter de Ring, Abraham van Beyeren and Davidz de Heem followed his lead and took it to new heights.
Kalf’s pronks seem to challenge the beauty of the original objects, according to Norman Bryson in Looking the Overlooked; Four Essays on Still Life Paintings, it seems like if he wanted to establish painting as a superior form of art above all others. If he could paint these objects in a way that would look better than the original, that meant that painting could outdo all other forms of decorative arts. According to Bryson, Goethe (the man regarded as the pinnacle of German literature) wrote about one of Kalf’s paintings; ”One must see the picture in order to understand in what sense art is superior to nature and what the spirit of man imparts to objects. For me, at least there is no question that should I have the choice of the golden vessels or the picture, I would choose the picture”.
See below some of Kalf paintings and my photographic rendering of them.

Willem Kalf - Still Life with a Chinese Porcelain Jar (oil on canvas, 1669) Indianapolis Museum of Art

You can read more articles about this topic by clicking on Dutch Golden Age Still Life label at right panel.

Finally, Vanitas!

Back in the XVI and XVII century the Dutch republic became the first affluent country in history. Like most of Europe at the time prior to this explosion in abundance, the Dutch were primary an agricultural society. Agriculture is a seasonal activity, therefore, the spring and summer is the time for abundance while autumn and winter are the times for scarcity. A society that is accustomed to save for lean times will easily associate wealth and abundance with waste.
This, combined with their deep Calvinist religious beliefs, were the factors behind a a particular type of paintings that were called “Vanitas”. These were painting with symbolic objects meant to remind the audience of the transience of life and that therefore it should be lived following God’s laws. 
The skulls, hourglasses, extinguished candles, clocks or watches were all symbols of how short our existence is.
Vanitas paintings were popular, Masters like Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Heda painted many of these pieces. You can see Vanitas symbols in many other of the Dutch Still Life from the Golden Age, decaying flowers, insects nibbling at fruits or flowers, etc. Below is Pieter Claesz classic, "Brass candlestick, writing materials, letter pocket watch and anemone" (1625) and my own photographic version of it, plus variations of it.



I may end up creating different galleries for Vanitas, Banketjes, Ontbijtjes and Pronks.
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You can read more articles about this topic by clicking on Dutch Golden Age Still Life label at right panel.

The Golden Era of Dutch Still Life. Objects Used Part II

As promised last week, this post will cover some other objects used by these painters.

Pass Glass – Another very common object in the Dutch Still Life paintings. These were usually octagonal glasses that were used for beer in drinking games. The glass had a blue glass swirl going around that was used to measure the beer in it. The glass was passed on from player to player(hence their name). The player in turn had to drink from measure to measure in one gulp, if he missed (no women were allowed) then he had to do it again. Rembrandt is holding one of these in his well known “Rembrandt and Saskia in the Scene of the Prodigal Son in the Tavern” (see at right). Experts believe that the glass was cheap in the XVII Century which explains why you can see it in a Tavern. I found similar replicas made by Czech glass blowers, although circular and not octagonal. I email them about purchasing one, but apparently eCommerce is not well developed there.

Tazza – This is a wide, ornate chalice that was used to drink wine. It appears in many Ontbijt and baketjes pieces from the Claesz; both Pieter and Willem. Sometimes they showed it knocked down, revealing the detail of the base. This was meant to tell you that the meal or occasion was over and a symbol that things/people fall and sometimes break.


Buckelpokal – Also called Nuremberg Cup (see at right). This is very rare, expensive, tall and beautiful goblet apparently for beer (Dutch have always been specially fond of this beverage). The one most often painted by the Dutch Masters were gilded or golden. Willem Kalf, Abraham Van Bayeren and  Jans Davidz de Heem used them profusely in their Pronkstillevens or Pronks. Kalf was an art dealer so he had easy access to this and other ostentatious objects. Today, I could only find these Buckenpokal cups at museums (see one here); I saw one for auction starting about $22,000.00 although apparently you could get them for as low as $2,100.00. So, you won’t see any of these in my photos. If you have one sitting around and are willing to lend it or rent to me it would be wonderful. A very good example is shown in the painting at the bottom by Pieter De Ring (part of the Rijksmuseum collection).
Flute Glass. These were tall flute glasses normally shown with wine or beer. Pieter Claesz and Willem Claesz Heda used them quite often as shown in his still life “Breakfast with crab” (at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia) and ”Ham and Silverware”. The one I used in my “Still Life a la Kalf” is made in Sweden according to the traditions of the times.
At the bottom, a classic Ponkstilleven or Ostentatious Still Life that also includes a Wan-Li plate on top of a great salt, lots of exotic foods, lobster, crab all beautifully arranged on a blue velvet table cloth. I thought it would be a good idea to show a painting with some of the objects described in the first and second part of this series. Pieter de Ring combined opposite colors like blue and red to create a sharp contrast and designed a beautiful smooth transition with yellows and oranges. As always, feel free to ‘Share’ or ‘Like’ the article in Facebook or Twitter.

You can read more articles about this topic by clicking on Dutch Golden Age Still Life label at right panel.

The Golden Age of Dutch Still Life. Objects Used Part I

As explained in previous posts, the Dutch Masters of Still Life used very luxurious objects in their paintings. This has been the main deterrent for many years preventing me from trying to reproduce them using a camera. It took a lot of research to find out the names of these objects and what their purpose was at the time. Some of these objects had a special meaning, like the skulls, shells, etc. This post series is not meant to be an exhaustive inventory of all of them, but for those interested in this topic it will provide some light about the paintings or the photographs.
Roemer – This is a glass in several sizes, sometimes real big sometimes smaller. It appears very often in all these paintings, normally with white wine or water. The base could be round or sometimes had small spikes similar to a Berkemeyer (see Berkemeyer). The glass stem is hollow and has prunts on the outside. These prunts could have different shapes, sometimes they looked like berries, sometimes like spikes. At the time, people ate with their hands which were greasy; the prunts helped prevent the glass from slipping. The name Roemer (sometimes seen as rummer) comes from the German word “Roman”.You can see a large roemer in this photo
Wan-Li Kraak Porcelain Dishes – Another widely used object by Dutch painters of the time. These are very thin, blue and white decorated dishes and bowls from the Chinese Ming Dynasty, Wan-li period (hence their name). They were exported to Europe in massive amounts and very appreciated by the wealthy of the times. These dishes were copied in several parts of the world and when they became unavailable, the Dutch made their own, which today are known as Blue Delft (they no longer have Chinese motives). An interesting note, Dutch Blue Delft is not porcelain but earth ware because they are not made from Kaolin, the clay variety needed to produce porcelain. 
Berkemeyer – This German/Dutch glass was definitely popular in Holland at the time and it was included very often in Still Life paintings of the time. It looks very similar to a Roemer, both being hollow with a thick stem; however the Berkemeyer top is a conical bowl whether the Roemer is oval. Berkemeyers are the most commonly found glass from the Seventeenth century, at the time was customary to hold it by the foot. See Frank Hals painting “The Merry Drinker” where is clearly shown how the Berkemeyer should be held. To have a better understanding of the size, you can see next to a flute glass here
 
Next article, I will cover the Pass Glass, Tazza, Buckelpokal and Flute Glass…. stay tuned.
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You can read more articles about this topic by clicking on Dutch Golden Age Still Life label at right panel.

More about the Dutch Masters of Still Life…

The Dutch Masters of Still Life painted about the riches of their patrons. Holland became an affluent country from commerce and their colonies. Dutch merchants and the new rich, indulged commissioning paintings that displayed their newly acquired riches. Willem Claesz Heda was one of those painters. He painted still lifes with subdued, muted almost monochromatic colors. he was also known for his Ontbijt (Dutch) pieces or breakfast paintings, another contemporary painter that profusely used that theme was Pieter Claesz.
They painted the typical wealthy Dutch breakfast of their times and no, there was no coffee then. I have placed a image with the original painting next to my own so that you can compare the composition and lighting.To say that the lighting is challenging is an understatement, but that’s part of the experience and the fun. You can definitely have more control in a painting than a photograph. Regardless, re-creating these wonderful masterpieces have been a lot of fun. Feel free to share this post in Facebook or Twitter.

Copyright.Levin Rodriguez. All Rights Reserved. www.LevinRodriguez.com

The Classics of Still Life. Luis Melendez and his Bodegones

Last article was about the Dutch, this one is about a Spaniard, Luis Melendez who is regarded as one of the Still Life masters of all times. Melendez, unlike the Dutch Masters of the XVII century did not painted about the riches owned by his patrons. He used every day articles that had a practical use. Jars, pans, pots, wine, boxes, drinking vessels, etc. His works were sober although sometimes very colorful. He painted the most intrinsic details of the objects he used, while arranging them in pleasant compositions. He choose objects with different textures which he painted to an excruciating detail as to show off his painting skills.

The first image at left been inspired by one of his masterpieces "Bodegon con caja de jalea, rosca de pan, enfriador con botella, salvilla de plata y vaso" (1770) which can be seen at right.

Another example is the image with watermelons that has been inspired by some of his masterpieces", specifically "Bodegon with watermelon, apples in a landscape" (1771) and "Bodegon with Melon and Pears".

Note that Melendez did not use lemons as often as the Dutch, lemons were used to mix with wine to decrease the alcohol content so they thought, I chose to add the lemon to provide a balancing color point.

Both Melendez paintings can be seen at the El Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. My photos can be seen at my site www.LevinRodriguez.com

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The Classics of Still Life. Luis Melendez and his Bodegones

Last article was about the Dutch, this one is about a Spaniard, Luis Melendez who is regarded as one of the Still Life masters of all times. Melendez, unlike the Dutch Masters of the XVII century did not painted about the riches owned by his patrons. He used every day articles that had a practical use. Jars, pans, pots, wine, boxes, drinking vessels, etc. His works were sober although sometimes very colorful. He painted the most intrinsic details of the objects he used, while arranging them in pleasant compositions. He choose objects with different textures which he painted to an excruciating detail as to show off his painting skills.
The first image at left been inspired by one of his masterpieces "Bodegon con caja de jalea, rosca de pan, enfriador con botella, salvilla de plata y vaso" (1770) which can be seen at right.
Another example is the image with watermelons that has been inspired by some of his masterpieces", specifically "Bodegon with watermelon, apples in a landscape" (1771) and "Bodegon with Melon and Pears".
Note that Melendez did not use lemons as often as the Dutch, lemons were used to mix with wine to decrease the alcohol content so they thought, I chose to add the lemon to provide a balancing color point.
Both Melendez paintings can be seen at the El Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. My photos can be seen at my site www.LevinRodriguez.com
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The Classics of Still Life. Vanitas, Ontbijt, Pronkstilleven

Back in mid 2009, I started experimenting using tricky lighting and my own household objects to produce Still Lifes. I was very encouraged by the aesthetic quality of the images which have produced lots of praise (See the comments section in my Fine Art America site or go straight to the Still Life, Vanitas, Ontbijt, Pronkstilleven Gallery).
By early 2010 I was then experimenting with textures to give these images a more painting like look. They also got lots of praise both online and in a couple of exhibitions I attended.
Now in 2011, I wanted to take it to the next level: images that more closely resemble the classic Ontbijt (breakfast) of Willem Cleasz Heda, Pietr Claesz, Willem Kalf (pronkstilleven or ostentatious still life) or Luis Melendez’ Bodegones.This is not particularly easy because the Dutch Masters painted about the riches of their patrons, therefore, the objects they use were very luxurious and rare even at that time.
Holland was burgeoning from international commerce and their Asian colonies in the XVII century. Dutch merchants and the new rich, indulged commissioning paintings that displayed their newly acquired riches from exotic far away places.e,g Ming plates from China, Turkish rugs, Japanese katanas, Salt, Pepper, expensive glasses, gild goblets, purple silk,etc. Now you can understand why producing images with similar objects is difficult. However, with some creativity and some key pieces I think I got close enough. Here are some of my early attempts at this.

There will be more articles about this fascinating subject and a lot more images. The next will be about Luis Melendez and his famous ‘Bodegones’. So stay tuned. Feel free to comment and/or to ‘Like’ it.

You can read more articles about this topic by clicking on Dutch Golden Age Still Life label at right panel.

Death Valley National Park. My Experience

As soon as I decided to go to Yosemite National Park, I knew that I had to somehow include Death Valley in the same trip. Getting to Death Valley is a lot easier from Las Vegas but we were flying to Los Angeles so it had to be the other way around

.
Death Valley National Park is the US largest outside Alaska, the Valley itself is narrow and surrounded by the Amargosa, Black Mountains and Panamint Ranges, these mountains are completely bare with no vegetation whatsoever which exposes their colorful rocks. Within Death Valley you will find very diverse landscapes from sand dunes, pure salt basins, badlands and even a full blown resort with golf course included at Furnace Creek.

Consider these before you go

In my humble opinion this should be a minimum two-days trip, there is a lot to see and explore and distances are long even by car.
This place is the hottest in North America, if you read the Park’s recommendations for safety and travel you will get scared, I know because we did. Bring a gallon of water per person per day, don’t do this, don’t do that, rattle snakes, cell phone does not work, etc. They should say plainly that if you are coming in a van, car or vehicle with AC you will be more than ok and that there is really no need to carry a swimming pool full of water with you. That would have been nice to know. However, I supposed that there are plenty of the adventurous type out there and if you get lost without water, it won’t be fun.
I strongly suggest downloading the map from the Park’s site so that you plan your trip in advance, especially, if you are planning to be there for only one day. Obtaining accommodation here is very difficult, so if you want to stay there in a bed with AC (highly, strongly, super recommended), make your reservation way in advance. We stayed in Lone Pine which is 2 1/2 hrs away at German speed.

Photographing

For the photographer, this place is amazing, it is bare, desolated, very hot but also very colorful. It is anything but boring. Expect NO clouds, sky will be very blue, sun will be strong and shadows harsh. Using a polarizer may be good idea to enrich the color. Also, an UV filter would get rid of some of the haze in the air, that being said, I did not use one because I wanted the contrast between the deep blue of the background Mountains and the foreground rocks or landscape. See at right.
Photographing speaking, your main problem here will be to provide sense of scale. Remember, you will have no trees, cows, houses or anything to give the viewer of your photos a reference, so the challenge is to wait for some whack-job to walk through the mountains at 45-48 Celcius to embellish your capture. Not to worry, they are plenty of those around, just be patient. I have similar photos with and without people and they do make a difference.   If you have some panoramic gear, make sure to take it with you, it will be worthwhile the inconvenience.
In terms of lenses, I used only my 70-200 mm and my 17-85 mm, now this is not a place where you want to be changing your lenses a lot, there is lots of dust and sand (I know it sounds strange but the desert is like that)

Best Places

I did not go to the Racetrack

which is where you can find those stones with a mysterious track behind them (nobody really knows how this happens), it is really far away and we were worried that the 16 gallons of water we carried were not going to be enough, so we cut the trip there. This is the main reason why I think it should be a two days trip, if you are going all the way there, may as well do it. It will also give you a couple of times to shoot at dawn and sunset where you will be able to get the best light.
We took the 190 from Lone Pine all the way to Stovepipe Wells village, right there you will find the Mesquite Sand Dunes which are fantastic (see photo at top). I also regret not spending more time there; it is difficult when your kids are reminding you that it is already about 40 Celsius and only 8:00 am.
The next best place is Badwater basin, this is a great experience, walking over pure salt is not something you do very often (at right). The extension of the basin is absolutely huge and the fact that is white against the black mountains makes it quite beautiful, see at right (again without the people walking it would have been very difficult to get a sense of scale). The basing as flat as it gets, I found it very difficult to come up with a creative way to showcase the landscape, so I settle for some family photos bragging about our descending to the lowest point in North America.
My absolutely favorite spot was Zabriskie Point, right after Furnace Creek Resort. You get a superb view of these golden badlands which are absolutely beautiful . I did not know about this in advance so I did not carry my panoramic gear with me. Basically, I had to wing it, this panorama was from handheld photos. This is by far my favorite photo from Death Valley and it will make it on canvas to some wall of my house.
Dante’s View. At 5,475 ft (1,802 m) this is one of the highest places where you can drive to in Death Valley. The view is spectacular and definitely worth the loop. You will see the Badwater basin just below you and the length of the valley.

Copyright.Levin Rodriguez. All Rights Reserved. www.LevinRodriguez.com