THE AESTHETIC OF ZABRESKI POINT - 1 December 2015

Zabreski Point At Sunrise - Death Valley National Park, California
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It's hard to believe a year has passed since I was here last at Death Valley. It only seems like yesterday when I tried to shoot Zabreski Point. Last year when I visited, the point access was blocked because of construction. I had to shoot other areas which in Death Valley, isn't a hardship by any means. Still, I was happy to see the point was open to traffic.

What I found very interesting were the gigantic crowds here in Death Valley over the Thanksgiving Day weekend. Not only were the crowds tremendous, the ethnic background of the visitors was interesting. Most of them seemed to be from a South Asia country like India. What's even more interesting is Death Valley was nothing compared to the throngs of people I saw later in the afternoon after this picture was taken when I was in Page, Arizona. More on that later.

The construction at Zabreski Point added a gigantic viewing area that's up a couple hundred feet from the parking lot. If you're unfit, it's a small feat to get up there. But, once there the sight is quite awesome.

Soon after this picture just above--with the throngs of viewers--was taken, mostly everyone departed as it was pitch black. Not long after that other people started to materialize to see the full moon rise to the east.

When I was done shooting for the night, I noticed a couple of people sitting by on one of those benches by the trail to the parking lot warming water for coffee or tea. I found them fascinating because these people purposely chose to have their tea, experience the excellent night with the full moon, at night no less, amongst the otherworldly landscape near this point.

The reason I found this fascinating was due to a recent discussion I had with a friend who's very smart child seemingly couldn't understand the aesthetic of machines made as art. The machines didn't have a particular purpose so this child simply couldn't understand the point. Well, as in many thing, it's the aesthetic that makes the purpose. The aesthetic value of something is based on a "quality" experince I've mentioned before in other articles. If you remember, the quality measure is not defined by anything else. It just is and it's something we have no trouble recognizing but definitely have a difficult time defining thoroughly.

Aesthetics have a similar nature. There's something that makes sense and feels right yet doesn't have a particular definable value. Yet, let me repeat, it makes sense.

Seeing these people warming their water for tea on the side of the trail in the full-moon light at Death Valley made me think of this. I'm sure there was a certain aesthetic they were connecting to when doing this. With a little imagination I could completely understand why.

Of course when in such a interesting and beautiful location like Death Valley, why would I be surprised to see people connecting to an interesting aesthetic as these tea makers were. I'm sure interesting locations like Death Valley promote this type of thinking.

Cheers

Tom