Light comes to the barren ridges of Death Valley very quickly. In a matter of moments, the scene goes from dark to light. I made this image at first light, catching the glow on the repeating ridges, and letting the rest of the image stay in the shadows. I spot metered on the brightest part of the scene to hold detail in the highlights. Shooting from high above these ridges at the Zabriskie Point overlook, I composed this scene as a series of flowing diagonal repetitions – eliminating the sky and stressing the variation of light on the stone ridges unfolding below me.