Nature gave me four of the five layers in this image, and ten passionate nature photographers gave me the fifth. Every day, ten to twenty photographers carry their tripods up to the top of Death Valley’s most visited overlook at Zabriskie Point to await the coming of the light. On this winter morning, an icy wind chilled the rocky surfaces, but these photographers never flinched. They not only were about to make their own pictures, but they helped me make mine as well. I use the large curved dome of smooth rock as my foreground layer – including the long diagonal path rubbed smooth by generations of serious landscape photographers. The gently curving arc of ten photographers in various stages of preparation and wearing contrasting colors create my second layer – they are my subjects and the view from Zabriskie Point is the context. The third layer is a pair of pink ridges; the fourth layer offers a mass of merged ridges that carry the eye to the valley of the Amargosa Mountains. The final layer is the valley itself, reaching out to the foothills at the very top of the image.