The moving rocks series was one of those gifts that one sometimes receives from being out and looking around.
When I read about the moving rocks phenomena, my first thought was video, not realizing that no one has ever seen them move. I first encountered these mysterious rocks at the Wendover Air Force Base on the Bonneville Salt Flats, when I was wandering around the flats photographing vintage bomb craters. The following year I made the pilgrimage to the Racetrack, a dry lake bed in a remote corner of Death Valley National Park famous for its rocks.
My interests at that time centered on the intersections of human activity and geological time. I was following maps of the Pleistocene lake beds, reminders of former times and long-gone climates.
-- Mark Ruwedel
The Lapis Press is pleased to present an edition with Mark Ruwedel from his series depicting the strange moving rocks of Death Valley. Moving Rocks #8 (The Racetrack) captures the stark beauty of the playa (a dry lakebed) located in Death Valley National Park known as The Racetrack. Ruwedel’s breathtaking oversized (41 x 47.5 inches) black and white archival pigment print captures a procession of moving rocks that mysteriously sail across the barren valley between the Cottonwood Mountains and Last Chance Ranges. Their tracks draw the viewer into the hypnotically cobbled lakebed, inspiring wonder at this puzzle of nature.