06/28/2026
Racetrack Playa, Death Valley.
These are the sailing stones — rocks that move on their own across miles of dried lakebed, leaving trails behind them.
I wanted to photograph them the way the 19th century would have — wet plate collodion tintype. You coat the metal plate yourself, expose it, develop it before it dries. It's a race against the desert heat the whole time. All materials are brought in and out.
The process is as old as the mystery.
Prints available at danielleocadi.com
