Joshua Tree National Park in California is very different from the New Jersey Pine Barrens where I do most of my work, but this desert landscape has been a favorite place for a long time. Its odd little Joshua Trees that aren't really trees, and those otherworldly rock formations irresistible.
More Adventures In A Great National Park HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! The previous post about our fourth trip to Joshua Tree National Park challenged landscape photographers to think differently in places that they photograph on a regular basis. Here is another little project that resulted from this challenge. Light Painting For me the purpose of night photography is to portray the solemn [...]
Seeing Differently in Black and White. On our fourth trip to Joshua Tree National Park and I wanted to try something different, but wasn't sure what. So I decided to let the Park show me the way. The challenge to every photographer is keeping inspired by a place you return to many times. Whether you photograph frequently in your own locale, or [...]
My First Desert Storm For a guy from New Jersey, the the power of the desert is very impressive. It is a harsh environment that requires strength to survive, let alone thrive in. Yet it is also a place of amazing beauty and Joshua Tree National Park is a great example of that. This is why I keep being drawn back there. As many times as [...]
What happens to a seaside paradise when the seaside gets toxic The story of Bombay Beach, California is an unusual one. In the early 1900's an attempt to control the Colorado River for irrigation backfired when flood waters filled the Salton Basin creating the Salton Sea. This new sea in the desert may have been an environmental disaster, but was and still is the largest lake in [...]
Morning in the California Desert I love the "tortured landscape" of Joshua Tree National Park. Under the right light it can range from dramatic to alien with just a touch of the surreal. On this particular morning the soft diffused morning light was pretty consistent, so it was not necessary to work quickly to catch that quickly vanishing moment of perfect light. I took advantage [...]
Strange Trees, Stranger Rock Formations and That Beautiful Desert Moon A few years ago a visit to Joshua Tree National Park was a photographic bust for me. Part of it was timing. We were only there for 2 days, the weather was really hot, blah blah blah. In retrospect, mediocre vision on my part was the real reason my work wasn't what it should be. As a result I [...]
Strange, Surreal, and Fantastic Light in the Arizona Desert I'm going to depart from the rust, mold and decay of the abandoned places I've been photographing this Fall and return to our Arizona trip in October. This post reflects my first morning in the Copper State. Every now and then a photographer is blessed with an amazing sunrise or sunset. I had an [...]
Attempting to Rate the Beauty of the American Landscape The Grand Canyon Grand Canyon Afterglow by Richard Lewis 2015 New England View Towards Mt. Monadnock by Richard Lewis 2015 In the last couple of weeks we were on a whirlwind tour, first in Arizona and then in New England. As a photographer, I am often perplexed, awed, inspired and completely [...]
Modeling in a Death Valley ghost town Welcome to a Ruined Life by Richard Lewis 2015 Just outside of Death Valley National Park is an old ghost town called Rhyolite. It is near the funky little city of Beatty, Nevada. The old buildings are a popular place to photograph. We stopped at Rhyolite, but the flat light from a rare fully overcast sky just wasn't [...]
Exploring Desert Light Lunar Glow in Death Valley Understanding the nature of the desert landscape means being open to its amazing range of light. Driving across the desert in the early evening revealed the scene below. I've never seen the moon's glow reflected quite like this. Lunar Glow in the Desert by Richard Lewis 2015 What's So Bad About the Badlands? The [...]
The Devil's Golf Course of Death Valley Spending time in Death Valley National Park was an overwhelmingly creative experience. I think it is for many artists because it is one of the most beautiful and strangely diverse landscapes in America. This is the fourth of several posts about life in Death Valley. Some of the "regulars" who photograph Death Valley National Park [...]
The Bad Lands of Death Valley Spending time in Death Valley National Park was an overwhelmingly creative experience. I think it is for many artists because it is one of the most beautiful and strangely diverse landscapes in America. This is the third of several posts about life in Death Valley. The Badlands Morning in the Badlands by Richard Lewis 2013 Badlands [...]
Spending time in Death Valley National Park was an overwhelmingly creative experience. I think it is for many artists because it is one of the most beautiful and strangely diverse landscapes in America. This is the second of several posts about life in Death Valley. Fall Canyon in Death Valley Light Drama in Fall Canyon by Richard Lewis 2013 Hiking [...]
Spending time in Death Valley National Park was an overwhelmingly creative experience. I think it is for many artists because it is one of the most beautiful and strangely diverse landscapes in America. This is the first of several posts about life in Death Valley. The Racetrack Playa at Dusk by Richard Lewis 2013 A Day at the Racetrack in [...]