Journey Into Night at Ryan Ranch Our recent trip back to Joshua Tree National Park was a great time to explore the night. Thanks to some handy jetlag, I was wide awake at 3:30am and hiked to the ruins of Ryan Ranch. The moonlight was bright enough to make wearing a headlamp unnecessary. Ryan Ranch was built by JD Ryan who ran [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]