I’m offering up a selection of my photos on Fine Art America. They are black and white photographs, mostly of the southern side of Joshua Tree National Park and the surrounding desert. The details are here on the prints page.
ocotillo sunrise – joshua tree national park
cholla and morning sun
When you think of Joshua Tree National Park you naturally think of joshua trees and rock formations and rock climbing. That’s what the park is known for.
Joshua Tree sits on the transition zone of two deserts. The north side, the more well known side with the rocks and joshua trees is in the Mojave Desert. The south side is in the Colorado Desert, a sub-desert of the Sonoran. It’s an area of chollas and ocotillos and canyons and rocky mountain slopes. There are no joshua trees in the southern half.
The south side of Joshua Tree National Park, though not unknown, isn’t as well traveled as the north side. Other than the highway through the park there are few roads there. It’s largely wilderness and hiking trails. I live along the southern boundary of the park. I can step out my door and walk right in. It’s where I wander and take pictures most every day.
sunrise, sunset
You know, when you scroll through desert images in Google, or any other browser for that matter, you’ll see an endless stream of super-saturated sunrises and sunsets. Thousands of them, all pretty much the same. The same is true for many photographers websites. Sure, sunsets like that happen. Not as saturated and spectacular as most of those photos suggest, but they happen. But not all that often. Much of what passes for desert photography is misleading.
I’ve managed this small campground on the southern boundary of Joshua Tree National Park for ten years now, and I’ve heard it hundreds of times. People come in to camp for a day or two and say they can’t wait to see one of those magnificent sunsets. I tell them it’s not likely though it should be a beautiful evening anyway, but expectations are high. Sometimes they leave disappointed. Now and then someone even feels cheated as if they’re owed a mind-blowing show. I sometimes think if they had to pay to camp here some would demand their money back.
The desert is an incredible place, but the reality of it is far different from the preconceived notions and expectations many come here with, and I think much of the desert photography that floods the internet has a lot to do with those misconceptions.
in praise of the snapshot
“I am a passionate lover of the snapshot, because of all photographic images it comes closest to truth.”
Lisette Model
That may be a bit of a stretch, but then again… there is more than a little truth to that. There is no pretense, no theatrics, no attempt to be ‘arty’ in simple snapshots. They’re real and honest. There can be more art in that than in all the attempts to grab a viewer by the eyeballs.
I’ll play around with different things once in awhile like double exposures, adding a vintage look and the like, and sometimes they work, but mostly I just adjust the tones and contrast a bit (I use Snapseed if you care), maybe add a little grain, and slap a border and date on it and call it good. If I have to spend more than two or three minutes on a picture I figure it didn’t work and I shitcan it. I have others to choose from.
The desert, and any place else for that matter, speaks for itself, and doesn’t need theatrics or dramatic color or anything else. The art, if you want to call it that, is in how you see your world and how you choose to fit what you see into a rectangle or square. Anything more than that can be like putting legs on a snake.
palo verde and desert sunrise
When you think of desert plants cactus immediately come to mind. But there are others. There is much desert plant life that thrives in this hot, arid climate.
One of the more common ones is the palo verde. It’s instantly recognizable with its green bark, yet every one is a unique individual. They grow in all shapes and sizes. A visual feast.
chollas and desert sunrise
Of all the California desert plant life the cholla is one of the dominant ones. Every one is unique, and they come armed with these land mines you have to stay on the lookout for.
sunrise in the desert
Sunrise in the desert is a magic time…
desert topographics 