Desert

A stormy morning at Joshua Tree

by Kurt October 7, 2010 in California, Desert, Joshua Tree 0 comments

The scene above is one of my favorites from my recent trip to Joshua Tree. The sun had just broken over the top of the thunderstorm line that had produced the lightning show a few hours earlier. The rain left a nice low level fog amongst the joshua tree forest ahead.

Here you can see the ground level fog. The backlight did not last long. As we got closer the sun dipped behind the clouds. We were on our way out at this point. The sun would emerge a short time later but the light had turned harsh. The previous morning was a different experience.

Taken at the Boy Scout Trail head where we began our journey, these three pictures show the storm that would shortly hammer us.

On this backpacking trip we encountered few wild animals. During one rest stop I looked over and spotted this tarantula walking across the southern slopes of Quail Mountain. I am not sure if it was looking for food or if it was a male looking for a mate (and its doom).

Our expedition was to summit Quail Mountain, which is the high point in the Little San Bernardino Mountains and also the high point in the park.

As a landscape photographer, I find a place like Joshua Tree can be very challenging to shoot. The cloudless skies we have in southern California can sometimes make things a bit dull. On this trip however the skies played nice. Clouds tend to make what might be an interesting photograph an exceptional one.

Lightning and Star Trails in Joshua Tree National Park

by Kurt October 4, 2010 in Desert, Joshua Tree, Night 3 comments

I have now visited Joshua Tree National Park twice. Contrary to what one might expect from the desert, both visits (February and October) have involved rain and lightning. I just yesterday returned from this second trip to Joshua Tree, and ahead of the other pictures I thought these deserved their own post. I have always wanted to shoot lightning pictures. I have never had the opportunity to do so from a safe distance. As luck would have it, yesterday morning afforded me the opportunity I had long waited for. I was on a backpacking trip to summit Quail Mountain, the highest peak in the Little San Bernardino Mountains. Starting around 4am, a huge light show played out to our east. I just had my 5D Mark II, 24-105mm lens and a tiny Gorillapod Focus (with the ballhead X). A rock outcrop provided a high platform for this setup so I could get a good view of the action from camp. I kept the camera close enough that I could keep an eye on it from my tent, and run out and fetch it if it started to rain, which it did twice.

Thunderstorm and Star Trails at Joshua Tree

Wow! That’s what I thought when this exposure finished. I decided that I would pretty much spend the rest of the morning taking pictures instead of sleeping. Who needs sleep when you’ve got this going on?

As the storm moved north it got closer to us. The lightning became more and more visible. The storm was so electrically active that there was almost a strike or cloud to cloud bolt every second, with a faint distant roar of thunder. It was really quite a show.

Here the sun was beginning to rise on the distant horizon. The horizon was 99% blocked by the storm except for a brief time where I could see a little red on the left.

In this last one the lightning almost seems to wrap around a cylinder of rain. All in all I’m ecstatic about my first ever lightning pictures. What an amazing trip this was!

Finally, here is a star trail picture I took earlier in the evening when the skies were clear.

Which lightning picture is your favorite? Let me know in the comments please!

A few from Joshua Tree National Park

by Kurt February 25, 2010 in Desert, Joshua Tree, National Park System, Riverside County 0 comments

During my time in southern California, I have often wanted to go to Joshua Tree National Park. Often I have been deterred by the summer heat, but just somehow never managed to go out there. Finally, thanks to the WTC I was able to visit this park for the first time and brought back a few pics. With a huge storm hitting Los Angeles, I knew the weather would be interesting and it did allow for some dramatic skies. Here are a few from the trip.

Some Death Valley by moonlight

by Kurt February 16, 2010 in Death Valley, Desert, National Park System, Night 0 comments

The last few images I have from Death Valley this January are some pictures by full moonlight. The first few were taken in Panamint Valley where I stopped on my way to check out the large amount of water that had gathered there from recent rains. Here at about 10:30 or so at night there was not a single sound to be heard except for the occasional car. When a car did come by, either via route 178 or 190 I could hear it approaching from miles and miles away. In fact the sound of a car here at this spot sounded strange as it echoed in the desolate valley around me. When no cars were around I relished the silence as not even a plane could be heard or seen overhead.

Here we see the view from the middle of 190 looking towards Towne Pass.

The west side of Telescope Peak via moonlight

Argus Range peaks - probably Maturango Peak and Parkinson Peak via moonlight

I picked up a similar view of these peaks on my way out of the park in the afternoon light.

Argus Range peaks - probably Maturango Peak and Parkinson Peak via daylight

Looking north towards Panamint Dunes and beyond

These next few pictures were taken at Badwater Basin from the road. Badwater is the lowest place in North America at 282 feet below sea level. I was scouting to see if I could see water for a return trip in the morning. I was quite tired and did not want to hike out a mile into the basin to see so I took a few captures from the side of the road to see what could be seen. I concluded that there wasn’t much of any water if any (contrary to expectations). Upon looking at the full 21mp pictures however, I can see what might be water in one of the pictures, but alas we never hiked out there to be sure.

Badwater Basin and the Panamints via moonlight

Finally, a recent trip back into the Death Valley archives yielded this picture, which I like quite a lot and somehow did not choose before. This is from the Mesquite Dunes. The thick haze was from a sandstorm that was raging on the western end of the dunes. Fortunately where we were the wind was much more calm.

Death Valley – Sunrise 1/31/10

by Kurt February 11, 2010 in Death Valley, Desert, National Park System 0 comments

For the final magic hour shoot of the trip, we headed back to the previous morning’s location to once again go after reflections in the morning light. While the sky did not give us dramatic clouds this time, I did walk away with some nice images albeit with some saltwater-soaked hiking boots.

Soft colors warming the sky to the north

Setting moon, Panamints, Cottonwoods and reflections

Setting moon, Panamints, Cottonwoods and reflections a little later

Direct sunlight creeping down the northern end of the Panamints as the moon sets

Telescope Peak and the Panamints showing off their snowcaps

These next few images were taken as I left Death Valley and made a few stops along the way when I felt inspired. First up is a shot going up Towne Pass west of Stovepipe Wells on the way out. I wanted to capture the sun halo that was visible through the high clouds around the sun.

Coming down from the pass, I was struck by what appeared to be an optical illusion. It’s as if the high Sierra Nevada mountains were submerged below a great blue ocean on the other side of the Argus Range. It was very strange to me and I felt compelled to stop and take a picture.

Seemingly a blue ocean is held back by the Argus Range

Finally on the edge of the Darwin Falls Wilderness there was a decent helping of snow on the ground around some Joshua Trees. I took many shots to try and capture what i felt but in the end I only was happy with this shot of some trees on a nearby ridge.

One last post from Death Valley is yet to come with just a few moonlight shots. This was a fantastic trip which produced many great images. More importantly, getting out in the wilderness was good for the soul.