Joshua Tree windmill and water tank sunset

The lone windmill in JTNP is another cool subject to shoot. I framed this shot alongside what looks to be an old water tank. It is said that this was a mill site intended to be used for one of the mines in the area. Great subject against a nice fire sunset with the crescent moon making an appearance to the left of the windmill. Not a bad subject to shoot under the stars either. Just another artifact that you can find at JTNP that makes this park special.


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Convict Lake Eastern Sierras

Dwelling on the past usually keeps you from progressing forward. Reflecting on the other hand helps you learn to grow for the future. I find that true in all aspects of life including photography. I’m constantly learning (mostly from my mistakes) and trying to make sure the next photo is better. Better exposure, composition, light, edit, and the list goes on. For this reason I don’t mind re-visiting old locations as it forces me to try and improve on my last visit. No doubt I’ll be back up here later this year working both old and new locations. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 20mm 1.8, f/2, 15 sec, ISO-6400

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Joshua Trees - sunset at JTNP

What can you find all around JTNP? Joshua Trees of course. There are reports, however, that climate change is affecting the growth of these trees and they are gradually dying out. How different would this park look without any Joshua Trees? To me, it is the essence of this park and this shot symbolizes that. Hopefully the population is able to adapt and thrive for centuries to come. 


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Cars and Stars - Joshua Tree National park

The broken down cars along the Wall Street Mill Hike are definitely a must see and surprisingly still fairly intact for being there for so long against the elements. Who drove them? What were they used for? Tons of questions that just make it more interesting that these rusty cars are just sitting out in the desert. The startrails represent time in terms of the earth’s rotation to complement the test of time that these cars have endured. A must see when you visit JTNP. 

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Joshua Tree National Park - Wall Street Mill Wonderland Ranch window

Joshua Tree National Park has a ton of history, a lot dating back to the 19^th century Gold Mining days. The Wonderland Ranch was built by a family who came here searching for gold and now all that is left are the ruins of what look to be a toppled over house. The pink structure is quite unique though and I wanted to incorporate it into a shot. I used it as a frame looking through towards the setting sun and some classic Joshua Trees along the Wall Street Mill hike. There is quite a bit of history that is unique to this park and is what makes this park special. 

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New Life - Joshua Tree National Park

  This shot was from the first time I actually visited Joshua Tree National Park, and it may be the one that gets cemented in my brain even for years to come. The conditions lined up as it rained all day on the way up and the forecast had clouds through the night. But as we were sitting at our campsite at the White Tank campground we saw a potential patch of clear sky so we made the quick hike to Arch Rock to capture this without any other people there, just us the arch and the Milky Way. 

But all that gets overshadowed by the fact that our planned weekend trip got cut short to one night. After shooting the Milky Way and sunrise we were back resting at our campsite. I awoke to my friends and a park ranger looking at me babbling something that I couldn’t comprehend as I was still half asleep. Once I heard “you’re wife’s in labor” my brain flipped on and I was wide awake. My wife’s water had broken 6 weeks early and since we had no signal they couldn’t reach me overnight. She ended up calling the central dispatch office not knowing what campground we were at or my license plate, just the make, model and color of my car. Luckily we were at one of the main campgrounds and actually there at the time but it only took a few hours for them to send a ranger and for him to track me down and deliver the message. I drove out to get signal, confirm everything was ok, and we packed up and I headed straight to the hospital. The rest is history.

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Fog City - Los Angeles cityscape

Here’s a shot of the classic 4^th street split. The clouds were coming in pretty thick and starting to engulf the US Bank sign so I had to get a shot. Most of my nighttime city shots consist of one longer exposure and then a few shorter exposures to manually bring down some of the highlights in the signs. The amount I control them varies by scene. In this scene the two framing buildings were controlled a lot as well as the US Bank sign as that was the focal point in the background.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 14-24, /14, ISO-250

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