This is an old post inspired by a blog post from Michael E. Gordon today.
Spent some time out in Joshua Tree recently. It's getting close to a point where going out there will be a challenge. Between business trips, and when I can, I try to make it out there before it becomes brutally hot. It's somewhat peaceful and it has it's own beauty that takes someone from back east a bit of time to get used too.
Now Joshua Tree is some 800,000 acres and resides where the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert meet. I've been going out there for about 10 years and I just became aware of this fact. It's a large and beautiful park and with it's proximity to LA it provides an ideal place to get away.
On this particular trip I decided to enter the park via the South Entrance, a part of the park I had never seen. As I drove into the park, I was amazed at the difference in the landscape from what I was expecting. I noticed some bushes; I think they were creosote bushes and they really had subtle tones of grey on the branches.
The day trip was designed to get out with the Yashicamat and see what I would see. These exercises are providing me with a bit of a better foundation and allows me to make images when I get into situations where I really need to concentrate. I spent a good bit of time photographing as the sun was setting and then I sat and watched the sun go behind the mountains. Beautiful!
Joshua Tree is adding to my collection of images. It's an ongoing thing and, as with some of my other work, it's starting to build into some semblance of a body of work. It's only in the last few years that I've recognized the importance of being able to show cohesive work. I'm still all over the place with stuff I'm producing but it's starting to build into something that I'll be able to show at some point.