Southern California is a place of unbelievable environments that seemingly appear out of nowhere. Driving down the highway and there appears towering and endless sand dunes. Drive another direction and the desert gives way to a vast expanse of electric blue water surround by haunted white sand. See this, and you are looking at the Salton Sea. Saltier than the ocean, mysterious, and graveyards for beaches, the Salton Sea holds as much to view as it does to think about. Look closely at the beach photos below. The sand is made from infinite fish skeletons. There was a mile long line of these poor fish lying bleached in the sun. They get ground up and added to the granules of sand.
Instantly the highlight of my trip to San Diego, California became a quick drive up the coast to La Jolla to spend time with all the sea lions there. I have only seen seals from distance in Monterey before. I heard in La Jolla you can get much closer, and that certainly was true! Most of these photos were made with just a Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 lens on a Nikon D7200. That’s only 300mm of effective focal length and I was able to get shots as up close as these.
In La Jolla, California I was pleasantly surprised to have the opportunity to do bird photography. I knew there would be a chance for seal photos, but having birds also was great. I miss the bird photography I could do almost anywhere in Florida. Check out this anhinga for example. What makes a good bird photograph (or any photograph) assuming you have a good looking bird as the subject? Then for a bird photo to stand out it is a matter of having good light (it was only so-so in this shot) and having a good background. The latter made up for the former in the above shot with the creamy bokeh created by my Tamron 70-200mm f/2.8 G2 lens. The blue in the bokeh is the Pacific Ocean.
Entering California from the southern route along I-8 out of nowhere appears Imperial Sand Dunes. I was awestruck by this true desert landscape of sand and dunes. I did not know the U.S. had a desert like this with golden sand one could confuse for being out in the Sahara. It was pure coincidence that upon leaving California to return to New Mexico the dunes were passed by at sunset time. I flew my Mavic Pro drone for some cinematic drone video and aerial photos, with still some time to tote my Nikon up a dune for some HDR and long exposure still photos from the ground. What a landscape this was!
The past two weeks I have made three trips down to Belen, New Mexico in Valencia County, about 40 minutes south of Albuquerque for rural land photography shoots. The landscape and conditions out there changed dramatically in one week. Two weeks ago I could not even reach the property I made the top photo from. There was too much snow on the dirt road, so much I could not even see it and even my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk was starting to sink in it too much. I could not risk getting stuck some 4 miles off road with no help around. One week later the snow on the road was gone and the mud had dried up and I drove right to the property no problem.
For me, the phrase joshua tree has always been associated with the famous U2 album from 1987 and its iconic cover art. There is actually no joshua tree in the photo. I finally got a chance to visit Joshua Tree National Park and soon realized that the eponymous trees are not the stars of the park by a long shot. The real attraction are the rock formations. Some tower, some are piles, they are all sitting there challenging you to climb them. This photo story presents a set of black and white photos of a lone climber on a rock face and a series of color photos one of which is made up of silhouettes of me, Jessica, Kiki and Artie!
I traveled down to Belen, New Mexico with my photography gear and Kiki for a rural land photography shoot. I have been to this exact area of Belen twice before, and know it so well I knew where to look for a cow skeleton, which was still there even though I have not been to this area for over a year! I got my daylight shots, then had time to walk around with Kiki in total silence save for the blowing wind. Then we settled in a spot and I setup my Nikon D750 on my Indoor carbon fiber tripod and waited for the sun to get into position. I decided to make the shot just as the sun peaked below the cloud cover while still above the distant mountain. Since the land itself was just desolate, I composed to show more of the spectacular clouds. I got paid to enjoy this view. Sometimes, being a photographer is not too bad, sometimes.
