A new Joshua Tree photograph is posted on the website.  I call it Pas de Deux and the reason should become fairly obvious when you see it.  New Joshua Tree Photograph

You may find the story behind it interesting.

My friend Dan Griffith introduced me to this rock and tree in January of this year.  The fact that it is widely photographed didn’t deter me from taking a couple of ‘test’ shots.  I played around with the composition and finally hit on the one you see on the website.  But I was in a rush and the shot was hand held.  When I looked at the image back in the studio a couple of things were wrong, the biggest being depth of field.

So I returned a couple of weekends ago to shoot a wildflower sunrise at Amboy Crater (about 50 miles north of Joshua Tree).  After the sunrise shoot I returned to this Juniper and its partner, this time determined to take my time and get a good shot.

I arrived around noon and set up on a tripod, carefully composed the shot, set the f/stop to give me the much needed depth of field that was lacking in the first shot and waited.  The sun was in the wrong place, shining right into the lens.  It would take about two hours for the sun to move far enough to the west to even consider a shot.

But at 2:00 there weren’t any clouds, well, that is if you don’t count the annoying jet con trails.  However, there were some sparse, wispy things blowing in from the northwest.  So I decided to wait for them.  Another quarter hour passed by and they arrived.  But they sort of petered out.  An even larger set of clouds were coming.  So another quarter hour wait and they arrived.  It was getting better.

Several more sets of clouds arrived, each a bit better than the last.  And all the time the sun was moving further to the west.  Finally the last set of clouds drifted over.  They were the best of all.

But, a tourist bus from Monterey Park disgorged its passengers and some of them swarmed into my shot.  One group was even setting up a picnic.  I was getting really nervous.  Fortunately they all cooperated when I asked them to move.

And I got the shot.  After that, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  All in all, it took a good three hours and a little public relations to get this one.  But it was worth the effort.  I hope you like it.