Well, the 2008 Joshua Tree Gathering was this past weekend (Jan 18-20). The Saturday morning sunrise shoot was down toward the Pinto Basin on the road to Cottonwood Springs and the park’s south entrance. It was nice because it was much warmer down there, above freezing by several degrees.
The plan was to shoot a sunrise series. The challenge was to shoot the series as 360 degree panoramas. And it was made even more challenging by not having a pano head. So for the next good hour we shot these sequences. I learned a lot, one thing being I’d have to try again the following morning.
On the way back we decided to stop at Cholla Gardens to catch them drenched in early morning sun. We pulled into the parking lot and grabbed our cameras. Ignoring the path I wandered among the chollas, ever mindful of their disastrous beauty. And beautiful and terrible they were with their halos of densely packed spines.
I had this great idea of getting down among the cholla where I could get a more intimate shot. So ever so carefully I selected a spot where I could safely lay down on my belly and shoot up through the twisted branches and spines. It was a very cool perspective. The cholla towered over me, reaching into the morning sky.
Back on my feet again I wandered around opening myself to other images and ideas . I liked the low viewpoint and tried a couple other shots, this time not laying all the way down but just crouching down on one knee. These shots have a sense of presence and immediacy.
After rising up from one such shot I brushed my hand against my back side and felt the poke of the dreaded spines. One of the many nubbins that lay scattered all about on the ground had somehow attached itself to my posterior.
And then I saw the remnant spines sticking out of the heel of my boot, the same heel I rested on when I crouched down. I had backed into one with my boot and not realized it and managed to transfer it to my rear end. I must confess I was feeling very unsure at this point with a distinct overtone of dread. OK, now what?
I walked back to the parking lot where there was a low rail fence and started taking off my clothes. Off came my wind breaker, down parka, sweatshirt 1 and sweatshirt 2, leaving just the t-shirt. Now for the pants. I unbuckled and unbuttoned my jeans and tried to slip them down but they weren’t going anywhere. You see, they were firmly pinned to my butt and it’s starting to hurt now.
I reached both hands inside the back of my pants and tried to lift the cholla out by pulling my pants away from my flesh. The cholla didn’t budge and it only hurt more. After several attempts (and sticking myself in the fingers in the process) I was beginning to think it was going to take one mighty and very painful jerk to get them out. It was going to take a bit of time to work myself up to this. In the mean time I kept pressure on the spines and, surprisingly, ‘ping,’ one of them let go. Ah, hope! I continued the pressure and one by one they all pinged and released their hold.
Ah, the most sincere thanks to the cactus gods, I was spared. But the nubbin was still attached to my jeans. So I dropped the jeans down to my ankles and waddled around looking for a stick. There was a perfect one not far off with which I could remove the nubbin and then gingerly pluck the remaining spines. Sorry, but I don’t have any pictures. You are spared.
So it turned out all right and, hey, there’s a good story to tell at parties. Funny, the whole time I felt like I was living in a cartoon.
Did I return to the cholla patch to shoot some more? Of course!
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