Picture of the week

March 8, 2015

Stuck in the desert

Stuck in the desert

An abandoned Model "A" Ford left to the elements of the desert. This particular vehicle was found in Joshua Tree National Park off of the Wall Street hiking trail. It was kind of interesting that I heard the vehicle before seeing it, as if it was calling me to come over.  There was some wind that was causing the door to swing back and forth, banging against the jam whenever the wind tried to push it closed. With the door latch worn out decades before, it would just bounce and then swing back in with the next gust of wind.  Prior to taking this particular shot, I wedge a piece of wood under the edge of the door to prevent it from swinging out, while hopefully also helping prevent it from wearing out prematurely in the future :^)

The image was photographed in the waning minutes just before sunset. It was photographed handheld with my EOS Canon 5D Mark III and my go-to favorite lens: the vertible EF 24-105mm L-series f/4.  Settings were 1/20 sec, f/13, and ISO 400.  To add more drama for the composition, I got down low on my stomach and elbows, getting as close to the rear wheel as possible while also including the desert scenery in the frame, and trying to maintain enough depth of field to stay within the hyperfocal distance.

I just returned from a week long trip through southeastern California, hitting some of the desert parks along the way.  Traveling through Mono and Mammoth basins, I hit Hot Creek as my first stop after a coffee fill-up in Lee Vining. Continuing on, I traveled down Owens Valley to the Alabama Hills, and then on to the old somewhat mysterious town of Darwin on the edge of Death Valley.  Further south I stopped and explored Red Rock Canyon, and then onward to Joshua Tree, and finally reaching Anza Borrego. Below are a sampling of a few select images of many that I captured along the route.

Hot Creek Sierra vista Edge of the hills Under the dome Red Rock monolith
Red Rock wilderness Dying cactus Canyon layers Anza Borrego wildflowers

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