My A900 Winter Desert Series of Images at dpreview

[a900_dw73]

Hi all,

I posted my latest set of images from the California desert over at dpreview, hope you enjoy them!

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=34136093

Happy New Year,
Dave

[pakodominguez]

why don't you post them here?
BTW, the dunes are nice...

[Dr. Harout]

Indeed, a very nice set, specially the sand dunes (both), second shot, the lone Joshua tree and the silhouetted one.
The dark sots have that noise/moire which could've been invisible with smaller size images.

[Birma]

Happy New Year Dave, and wow - great shots - all lovely but if I had to pick 2 then #2 and #4 are my favourites. Beautiful crisp shots - it almots feels like you could reach in and pick out some of the stones lying in the foreground. I am intrigued by the snow in the desert shots (someone else posted some here recently I think?). I guess this is a weird meterolgical effect in this part of continental North America? All of the shots look completely isolated from civilisation (and roads) - do you have to trek along way to get there?

[UrsaMajor]

I am intrigued by the snow in the desert shots (someone else posted some here recently I think?). I guess this is a weird meterolgical effect in this part of continental North America? All of the shots look completely isolated from civilisation (and roads) - do you have to trek along way to get there?

The desert areas can get quite cold at night even in the summer, and in winter can be below freezing even in the daytime. Many of the deserts in the American Southwest get seasonal rains in the winter and early spring, which can easily turn into snow. Interstate Highway 40 (I-40) runs through a lot of the desert areas of the Southwest, and it's not unknown for a snowstorm to be so heavy that I-40 is closed for a couple of days until it is cleared. (Some of the desert areas are at relatively high elevations, which results in colder temperatures. Many people here in Southern California actually use the terms "High Desert" and "Low Desert", depending upon the areas they are talking about.)

I'm not sure exactly where those pictures were taken, but many places in the deserts have so few people that those photos might in theory have been taken from a car window, except for the composition. In addition, some of the Native Americans who live in the Southwest have a practice that goes back millennia of building homes that blend into the landscape so well that they are almost invisible from a distance of 100 meters.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[a900_dw73]

The Joshua Tree in the snow was at the western boundary of Death Valley, not too far from the National Park sign, just before you decend down into Owen's Valley. Not much hiking was needed for a lot of these shots, they were basically off the road or parking areas. I hope to go to Anza Borrego Desert State Park someday - I saw that Huell Howser has a nice video of it when he visited it - his expression when he first walked up to Font's Pt is priceless - I have to see that area next!

[Birma]

Thankyou Tom and a900_dw53 for the details. I look forward to seeing more pictures from the deserts .

[David Kilpatrick]

Can I please ask that images should be posted to be shown here, not as links to other forums. By all means include the link to the other forum as well, but please take the effort to create viewable images here. I appreciate we have a limit on links or images. It's there for a historic reason but will remain.

David

[UrsaMajor]

I hope to go to Anza Borrego Desert State Park someday - I saw that Huell Howser has a nice video of it when he visited it - his expression when he first walked up to Font's Pt is priceless - I have to see that area next!

I have not been to Anza-Borrego for many years, but when my kids were small we used to camp there each year on a spring weekend, as part of a gathering of friends and relatives. If you are fortunate enough to be there during the very brief period in the spring when the desert blooms, it can be stunning. The cactus flowers have to be seen to be believed.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[a900_dw73]

Apologies for my initial post which linked to the other site! I wasn't aware of protocol... Here are a few images I took and thought were interesting, from Joshua Tree N.P.:

[Dr. Harout]

Stunning shots, Dave.
Keep them coming.

[Birma]

Hi a900_dw73 - I especially like the "rabbit" in the #1 in the latest series, and the great colours in #4. It is certainly not a desert photographically.