Joshua Tree National Park. Wonder in every direction yet difficult for me to make a good composition.
It's a crazy beautiful landscape of smooth and interesting rocks, small trees that are well spaced and bits and bobs of bushes. The ground is dusty and the birds are skittish. There are "prone to flooding" signs in (apparently not) random places and like Death Valley, that kinda boggles the mind.
Life here is different - trees grow in weird shapes from the inside, out. Even the people living here seem to have adapted.
Did I just see my very first roadrunner?! Yes. Yes I did! And run he did, when the area suddenly filled with boisterous visitors... who wondered outloud why he up'd and left!
Note to self; Joshua Tree with its yellow-green leaves and yellow-brown rocks, loses something in the harsh flat light of midday. It loses color and contrast. It's awesomeness carefully camouflaged - like the animals - when the sun is high and hot.
Plan B was to be scouting, looking around on foot, just to get steps - and then come back in the golden hour, having prayed beforehand that something can be captured on camera.
I took the afternoon to slow down, get groceries and to refuel me and Beast.
Final word for today: YES! I knew it was there. Sunset pics... the kind where the sun isnt the focus but the wavelengths it bathes the subjects in, the long shadows and deep blue or orange backgrounds, makes me go "Wow!" I'm glad I'm here.
For sunset, I found myself late to the party, but at the highest point in Joshua Tree National Park as the light faded over southern California. It definitely wow'd... but it also only took a second to realize that sunsets this vibrant come at the cost of air quality and tonight, Los Angeles first responders were still fighting devastating fires. Large communities were reeling from incredible loss - and the danger was not over yet.
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