Spring break, so we rented a house with huge bay windows in Joshua Tree.  Went on this hike at Black Rock. 

Most of the people who respond to these travel blogs want to know more about the photography, and less about the location.  And since I bought a new lens for my Nikon and am only too happy to talk about the creative process, I'll keep a running commentary on some of the photography at the bottom of each box.

~~

Geek talk:

I just got a new Nikkor lens, a 50mm f1.4 AF.  This is my first prime lens (fixed lens, not a zoom).  With these lens, I really had to adjust quite a bit to moving my feet around to get the shot instead of adjusting the lens, a really great creative challenge.  The other thing I love about this lens is the shallow depth of field, allowing me to get this gorgeous bokeh (a Japanese word used by photographers describing the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light).

Now, that said, while I did use my new lens for this shot, some of the blurred area was done by Nik Color Efex Pro's vignetting plugin.  But you'll see some gorgeous examples of the bokeh in the next photo and some of the Dengue Fever (band) photos at Pappy and Harriet's.

All photos here were taken with a Nikon D90 DSLR camera, switching between the 50mm and 18-200mm VR lens (the 50mm has no vibration reduction).

A baby Joshua Tree sprouting next to a tree along our hike in Black Rock on the outskirts of the town of Joshua Tree, just within the Park boundaries.

~~

Geek Talk:

This is the new 50mm lens showing its bokeh.  Now, I admittedly got a little carried away, shooting at f/1.4 or f/1.8, so aesthetically, this bokeh is a little bit overdone.  But you know how it is when you get a new toy -- you always want to explore its outer reaches and see what it can do.

The house we rented had some clawfoot bathtubs and a hammock on the outside, which would be fantastic for hotter days.  Since it was cold and windy, we chose not to do hang out in the tubs.

~~

50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens.

Around the yard at the house we rented in Joshua Tree.  The yard was decorated with jillions of green bottles, including the bottle tree.

~~

50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens.  One of the other cool aspects of this prime lens is that it shoots really well in low light, such as this photo or the next.  And you'll see some really low-light photos on the next page when looking at the Dengue Fever (band) shots at Pappy And Harriet's in Pioneertown.

The house also had this really cool bottle tree (close-up here, shot as the sun was setting).  When the wind blew, it produced numerous musical notes.

~~

50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens.

This structure was in the five-acre yard of the woman's house we were renting, and is an interesting hang-out place with seats in the inside.  It also makes for an interesting subject when doing light painting, just geeking around with a mag light while the lens stayed open for over two and a half minutes.

~~

Geek Talk:

"Light painting" is using long exposure photography, leaving the lens open for long periods of time while "painting" the object with light.  For the next three photos, my "light paintbrush" was my trusty mag light, which incidentally gets really cold when it's 35 degrees Fahrenheit unless you have gloves.

The streaks of light above are the movement of the stars since thte lens was open for over two and a half minutes.

157.5 second exposure, F/3.5, 18-200mm VR AF lens.

This is one of the other bathtubs in the five-acre yard of the house where we stayed for three nights.  I did this light painting somewhere around 10:30 at night, bathing the structure in light with my mag light, running around to "light paint" it from different angles.  "Light painting" is a very active sort of photography, and a lot of fun.

This was done on our first night out in Joshua Tree.  On the second page, I have another shot very similar to this except that the way I "painted" the structure with light was a bit different.  For this photo, I kept the lens open for almost four minutes.

~~

231.5 second exposure, F/3.5, 18-200mm VR AF lens.  The streaks of light are the movement of the stars during the nearly four minutes that the shutter of my Nikon D90 was open.

This is a bottle tree given the "light painting" treatment.  The bottle tree whitled when the wind blew, producing beautiful musical notes as if more than twenty people were blowing across their bottles to produce sound.  The lights are the town of Joshua Tree below.

~~

68.9 second exposure, F/3.5, 18-200mm VR AF lens.

The next morning, we tried to find the Johnny Lang house, located near Quail Mountain.  The legend around Joshua Tree is that Johnny Lang may have skimmed some of the gold mined out of Lost Horse Mine, burying it somewhere in the Park.  If he had his treasure buried, we may never know, as Johnny Lang died in a desert snow storm, perhaps taking his secret to the grave.

At any rate, we probably zigged when we should have zagged, following the very sketchy directions from our hiking book.  But we did enjoy the hike nonetheless.  And no, we didn't locate his treasure either, or we'd most likely be looking to buy a large rustic ranch-style house overlooking the Pacific in the Santa Cruz Mountains, be traveling the world, and helping our friends and family out with some cars or homes.

Left:  A Joshua Tree along the trail.  What trail it was exactly, we're not sure, and that's okay.

~~

18-200mm VR AF lens.

Somewhat near to Johnny Lang's old house on a clear, gorgeous day.

~~

18-200mm VR AF lens.

This rock climber is, if I recall correctly, near the trailhead for Ryan Ranch in Joshua Tree National Park, which was in danger of closing this day if the federal government had not approved the budget.

~~

18-200mm VR AF lens.  The creative blurring is not from the lens but instead done with Nik Color Efex Pro's vignetting plugin.  It throws the viewer's attention on the rock climber and turns an okay photo into an interesting one, or at least more fun, depending on your opinion.  A good alternative on this is to make the photo look a little more antique, although I didn't do that here.

This is on the way to Ryan Ranch.  I really love the rock formation in the back, with the rock seemingly balanced precariously on the top.  The rocks in Joshua Tree never cease to amaze me.

~~

18-200mm VR AF lens.

These are the ruins of an adobe homestead built in 1896.  Jepp and Tom Ryan homesteaded this site to secure the natural spring once located here.  The ewater was essential to the nearby Lost Horse Mine, which they owned with their brother Matt and Johnny Lang, whom is suspected of having skimmed from the Lost Horse Mine, burying the treasure somewhere in the Park.  The ranch supported the mining operation:  pumping water three and a half miles to the mine, processing ore, and serving as a mining office and home.  The cattle raised here helped feed the family and workers.  Some 60 people lived at the ranch and mine during the gold boom.  By 1908 full-time operation of the mine had ceased.

~~

18-200mm VR AF lens.  Most of the outdoor photos use a circular polarizer to punch up the blues of the sky a little bit, but is particularly prominent here.

Back at the house, I wandered and took more close-up photos of the very musical bottle tree with my new lens.

~~

50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens.

As mentioned above, much of the five acre land around the house is decorated with green bottles.  These bottles are awaiting orders from their landlord, however. 

~~

50mm f/1.4 Nikkor lens.

Go to the next page!!!