Joshua Tree: Winter Night Sky Photography, Covington Flats, Pine City in Queen Valley, and Yucca Valley - December 2012
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In the evenings, I would drive out to Joshua Tree National Park and take night sky photos. It was a full moon, which blots out the stars, and the temperatures dropped to freezing, but this didn't deter me. I'd have the place to myself while everyone else huddled around campfires. If Joshua Tree is otherworldly during the day, you should see it in the evening. Eerie, beautiful, strange, and mysterious, the desert reveals a little more of its enchanting qualities through long exposure photography, and through light painting. Stars sparkle, and the desert is even quieter than usual. And that's when I like to venture out with my camera. Long exposure photography is slowing the shutter, keeping it open for many seconds or even minutes. Or more. And light painting is a photographic technique in which one moves a light source while keeping the shutter open for longer periods of time. The light can be used to selectively illuminate parts of the subject, or to "paint" a picture by shining it into the camera lens. I've usually light painted subjects, as this is more of my interest. ~~~ This was taken out at Arch Rock on Friday, 28 December. Often, night photographers lament the full moon, which blots out the stars from the night sky. I decided I'd embrace it, give it a big hug, and make it part of the photo. I light painted the arch using a powerful flashlight and a headlamp set to red. Title: The Guardian of Forever |
We came here during the day, and Lisa came across this while hiking, fascinated by this rocky tower. I immediately thought this would look great at night. I returned Friday evening to take this and these other night photos. |
The rocks look rather warm here, due to using a bit of red light to color the rocks, but the evening had dropped to freezing temperatures, as campers during the beginning of their holiday weekend huddled before campfires. Friday, 28 December 2012. |
"Where do you find these great foregrounds!" - Dennis Mammana, astronomy writer, lecturer and sky photographer. His newspaper column "Stargazers" has run weekly since 1992, and his photos can be seen in national and international media. He has a degree in Astronomy from Vanderbilt, and is a member of TWAN (The World At Night), an international team of sky photographers. I love this stone and tree, and had been here earlier during the day (photo to follow). I love the way the moonlight played upon the stone and the tree, and sorta goosed it along with the flashlight, running up to a high vantage point about forty feet away and "light painting" the rocks in a similar manner to the moon. "Light painting", after all, can be a rather active form of photography, and this had the added bonus of keeping me warm. Friday, 28 December 2012.
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At night particularly, these rocks seemed commanding against the night sky. This is a quick 20-second exposure with "light painting". You might think that 20 seconds is a really long exposure, but when you're running over to another point to quickly light paint an entire scene, 20 seconds goes by very fast! And yes, I know I can use the camera timer, but that's just not as much of a challenge! :D Friday, 28 December 2012. |
"Great shot! We can always count on you to post creative and inspiring views!" - Dennis Mammana, astronomy writer, lecturer and sky photographer. His newspaper column "Stargazers" has run weekly since 1992, and his photos can be seen in national and international media. He has a degree in Astronomy from Vanderbilt, and is a member of TWAN (The World At Night), an international team of sky photographers. 199 seconds. Enough time to run up some boulders, "light paint" the rock, run back down, run around the rock a few times with a red headlamp held high, then continue light painting with blue electroluminescent wire, otherwise known as El Wire, which is a thin copper wire coated in a phosphor which glows when an alternating current is applied to it. Friday, 28 December 2012. Much of these photos were edited - and these two web pages of our December 2012 trip to Joshua Tree - were created while listening to Brian Eno's "On Land", "Apollo", and "Another Green World" to continue how I felt to be outside at night taking these photos. |
Friday, 28 December 2012. As with some of these other night sky photos, the short streaks in the sky are the stars moving (okay, well, really, the earth moving) during the relatively long exposure of the camera. |
Friday, 28 December 2012. I especially love the streaks of the clouds in this photo, which feels like it could have been taken on planet Alfa 177 *. When first climbing out of my vehicle, it certainly felt like Alfa 177. * Alfa 177 is an insanely geeky reference to a Star Trek episode called "The Enemy Within", in which a transporter malfunction on the U.S.S. Enterprise trapped Lt. Sulu's landing party on the surface of Class M planet Alfa 177 overnight during freezing cold that left some suffering severe frostbite. While I didn't have a phaser to heat rocks, I also didn't have to sleep overnight during -120 Celsius temperatures. And I didn't get split into two entities, one good and one bad, so it was all good. Much of these photos were edited - and these two web pages of our December 2012 trip to Joshua Tree - were created while listening to Brian Eno's "On Land", "Apollo", and "Another Green World" to continue how I felt to be outside at night taking these photos.
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We arrived in Yucca Valley in the afternoon Wednesday, the day after Christmas. The first evening, I ran around the house we rented - and probably part of the neighbors' properties as well, who can tell? - and took photos in between 8-10pm while Lisa stayed in the very warm house and watched a movie. Here, the orange El Wire looks like the wagon wheel has caught on fire. |
I love how the clouds turn to streaks in the night sky, due to keeping the shutter open for a little over three minutes. Also taken Wednesday evening, 26 December.
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I had fun light painting this very small yucca tree, a California desert version of the burning bush, perhaps Biblically inspired by Christmas the day before. Wednesday 26 December 2012. |
I love how this large boulder appears to be looking at us. Title: Third Eye Stone |
~~~ My photo of this taken April 2012:
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Lisa found some interesting sounding hikes beginning in Lower Covington Flats, so on Friday, we hiked a loop that began at the Lower Covington Parking Area, following the Lower Covington Trail, then turning right and heading toward Upper Covington Flat. The area was beautiful. The next part was also fun, as we then headed NE from Upper Covington Flat through a wash wound its way through the mountains, then connecting with Lower Covington Trail. This is represented by that squiggly white line that I've drawn on this map. If one continues along this wash, it eventually goes into the Smith Water Canyon area, which we will probably visit on our next trip to the Park. The photo to the left was taken near Upper Covington Flat.
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Upper Covington Flats has some of the largest Joshua Trees in the Park. The Covington area is not a very commonly visited area of the Park, partially because it takes about 20 minutes along La Contenta to get there from Route 62, most of it dirt roads. Tallest Joshua Tree: To go to the next page, click here or follow the stagecoaches for navigation. |
Ken's photos of Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung
San Suu Kyi, as well as photos of Peru, Burma, India, Morocco, China, Thailand,
Ghana, Ecuador, and elsewhere, have appeared in many books, magazines,
websites, and galleries. Visit the
Ken Lee Photography Website. Some of Ken's select photos may be
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Joshua Tree, December 2012
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The high desert near Joshua Tree. It'd be fun, if not a little cold. We were interested in going up to Sonoma, as we did last year before New Year's Eve, but the pocketbook said otherwise. We rented a house in Yucca Valley through VRBO.com, and Lisa cooked our meals.
Title: Tower of Mordor
Title: White Tank Nights
Title: Winter Stone and Tree
Title: Night In Jumbo Rocks
Title: M- Class Planet
Title: Mushroom Rock
Title: Alfa 177
"Title: Hot Wheel
Title: Haunted Tree
Title: The Burning Bush
I'm going out of sequence here. The first day Lisa and I visited Joshua Tree National Park, Thursday 27 December, we went to White Tank Campgrounds along Pinto Basin Road and Jumbo Rocks, which is where I believe I took this photo. The days were chilly, about 10 C (50 F) or so, but the sun felt good, and walking or hiking kept us warm.
And you may recognize this. I took this photo in 
After spending Thursday 27 December roaming around White Tank and Jumbo Rocks, I spent the day hanging out in the house with Lisa instead of running around taking night photos, as I had the first evening. 
It's hard to resist doing a silhouette shot of the striking Joshua Trees. This is also taken near Upper Covington Flats in the NW part of Joshua Tree National Park on Friday, 27 December.
