Trona Pinnacles and the "Kill Bill" Church, Mojave Desert, California, 17-18 July 2013
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Wednesday 17 July 2013: I had the Trona Pinnacles to myself for the entire night, the desert air silent except for the occasional train rumbling past. It was to be a very peaceful evening, both here and later photographing the "Kill Bill" Church in Antelope Valley, elsewhere in the vast Mojave Desert. ~~~ Title: Trona Glow Star Trails |
15 gallons of gas for the trip? About $60. Experiencing the Milky Way in complete desert silence? Priceless. ~~~ Title: Milky Way in the Mojave |
~~~ Title: Milky Way South |
The sky The planets are the white whales And the sun and all light Into my heart and upon Poet: Hafiz, 14th Century
~~~~ Title: The Stars Are The Fish That Swim Info: Nikon D7000 with Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. There are two photos blended together. The first is a 33.3 minute total exposure that was stacked in PS4, with each individual photo a 20 second exposure (by mistake), f/2.8, ISO 400. 17 July 2013 begun at 9:51 pm. This was blended with second photo of me standing in the frame. I stood as still as I could for about three minutes of this exposure while backlit with a Streamlight LED flashlight lodged in my pants pointing straight up and was glad to see me. The second photo was f/7.1, 367 second exposure, ISO 100. 9:37 pm, 17 July 2013. Pinnacles light painted with bright flashlight. |
Title: The Pinnacle |
 Title: Divine RodInfo: Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. f/2.8, 20 second exposure, ISO 400. 10:50 pm, 17 July 2013. Pinnacles light painted with bright flashlight. Photographer: Ken Lee Location: Trona Pinnacles, Mojave Desert, California, USA. |
 Title: Trona GlowInfo: Nikon D7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens. f/2.8, 20 second exposure, ISO 640. 12:26 pm, 18 July 2013. Photographer: Ken Lee Location: Trona Pinnacles, Mojave Desert, California, USA. |
 Title: Milky Way TunnelPhotographer: Ken Lee Info: Nikon D7000 with Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens, 20 second exposure, f/2.8, ISO 2500. 18 July 2013 at 1:54 am. Location: Trona Pinnacles, California, USA |
~~~ Title: East Pinnacles Star Trails |
I actually have many photos from this evening that I felt were beautiful, but many of them featured the Pinnacles as silhouettes, and they begin to look the same after a while, so I chose to whittle them down to just a few to show you. This is not a complaint. This is a state of being that all of us photographers or artists wish for. This is the result of a magical evening with an amazing night sky. ~~~ Title: King of Lights |
By the time I got over there, the sun was just starting to rise. I would I knew I had very little time before I would not be able to get a night photo, so I worked quickly. And I had other concerns. As I pulled up, I noted the very bright single porch light. I had been hoping that there would be no lights on the church. This would make light painting the church very tricky, having to equalize the light with the flashlights on the rest of the church and surrounding area that I wanted illuminated or the harsh contrast would make it so only the porch would appear, with everything else dark. It'd be a pretty good technical challenge. This would take time, so consequently, all three of these photos are 30 second exposures. Note about architectural distortion: A couple of people in photography groups have pointed out the wide angle lens distorting the building. Yes. It is there, of course, but not nearly as much as one might think since the wall on the right side already flares out. I also like the surreal drama that it adds, so I have kept the distortion. Don't worry, it's not leaning. f/11, 30 seconds, ISO 100. |
Aren't most of us intrigued by those desolate, hopeless desert scenes we see, thinking, "Where is that?" It conjures up different worlds. And true to form, the "Kill Bill" Church was desolate, nearby to nowhere. The church was also featured in "True Confessions" with Robert DeNiro, a movie based loosely on the Black Dahlia murders. f/11, 30 seconds, ISO 100. |
The classic straight-on view of the "Kill Bill" Church from Quentin Tarantino's movie. You can see how just in a matter of minutes, the sun is already considerably brighter in the lower right corner. The rest of the exterior of the church is really not much to look at. This is all about the front. I would love to see the interior at some point. Apparently, it's still an active church, so maybe attending A Saturday service is in order. As with the other two "Kill Bill" Church photos, because there is a single strong porch light on, I had to compensate for that by "light painting" the rest of the church not illuminated by the light as well as the Joshua Tree in front. And this takes time, so consequently, it's a 30 second exposure. f/11, 30 seconds, ISO 100. |
 After photographing the "Kill Bill" Church, I drove back toward the 14 Freeway, toward Lancaster. But along the way, I was pleasantly surprised to see some small sand dunes among the Joshua Trees, so I got out to walk around in the beautiful cool sand as the sun continued to rise. |
 The evening, and now, sunrise time, was cool, cool enough that in contrast to the hot evening at the Trona Pinnacles, where I wore shorts, I actually put on a hoodie while walking in the cool, fine sand. This area of the Antelope Valley on the Mojave Desert looked a lot like the area around Joshua Tree National Park. I drove home thinking I was quite lucky to have seen the Milky Way again this summer, and to have witnessed such beauty in the desert. When I got home around 7 am, I was so excited about the photos I took that I fired up the computer to have a look at the RAW photos before falling into a deep slumber for the rest of the day. |
|
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
purchased through his
Imagekind Store. Join the fun and participation on Ken's Facebook Page. |
Trona Pinnacles and the "Kill Bill" Church, Mojave Desert, California, 17-18 July 2013
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Occasionally, I broke the silence with some music. I laid on the hood of my car while listening to Bob Marley or Brian Eno and Cluster.
This shows the division between the stars' movements between the North and South Hemispheres, facing east. If you stay still for long enough, you can actually see the stars drifting slowly. Even a 20 or 30 second exposure in the camera shows the stars movement as a trail, but when exposed for 50 minutes, one can see a great deal of celestial movement.
I packed up and cruised over to the "Kill Bill" Church, located about equidistant between the 14 and 395 freeways in the Mojave Desert in Antelope Valley.
The "Kill Bill" Church from Quentin Tarantino's movie, featured in a scene where Bill had attempted to dispatch Uma Thurman's character in a bloody hail of gunfire.
