Pixiq

 PART III

We’re sitting in Beverly Hills at a Starbuck’s hoping to maybe see someone famous saunter in.  I’ll be honest - I’m not past snapping some paparazzi shots at this point…we’re on our 2^nd day of a 6-day photography trip and the photography portion of the trip is non-existent.   Other than seeing a few purse dogs (being carried by females AND males) I saw nothing remotely close to the fame and fortune I expected in Beverly Hills.  It was time to head to Hollywood to show my son the hustle and bustle of the walk of fame.

Aiden enjoyed Hollywood Blvd….even though it was wet and rainy…he still enjoyed seeing the Harry Potter cast’s hand prints at Mann’s Chinese Theatre.   He was in awe at a giant piece of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese sculpture sitting along the walkway.   It wasn’t the wilderness photography experience we were looking to have on this trip…but for an hour watching my kid enjoy a brief taste of “Hollywood” was worth the detour and 3 hours of traffic that followed.

Yeah…we hit Los Angeles traffic.  

I had seen it on TV…and been in it as a small child, but I’d never driven in it.   It’s immense.  It was bad to the point I was afraid to get off the freeway to get fuel because: (a) I might not ever make it back on, and (b) I might get off in a bad neighborhood and not know it.  The traffic didn’t bug me that badly…mostly because I had often thought about what it might be like to drive in Los Angeles traffic, and here I was DRIVING in it.  It was a sort of bizarre novelty made easier to swallow because I didn’t have anywhere to be until Joshua Tree NP at sunset.   I also wouldn’t be driving in Los Angeles traffic any time in the foreseeable future.  Don't get me wrong, I wasn’t so enthralled with the novelty aspect that I didn’t see the huge burden that driving in that traffic would be on a daily basis.

 We made a brief stop in Palm Springs to eat BBQ in a restaurant decorated like Holsteins.   Aiden relished the fact he was on vacation and could order cheeseburgers as big as his head and put in an attempt to try and eat it all.  That’s what photography road trips are, long days of eating in strange restaurants, trying new food, and filling the time in between with snacks of questionable nutritious value.    Hopefully, that day is bookended by two decent sessions of photography.

 We were 0-1 on the day and 0-2 on the trip.   It was actually looking as if though it might improve…clouds and sun filled the sky…and it appeared as if we’d found the edge of the storm.  We checked into a hotel in Yucca Valley before setting off for Joshua Tree National Park to scout for sunset.  Normally I wouldn’t use a hotel for photography trips.  They’re ridiculously priced, and never close enough to where I want to shoot for me to bother.   I also tend to get too relaxed when I’m in a hotel.  It’s a LOT more difficult to wake up at 5:00 a.m. when you’re in a warm room and comfy bed.   Funny, but sleeping in a Prius really has a way of encouraging you to wake up early.   My son is also a huge fan of hotels…for him a hotel with a heated pool might as well be Disneyland.

I’d never been to Joshua Tree NP before.  I had good intentions on making it through there…but MAN is it out in the middle of nowhere.   You have to plan on going there…it’s on the way to nothing.   It’s an amazing prehistoric looking landscape, though.   Colorfully diverse desert foliage cover an area interspersed with knobby rock formations that resemble a smaller Alabama Hills.   Then this alien landscape is full of Joshua Trees.   The park's namesake looks like the result of a palm tree getting liquored up and stumbling into Dr. Seuss on her way home from the bars.  One thing leads to another and the two have a kid.  Whamo- Joshua Trees.

 We drove around the park for about an hour trying to find somewhere that looked good for whatever the sunset threw our way.  The problem with Joshua Tree NP is that the entire landscape is all VERY similar.  Finding good compositions is about subtlety in the landscape, and finding an effective foreground and angle that helps bring the scene to life.   It wasn’t easy…and when the sky decided to turn nasty and the rain began to sputter it became even more difficult.  The one nice thing was that the area was more child-friendly, and Aiden was able to explore some on his own with only a few rules.

1)      Stay where you can see me

2)       Don’t touch any weird bugs or snakes.

The sunset wasn’t spectacular, but the clouds were dramatic, moody, and the little color the sky did pony up made a nice compliment to some of the interesting colors and shapes the desert foliage provided.  It turned out to be a decent evening in the desert.    That night we relaxed in the hotel hot tub, and looked up at a promising sky that might actually provide us with a dramatic sunrise the following morning.