400 - Jumbo Rocks
My 400th adventure. Damn. That's an achievement. And it was at a place called Jumbo Rocks. How cheeky.
I don't know what it is about the end of the week, but the past three Friday's I've all gotten some of my best shots of the week. Maybe it's the collective momentum of shooting five days in a row, or maybe it's just the fact that I know the weekend is right after and I don't give a fuck.
Either way, Friday's have been my day lately.
First off, I want to say how happy I am this adventure went well. My last "achievement" adventure, number 300, went horribly wrong. It was at some shitty, dried up lake bed in the middle of Colorado. This one... was the complete opposite.
We started the shoot off at Skull Rock, a famous rock in Joshua Tree National Park that looks exactly like a skull. Going along with my side project horror theme of landscape photography, it felt like an appropriate scene to shoot.
Turns out, the lighting for the skull wasn't that great- but there was a million other cool things to shoot in the area instead. Like Joshua Trees. Surprisingly, this is my third shoot in the park and I hadn't even taken a single photo of one. I decided to make it classy- I got out the zoom lens and shot a horizon of em'. Mind as well snack as many as I could:
“Joshua Skyline”
Sony a7rIII + Sony 70-200mm 2.8 GM
[ISO 125 ~ 200mm ~ f/2.8 ~ 1/2500s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
The sun hadn't begin to set yet, it was just a yellow haze and those mountain outlines got me good. We kept walking around. At this point, I decided to get some "up close" shots of a few plants in the area. I hadn't gotten many "micro" scenes recently, and this seemed like a good chance.
The vegetation out here was absolutely nuts, so I played with some colors and came up with these two shots:
“Green Vein”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 125 ~ 58mm ~ f/4 ~1/50s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
“Scrawny Yellow”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 320 ~ 30mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
By now, the lighting was starting to get good. And I'll admit I was starting to get nervous. I started by climbing the rocks like a Neanderthal. It was like a giant jungle gym for adults. You never know what would happen around the next corner.
I kept searching, as the light got better and better. So good actually, that I used the clouds for some sky replacements for yesterday's shoot at Arch Rock.
What I ended up settling on was this tower of rocks that looked like a bunch of bubbles. It looked so ridiculous. Check this out:
“Bubble Tower”
Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8
[ISO 1250 ~ 17mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/80s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
“Bubble Tower Lite”
Sony a7rIII + Tamron 17-28mm 2.8
[ISO 1250 ~ 17mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/60s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Now there's the Instagram cut in there as well just in case. God damn those rocks looked so 3D it's ridiculous. After cleaning them up with some dodging and burning, it helped even more.
Damn. NOW I was in a good mood.
We started walking back to the van, and I realized I never got an UP CLOSE shot of a Joshua Tree... and I was about to leave the park for good!
I looked up at the sky, and even 20 minutes after the sun had set, it was still prime. And a crescent moon even popped out for a bit. My new objective became to find a shot that would include a moon INSIDE a Joshua Tree... And this is what I came up with:
“Joshua Free”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 1250 ~ 47mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/125s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Wow. What a completely ridiculous 400th shoot. I'm so proud of all the progress I've made as a photographer the past couple years, and the fact that this shoot went so well was just the icing on the cake. Fuck.
Achievements feel good.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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