California – Page 7 – Decaseconds

Exploring La Quinta Cove

2022-Dec-232022-Dec-22 adohertyhLeave a comment

A hike through La Quinta Cove, like many hikes, is a mix of experiencing natural and human-adjusted forms. That’s normally more subtle on the east coast, but this desert hike shows the clear shapes of water retention and control structures carved into the landscape.

Erosion can be a major issue in areas with sparse vegetation; the areas supported by the roots of this small tree stand apart from the eroded absence-of-soil nearby.

The alien (to me) landscapes and strange life forms make the hike feel like exploring a strange new world.

Night Arrives Above Empire Polo Club

2022-Dec-212022-Dec-20 adohertyhLeave a comment

I guess I’m still discovering new tricks up the DJI Mini 3 Pro’s sleeve. I’ve never managed to create a panorama (much less one looking up) from drone images before, but this massive shot of the sunset over the San Jacinto Mountains has changed all of that. The pink clouds arc above and the Empire Polo Club (home of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival) spreads across the foreground.

(You’ll definitely want to click through for full resolution on this one.)

Creosote on Christmas

2022-Dec-16 adohertyhLeave a comment

Just before a snowstorm battered the northeast, we’ve escaped back to the desert. The rocks are craggy, the nights are weirdly cold, and there’s always a palm tree swaying in the distance.

Tiny Figures and Big Rocks

2022-Dec-14 adohertyh1 Comment

Can you spot the tiny figures at the top of the hill? I’m confident that tiny figures produce a sense of grand scale in images—particular desert shots, like this one, where the inhuman nature of the place can make understanding the sizes of objects difficult. Nonetheless, I find myself wondering how small the figures in an image can be before the viewer loses the ability to recognize them as human.

Water Escape: Coachella Valley

2022-Dec-07 adohertyhLeave a comment

Coachella Valley is a desert that was once home to a lake, so careful management of water—both where it should go, and where it shouldn’t—leads to some fascinating human-engineered structures. I like this image for the sense of depth, but also for the way that the unmodified hills rise above the human-produced forms in the fore- and mid-ground.