Solo Desert Trip

I’ve thought about making a photo blog for a few years, but I never did until now. I thought “who needs another blog?” As it turns out, I do. The events of 2020 have left me with an excess amount of free time to fill, so here we are. I’m going to use this space to post more in-depth stories of my work and bits of my life. I’m not sure how often I’ll update it or who will see it other than me, but that’s fine for now. Here we go…

Last year I enrolled in a photography mentor-ship lead by photographer Carly Dame. A few weeks in to the program we were tasked with applying what we had learned up to that point and an artist’s trip was suggested. I love trips, especially road trips. I love being in the car, listening to music and seeing things that I haven’t seen before, so I really loved this idea. One of my favorite places that I’ve been to is Joshua Tree, CA. I had been there numerous times, but I had never been by myself with no agenda other than to just be there. I had also never been to the Salton Sea, East Jesus or Salvation Mountain so I looped those in as well.

My intention was to be present, so because of that I didn’t over-shoot my experiences. Instead I really just enjoyed myself in nature and on the road. I did take some astro shots at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown - one of my favorite haunts - and then spent the night in my car there. I woke up early the next morning and hit the road. I climbed up Salvation Mountain and looked around for maybe 20 minutes. It’s a pretty crazy art structure that is always changing, so there are artists who consistently work to maintain its facade. East Jesus was cool and full of junk sculptures, which was surprising to me. I met an artist who was working in front of the giant TV wall and I snapped a few portraits of her. She was nice, but I forget her name. I also snapped some portraits of a tourist who was walking through with her family. She didn’t speak much English, but she was gracious enough to pose for me. I took off heading south toward the border before cutting over to San Diego for an evening.

If you haven’t been on a solo trip, I highly recommend it. It can be very rewarding and I plan to go on another one now that I’m in Texas. Enjoy…