Mojave Desert Photography: Where my Jeep has taken me...

Photograph by Scott Schwartz.
All rights reserved.

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Here's another photograph that I took, while motoring (in four-wheel-drive) through Rainbow Basin.

Driving slowly, as I usually do on these trips, the contrast between the purplish and tan rock caught my eye.
Once again, I stopped my Cherokee, placed my Nikon D70 upon my tripod, set the camera's self-timer (touching the camera in any way induces camera movement), and took the photograph.

1/80th sec. @ f/18.

Mojave Desert Photography: Desert Colors...

Photograph by Scott Schwartz.  All rights reserved.
1/50th sec. @f/16,

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There I was, cruising through Rainbow Basin in four-wheel-drive-low-range, when I came across this scene.

I stopped my Jeep, got out, set up my tripod, and took this photograph.
Notice how I've divided the frame in half.  The clouds occupy the top half of the frame, and the bottom half is dominated by the reddish terrain.

If there'd been no clouds, I would have included much less sky in the frame.  Large areas of empty sky makes for, how else can I say it?....boring photographs.

The reader will also notice the color saturation.  Using a slower shutter speed generally results in richer colors.

Mojave Desert Photography: El Paso Mountains....

I was driving along EP26, after leaving Sheep Spring, when I spotted these boulders.

Yes, I do drive slowly.  Otherwise, I would miss things like this.

1/50th sec. @ f11.

Nikon D70.

Sheep Spring Petroglyphs, again....

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Indian rock-drawing.  Sheep Spring.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.
All rights reserved.

 So, why did the Indians create these strange etchings?  No one really knows for sure.  They could have religious significance. If so, the petroglyphs' meanings within the context of any ancient religion is lost to the mists of time.

Perhaps the rock-drawings were simply a means of passing the time.

Indian drawing, Sheep Spring.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.
All rights reserved.

Mojave Desert Petroglyphs: Sheep Spring...

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I returned from my one-mile hike to the area where we had parked our vehicles, to find that some other people had arrived at Sheep Spring, as well.  These folks had parked their two Jeep Wranglers a few hundred feet to the south of us, and I could see a few people walking among the boulders on the hill.

Too tired to walk over to them, I decided to eat a sandwich.  While I was eating, the other people got back into their Wranglers and drove over to where I was sitting on my Cherokee's rear bumper.  "Are their petroglyphs in those hills that you were exploring?', I asked. "A whole lot of 'em" was the reply from one of the Wrangler-drivers.  "Great", I thought, as I thanked the gentleman for the info. I could have saved myself such a long walk.  But, I love just being out in the desert, and the walk was actually pretty nice.

So, here are two photographs of some of the many petroglyphs that were right near where we had parked.

Photograph by Scott Schwartz.  All rights reserved.

Photograph by Scott Schwartz.  All rights reserved.

Sheep Spring petroglyphs...

Sheep Spring is flanked on both sides by fields of boulders, on which the petroglyphs are supposed to have been etched.  Immediately, I set out on foot in search of these mysterious etchings.

After nearly a mile of walking through the boulder-strewn desert, while wondering what personality flaw motivated me to leave my air-conditioned home that day, I spotted some faint etchings on a few of the rocks. 

Deeming them unworthy of my digital SLR camera, I shot the attached photographs with my cellular telephone camera.

More to come....

Petroglyphs at Sheep Spring.....

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The "spring" at Sheep Spring is largely under ground, these days.  Shepherds still guide their flocks through this area, allowing the animals to graze on the relatively lush plants.

In Search of Petroglyphs: Sheep Spring, in the Northern El Paso Mountains...

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Photograph by Scott Schwartz.
All rights reserved.

It was an overcast summer day, as I dropped down into the Owens Valley along Route 395.  I was on my way to look for the Petroglyphs that are supposed to exist in the Northern El Paso Mountains.

Having spent most of my time on previous trips exploring the Southern sections of the El Paso Range, I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to find these ancient etchings.

More to come....

Complacency on the trail...into the northern section of the El Paso Mountains...

I'm on my way to Sheep Spring in search of petroglyphs. 

The attached photo illustrates the danger of being lulled into driving fast on a "smooth" trail.  I usuallt limit my speed to 20 mph.

My Jeep got me to this great photographic spot....

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Rainbow Basin...

1/50th sec. @ f/16,

Photograph by Scott Schwartz
All rights reserved. 

Mojave Desert Photography.....

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Once again, I used the aperture-priority setting on my camera.

The aperture was set at f/22, and the camera set the shutter speed at 1/160th of a second.

The reader will remember that the smaller aperture will yield a greater depth of field. But, of course, a smaller aperture will require a slower shutter speed.  But, 1/160th of a second is far from slow.  Why then, is the image on the right not underexposed?

The answer is that my camera's metering system was set for "center-weighted" readings.  In other words, the meter measured the exposure at the center of the frame, which, as the reader will notice, is brightly lit by the sun, thus calling for a higher shutter speed.  That is why the foreground is darker - the camera was exposing for the brightly lit area in the center of the frame.

Remember, get out of your vehicles in order to take great photographs!

The patience of Ansel Adams...

I went to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Center in Los Angeles, on Saturday.

That the majority of his work is stunning, is a foregone conclusion.  Besides this, one word comes to mind when viewing Adams' work.  That word is "patience."

I used to tell my photography students that one will rarely create fantastic images from the window of a stopped vehicle.  At the very least, I would say that making successful landscape images requires one to, at least, get out of the vehicle and take a few minutes to compose the photograph.  This is the bare minimum.

Adams would, at times, spend a whole day in one spot, waiting for the light to be just right.  The results speak for themselves.

So, my point is that photographers who are inspired by Adams' photographs should also be inspired by his patience.  That means planning a photography trip far enough in advance so that one can spend more than a few minutes trying to get that quick image.

Requiem For The Old Spanish Trail....

Section of the Old Spanish Trail.  Note the wagon ruts.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.

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Originally a combination of trails used by Spanish explorers and missionaries, and which dated back to the late 1700's, The Old Spanish Trail's heyday was the 1830's.  The trail was "opened" in 1829 or in 1830 by a merchant from Santa Fe, who was able piece together a route from those discovered by previous explorers including such later notables as Jedediah Smith, which ran from Santa Fe, New Mexico to Los Angeles, California.

Thereafter, traders bringing Indian blankets and other hand-made goods from New Mexico were able to bring these items to Los Angeles and trade them for the wild horses and mules, of which California had a large surplus.

Eventually, the trail became a highway for bandits who stole horses from the ranches that were built along the trail, and who robbed the pack trains, as well.  People-usually Indian women and children-were also stolen from the ranches.  These wretched captives were then sold as slaves in Mexico and were usually put to work as household servants.  The raiders came in several different guises:  former trappers, Mexican nationals, and other Indian tribes.

If thievery and human trafficking were the beginning of the end for The Old Spanish Trail, the development of purpose-built freight wagons and dedicated wagon trails sealed the trail's doom.

By 1855, The Old Spanish Trail was no longer a major trade-route.

Most of The Old Spanish Trail was eventually incorporated into the Mojave Road, and the old wagon ruts are visible in a few places, as illustrated in the posted photograph.


 

Mojave Desert Adventure....The Old Spanish Trail.

Photograph by Scott Schwartz.

www.elpasomountains.blogspot.com

This is an ancient cinder cone, that I passed along my route.

The outside air temperature was in the triple digits.  Looking at this old volcano made it seem hotter, somehow.

Mojave Desert photographs: Exploring The Old Spanish Trail..

The author's Jeep Cherokee, passing through the badlands.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.

www.elpasomountains.blogspot.com

The temperature had climbed to well over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit on this day.

My goal was to locate a section of The Old Spanish Trail that still bore wagon ruts.

Mojave Desert Photography: Red Rock Canyon...

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Some more images of magnificent Red Rock Canyon, as seen from the El Paso Mountains.

1/50th sec. @ f/16.  Photograph by Scott Schwartz All Rights Reserved.

1/25th sec. @f/16.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.  All rights reserved.

1/100th sec. @ f/16.
Photograph by Scott Schwartz.  All rights reserved.