Shooting the Shooter - Joshua Tree National Park

After our (mis)adventure, we were ready for something new.  Which was good, because our next stop was Joshua Tree National Park.  But before we tell that story, it’s time for a break and a new installment of Shooting the Shooter.

As you may have noticed (and I’ve definitely mentioned), Beast has a roof rack.  Several people have commented on how we could haul a lot of stuff up there and are shocked when we tell them that we can’t really.  Well, can't put anything up there and then expect to raise the roof.  That’s because the roof rack is near or at the maximum load the roof can raise with (approximately 150 pounds), though not nearly close to the carrying capacity of the roof itself (10,000 pounds).  Then we tell them that the purpose of the roof rack isn’t to carry stuff, it’s to carry us.  It’s a platform to photograph from.

Photographing from the roof of a vehicle isn’t a novel idea, not even close.  Ansel Adams had a number of different vehicles he did that from.  Here's one of them which, no surprise, he named Woody.

If you’ve ever wondered why so many of his landscapes seem to have very open foregrounds with separation between objects, well, that’s how.  Get up a bit higher and the foreground compression that haunts landscape photographers starts lessening.  

So on our first morning at Joshua Tree National Park, we got to put that lesson to the test.  After a great pre-dawn into early morning shoot, we made our way back to Beast as the sun started rising.  Clouds had finally started rolling in and while the light was starting to get a bit harsh, the sun was still low enough to give some interesting textures, so Ann and I started photographing from the roadway to get a bit above the brush.  Then I had an idea, “Hon, we should get up on the platform!”

Next thing I know, I’m climbing up to try and get a better image than I had been making below.  And Ann, as is too often the case, turned her camera my way.

As I recreated the image I had made on the ground below, I realized that the clouds were starting to do interesting things and I had an even stronger image in front of me.  So I re-oriented the camera and made this image

Then it was Ann’s turn.

As big as Beast is, there really isn’t room for both of us up there at the same time - at least we’re not comfortable enough to try that yet!  So Ann, having patiently waited her turn, made her way up.

Ann’s a bit more cautious than I am (it’s that mountain goat gene I inherited), but to be honest, I can’t blame her.  There’s often a steady wind in the desert and, while it may have been still in the early morning, the sun’s heat had gotten the wind blowing and the Beast rocking.  So Ann played it safe and sat while she photographed.

And photograph she did.  She did a great job of isolating a namesake Joshua Tree, while also capturing an image that shows not only the landscape of so much of the park, but also the sense of vastness one feels when there.

I have a feeling that we will be making more and more images from the platform.  And hopefully doing a better job of deciding where to park Beast.