ProjektPhoto

Last week at this hour I was landing in Atlanta on the first leg of my Virginia to California and back trip. Two days prior to my flight, Andrew my room mate asked me if I wanted to drive back across country with him from his parents house in Hesperia California. Having never been to southern California I jumped on the opportunity and began checking out places to go and things to shoot along the way. It was to be a short journey, in terms of time at least, allowing only Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and half of thursday to cover the 3000 mile trek back to VA. As we drove across the California Desert I would randomly check facebook and see what was going on back in Va (I guess Im addicted). I “checked in” to the Mojave Desert at one point and not 10 mins later my good friend Mike (Brokeneck) calls me asking if I am still in the desert. My response went something like ” Yea we’re about to be out of death Valley headed toward Vegas”. Turns out he was on his was way from Vegas to San Diego with another friend of mine, Chad Whitmore. We figured out a place to meet and have lunch, what were the odds? Four Friends 3000 miles from their home town meeting in the desert for lunch.

After lunch we parted ways and headed to our first official stop,  the Hoover Dam . With the air temp at 114 deg the 3.5 hours we spent walking around we were pretty exhausted. We jumped in the truck and headed toward the Grand Canyon, hoping for a beautiful sunset. Well I timed something wrong cause by the time we got there it was pitch black outside probably close to 10pm. I didn’t want to waste this moment and started to feel that I might. Then, the thought hit me, Shoot a long exposure and let the reflection of the sun’s light off the moon illuminate the Canyon. Its amazing what a 20-30 minute long exposure can do with a canyon the human eye can barely see. In between shots I laid out in my hammock strung between the handrails of the overlook (soo glad I decided to pack it). Well about 4am or soo we hopped back in the truck and headed toward the Valley of the monuments. Somewhere along the road Andrew grew too tired to drive so we pulled over to sleep. When I woke it was just at the pre-dawn light and I was amazed. The land masses that just shoot out of the ground into the sky are just amazing.

Heading north from there drove past Mexican Hat and through some beautiful country. We stopped at  Recapture Dam to cool off in the clear water. Let me tell you it felt AWESOME. From there we continued north where we stopped at Wilson arch for a photo op. Last stop of the day was Arches National Park. My thoughts were to shoot sunrise in Canyon Lands at Mesa Arch like a friend had recommended but again my timing was off. We headed east toward Denver on I-70 and After you leave Colorado theres not much of anything, Well nothing exciting anyway.

Would I recommend driving across country. The thought of it is good theres just nothing cool in middle america. Maybe if you take the northern route or the southern route but, not the middle.

Please leave questions or comments.