Thursday, May 24, 2018

Desert Skies!

I'm behind. These photos were taken in September of 2017. I'm finally getting to them now because all three of my 32GB memory cards are totally full. I need to remove the files to a backup drive, but before I do, I want to review and edit (and share) those photos I like. 

How did I get so far behind? I never used to have this problem. Typically I'd have a month or two of photos that needed reviewing and/or editing, but not going back 6-8 months!! The good news is that my backlog will easily get me through the hot summer months, when it's too hot to do much hiking.

Anyway... Last week I promised to post some of the sky shots that I captured during my first visit to Stirrup Tank. On this particular day there was light rain and dull gray skies in 29 Palms, but I decided to drive into Joshua Tree National Park anyway with hopes of finding something interesting to photograph. Fingers crossed, I wasn't even sure where I was going, but somehow I ended up at the Stirrup Tank dirt road. I was rewarded with some of the most beautiful skies I've ever seen!



This huge boulder has the appearance of just being casually set here and leaned up against the rock. As if someone might be right back for it! Such an odd angle.



Tortoise head rock??



This is the dead trunk of a joshua tree. See the holes in the trunk? I'm guessing woodpecker or perhaps a small owl, but I didn't see any signs of whatever might live there.






See the climber on top of the rocks?

Linking with Skywatch Friday.
Thanks for stopping by!!

42 comments:

  1. I unload the camera when I get home--- I keep the originals unless they are absolutely horrible, along with tiffs of the edited finals. Storage is cheap. I back up those once a month-- along with my music blog posts I do for nativedsd.com All that aside, these are magnificent. The clouds, the light on the rocks, everything. We're not getting out as often as we used to, so it's good to have some previous unused originals to search through from time to time.

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  2. Whoa!! Great shots, especially the penultimate one. Glad you went back to clear your backlog! BTW... if the memory cards were the only place the images were stored, tyhen you were very lucky!! I would recommend changing cards way before your at capacity to avoid something going amiss to corrupt the card...get a few 8 Gb or 16 Gb cards.

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  3. Those are some impressive skies.

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  4. Awesome skies and awesome photography!

    Happy Times to you,
    C & Z

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  5. Those are marvelous shots with the interplay of colors maximizing the effects of sunset. I love most that 2nd one because of the dramatic effects on the boulders. But the rest are all stunning.

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  6. Fantastic shots! I like those clouds a lot especially during golden/blue hour. They add more charm to atmosphere.

    I too had instances of memory getting overloaded. My solution is stop taking photographs until backlog is cleared :)

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  7. Gorgeous sky scenes and others as well. Beautiful post.

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  8. These shots are incredible. The colors and exposures are perfect.
    To each their own on photo storage is what I say. I upload all my unedited files to flickr quite frequently.

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  9. Stunning skies, Awesome Pics.
    Thanks for the post.

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  10. Wow - stunning shots and dramatic clouds.

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  11. Words fail me to describe how I feel looking at these pictures. Everything about them is stunning - the light, especially. I am transported, I know not where. Thanks for the ride!

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  12. Wow, wow, and more wow and etc wow. You are such a great photographer. So beautiful and I always love your subjects.
    I like the turtle. Some of the rock shapes would be scary at night!

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  13. Wow, these sunsets are glowing like gold! Thank you Peter - about the "reframing" - it is a wider concept than turning negative into positive (although what you say is often the case). Literally, what would happen if you exchange a gold frame with a red frame for your photo - how would the scene in your photo change?
    After this philosophy - have a fun weekend!

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  14. As always stunning. Great shots.

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  15. Great shots of all those impressive rocks.
    The skies in the first two and the last three photos are awesome.

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  16. Wow, gorgeous series of beautiful skies! The landscapes and rock formations are awesome.
    Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!

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  17. I can't decide whether my favorite is the geology or the skies. I compromise and pick both.

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  18. Spectacular skies! I'm glad you finally shared these photos.

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  19. Breathtaking, and you've been keeping them from us? Absolutely wonderful. If I had to pick a favourite, I'd pick two...the second one and the second-last one. Spectacular hardly covers it.
    Kay
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  20. Awesome pics. the first one really took my breathe away.

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  21. Thanks for sharing these amazing photos.
    Have a nice weekend
    Maria from
    Divagar Sobre Tudo um Pouco

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  22. I am in awe of these skies - such beautiful captures.

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  23. You are right - those skies are spectacular. The rock formations are always stunning. I could see a head in tortoise rock but once I read its name I could see the tortoise too.

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  24. Wow! Those skis are amazing! I bet it was really awesome in person!

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  25. ...spellbinding! Thanks for sharing.

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  26. Stunning sky and beautiful rock formation!

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  27. Nothing, absolutely nothing, compares to desert skies. These are stunning.

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  28. Amazing skies -- it is too bad that the ancient Giant forgot to come back and get his perfect stone that he propped up against the other one. (I'm sure your Granddaughter could better explain what really happened than I can .... )

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  29. My husband has had medical issues so I haven't been posting or looking at blogs much since December 16, 2017. I missed seeing your wonderful photographs and so glad that you posted these amazing shots. Thank you.

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  30. Stunning photos, your blog is the one I have to visit each week to see the awesome pictures from the park you go to. This weeks are something to behold

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  31. Holy moley. Those are some great skywatch shots. Oh my goodness.

    (oh...love the rocs too :)

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  32. I do enjoy the desert images you post. It os so different here in the east.

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  33. Feels like those boulders talk to us. Great shots!

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  34. I really likes your blog! You have shared the whole concept really well and very beautifully soulful read!Thanks for sharing.
    ดูหนัง

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  35. Your sky pictures are stunning.

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