Thursday, September 12, 2024

On This Day...

 I'm at a bit of a crossroads. This blog has always been about desert photography (well, mostly) and a place to document my hikes. I want to stay true to that purpose. However, I don't get out to the desert nearly as much as I used to, which means I either need to post less often, or post from the archives. Going forward, I will probably do a little of both. We will see...
I have a program on my laptop called Microsoft OneDrive. I was using it to back up my photos and other files to the cloud. In theory, it would keep me from losing any files in the event of a laptop meltdown. Unfortunately, OneDrive was an abysmal failure. It would take too long to go into details, but trust me, it's bad. About the only good thing I can say about OneDrive is it sends me a daily email titled "On This Day." If I click the link, it shows me all the photos I've taken over the years on that day. Pretty cool! I have many thousands of photos on my hard drive, so it's always fun to review photos taken over the years. Today's post is just a couple favorites from September 12 (give or take a day or two). 
 
"Get out of the way, Grandpa!!" Lilly was 5 when I took this photo. Before long, she'll be driving for real!😟
 
Out by Stirrup Tank in Joshua Tree National Park, and one of the most dynamic skies I've seen. There were curtains of rain on the horizon, all lit up in yellow from the setting sun.
 
A little later in the afternoon on the same day at Stirrup Tank, the curtain of rain had moved a little east and was losing its yellow color and picking up some pink color. I was so lucky to have the silhouette up on the rock to give perspective to the photo. A very memorable afternoon!
 
I'm curious what people are using (if anything) to back up files? I no longer subscribe to OneDrive, so just doing it the old fashioned way (backing up to an external drive when I can remember to do it). The weak link in this approach is me remembering to do it!
 
Thanks for stopping by!!
Linking with Skywatch Friday.

Thursday, September 5, 2024

Cholla Milky Way

 So it turns out I'm still alive. We DID survive the dreaded jumping cholla and scorching temperatures while stumbling around in the dark trying to photograph the Milky Way. I did have to pull out a few barbed cholla harpoons during the course of the evening, but I guess that's to be expected. It's really a small price to pay in exchange for the opportunity to be out in the desert under the sparkle of Milky Way stars!
In my "Milky Way a month" attempt, this is my August entry. I had my doubts about using cholla cactus as a foreground subject for the Milky Way, but pretty happy with the way this one came out. I just finished up a trip to the desert for the September Milky Way, and will post that soon. Not sure about October yet. At some point, the Galactic Center will drop below the horizon and MW season will be officially over. It's been a fun challenge, and I'm looking forward to sharing all my 2024 Milky Way photos in a single post.
 
Thanks for stopping by!!
Linking with Skywatch Friday.