 |
| Flagellum in the Dunes, Mojave Desert, California |
We had a Spring weather preview a couple of weeks ago and kind of jumped the gun on our planning, intending to head to the Rim Country Lakes to camp last week. Then the weather turned in the other direction with snow and high temperatures there in the 30s.
We decided instead on one more trip to California’s Mojave Desert.
 |
| Afton Canyon, Mojave Desert, California |
The first night was windy, so we tucked into Afton Canyon, an odd little campground in the Mojave Trails National Monument. A site runs $3 with Marco’s Senior Federal Pass (I’m not quite there yet).
 |
| Afton Canyon Trestle, Mojave Desert, California |
Why odd? It’s a
common starting and ending point for a drive of the Mojave Road, a historic
unpaved route mostly through the Mojave National Preserve. The Mojave River flows through Afton Canyon
as well. It does have many charms, but
doesn’t quite meet its moniker, “Grand Canyon of the Mojave.” Some campers there are troubled by train
noise. Because I’ve lived in several
places near the tracks the frequent freighters coming through Afton don’t even wake
me up. Besides, I appreciate the trains
and trestles for their photogenicity.
We stumbled on a burned-out truck during our travels, and I enjoyed geeking out on the patterns formed in several layers of scorched automotive paint. I wondered about the story here and I wonder still.
 |
| Soft light on the dunes, Mojave Desert, California |
The next night we scooted over to our favorite dunes in the Mojave, which we don’t name in hopes of keeping them pristine. This won’t make everyone happy, but if you know me and want to go, you can ask.
 |
| Sunrise, Mojave Desert, California |
There’s been a good deal of dune photography this year. The last trip was a workshop with Jerry Dodrill and Todd Pickering. Since then, with their encouragement, I’ve been shooting long focal-length images (which are impossible to make sharp with a single image) with focus stacking. This technique requires shooting multiple images of the same scene, focused at different depths. The images are combined, using the sharpest part of each. Generally, this is done with specialized software but can be done manually in Photoshop. I use Helicon Focus, and there are others.
 |
| Dune Detail, Mojave Desert, California |
The photography was good, and the solitude was sublime.
Watching Gypsy the Wonder Dog’s joy was perhaps the best part. It was certainly worth slogging up the dunes with the big wildlife lens.
There’s more on the website in the Spring 2025 Gallery. So far,
it’s stocked with two trips through the Mojave.
