Photoessay – Joshua Tree National Park

Earlier this month a friend and I went to Joshua Tree for a couple of nights to shoot photography.  During this time was when Mars, Venus and the Moon were forecasted to align.  I have a pic below that shows all three prior to their alignment.  Other than that, we mainly focused on sunrise, sunset and night photography.  If you have never been to Joshua Tree, then you are missing out on an incredible place.  As you drive through and explore the park, you realize there isn’t a single place that wouldn’t make for a wonderful photo.

The national park actually contains two different deserts: the higher Mojave desert and the lower Colorado desert.  Joshua Trees, which grow in the Mojave part of the park, belong to the Yucca genus and grow between elevations of 1,300 to 5,900 feet.  The park has many amazing rock formations as well, popular with both climbers and photographers.

Camping is a great experience here, however many of the campgrounds do not have running water or flush toilets.  But regardless of whether you like camping or glamping, spending time here is a great way to recharge.  And it’s only about a 45 minute drive into Palm Springs.  We stayed in 29 Palms because it was much closer to the northern entrances of the park where most of the photos came from.

We had a successful trip and took some great photos.  We went out each day at sunset shooting the gold and pink colors until it turned pitch black when we shot the night sky. The next morning we would wake up around 5am and travel to a different location.  We had to use flashlights of course since the sun wasn’t even up yet.  It was freezing cold, our tripods felt like icicles, but it was worth every minute.

I hope you enjoy the photos:

Arch Rock with Stars

Reflection at Barker Dam

Reflection at Barker Dam 2

Intersection Rock

Road to Nowhere

Joshua Tree at Dawn

Moon, Venus and Mars aligning

Snowcapped mountains

Some of the landscape photos in this post are available to order in Print, Canvas or Metal on my website.  If you have any questions please contact me chad@chadsuggsphoto.com

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Regards,

Chad