Antelope Valley 4-12-05

One would expect that a record-breaking rainfall year like this one would lead to record-breaking poppy blooms at the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve. That’s not always the case as this year’s bloom will attest.

Poppies are sensitive flowers that don’t bloom when there’s no rainfall nor when it rains too much. When they do bloom, they are frustrating to the nature photographer to photograph. They don’t open when it’s overcast (the best light for flower photography), when it’s windy, and only open when the sun is high above the horizon (closed during magic hour).

I’d been reading news stories about over-crowding at the reserve this year and figured there might be some good blooms there. After checking www.calphoto.com and www.desertusa.com for a few weeks I found the reserve wasn’t worthwhile but the areas surrounding the reserve were of interest. So I headed out on Tuesday before dawn to Lancaster. There were a fair amount of poppies on J Street directly east of the Poppy Reserve but I took a pass and drove past the reserve where I didn’t see much color, and headed directly to the hill to the south facing the Poppy Reserve. I saw a camper on the dirt road and a fair amount of color so I drove up there.

The flowers were amazing there. Poppies, goldfields, owl’s clove, lupine all blooming on the hillside. I shot there for 3+ hours until it got too hot. When I was wrapping up, I met the couple who were there shooting before I was. They were from Nevada and were nice so we spoke for a while then exchanged business cards back at the car. They shoot for Index Stock and a few other agencies. It’s always fun to exchange stories with other photographers and find out their background.



The flowers I was most impressed with weren’t the golden poppies, but the Owl’s Clover. There were several large patches that could be spotted from the road. Just look for the purple patches in the distance and be careful not to trample all the flowers on the way over to them.

Bring:
1. Polarizer (you will need this for every shot here if you want good colors)
2. Tripod.
3. Water.
4. Sunscreen.
5. Jeans.
6. Hat.