More Joshua Tree Wildflowers

Picture: Golden Poppies and Lupines near Cottonwood Entrance, Joshua Tree National Park, California

Here is another photo from Joshua Tree National Park. I also photographed the General Patton Museum but didn't really get any shots worth posting here. It was a cool museum to look at though with numerous tanks and WWII memorabilia.

I've been pretty busy lately with numerous things and I have to start filling out my tax forms soon so I don't know if I'll get another chance to shoot wildflowers at Joshua Tree this year. There is a good display between Twentynine Palms and Amboy though that might be worth checking out from what I have read.

Joshua Tree National Park Spring Wildflowers

Picture: Joshua Tree National Park Spring Wildflowers - 2008

I went over to the southern portion of Joshua Tree National Park this weekend and found some nice wildflowers. It's been three long years, but I think this year will probably make up for lost time. Flowers are blooming later this year it seems but the signs are looking positive in the coming weeks.

There are little to no flowers north of the Cottonwood Springs entrance as far as I know so the best areas are from I-10 to the visitor center at this point. Definetely worth checking out if you have the time. I'd post more, but I just got a new computer today. My old computer died two weeks ago so I haven't really been able to look at my new photos yet.

Photo Contests "Rights Grab"

My friend, Jim Goldstein has written a very important blog posting regarding submitting to photo contests and even uploading your images to social media sites like Facebook. If you are a photographer of any sorts, pro or hobbyist, I recommend reading this at the least to remind you to read the fine print.

Here is the link: "How The Rights to Your Photos are Being Hijacked Through Photo Contests and Social Media"

Olvera Street Musicians

I was inspired by browsing a famous street photographer's website this morning so I ended up walking over to Olvera Street hoping to find a subject that felt like Latino culture. Right next to me was an accordion player but I didn't photograph him because the background looked too touristy.

Picture: Latino Guitar Player and Female Singer at Olvera Street, Los Angeles, California

Downtown L.A. Panoramic

Photo: Downtown L.A. Skyrise Buildings, Los Angeles, California

Downtown Los Angeles looked surprisingly beautiful today. I wish it were winter year-round in Southern California.

Monrovia Canyon Falls

It's amazing to spend so many years in an area and still be able to discover new places to photograph. Monrovia Canyon Falls is about ten miles from my house and I hadn't heard of it before today. I actually intended to photograph another waterfall but stumbled upon this one while looking up trail info on a local hiking website. My cousin lives down the street from the Monrovia Canyon so I called to see if he wanted to join me. He wasn't home but was surprised to find out about the waterfall too.

Monrovia Canyon Falls, San Gabriel Mountains, California

The waterfall is located inside of Monrovia Canyon Park so it costs $5 to park. Not bad at all because it is quite a scenic place to hike or picnic. The hike itself to the waterfall is relatively easy compared to most hikes in the San Gabriel Mountains because it isn't high altitude and nor does it require dangerous stream crossings to access. It is a short trail; about a 3/4 mile hike though mostly uphill so I saw several people having a tough time. However, those folks clearly looked out of shape so take this with a grain of salt. It was funny. One lady heading up the trail (near the beginning) with her kids stopped to ask me how much further it would be. "About 15 minutes. It's not that bad." Then she had a look of horror on her face after I said that.

When I first got to the waterfall it was overcast so I took a few photos. The sun burst through within a few minutes so a lot of my images had harsh lighting. As a result, I waited nearly two hours for the sun to dip behind the canyon walls before I finished up shooting pictures, this photo included.

Probably the most eventful thing that happened today was after I got back to the car. This family apparently had just gotten into a dispute so their son stomped off in anger with the dad hot on his heels. The rest of them drove off afterwards. As I drove down the road a few minutes later, I found it blocked off with cops and the family. The son then re-appeared and accused the dad of punching him then proceeded to say he wasn't armed. I on the other hand was more worried about making it home alive and wasn't going to take his word for it so I kept my eye on the rear-view mirror. The cops handcuffed the kid without further incident so I let out a sigh of relief. The family should have gone to the waterfall. Nature is good for relieving stress. :-)