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Tag: American Southwest

  • Ocotillo in Silence – Desert Abstraction in Infrared

    Ocotillo in Silence – Desert Abstraction in Infrared

    This image captures the ethereal form of an ocotillo in full isolation, shot in infrared at Joshua Tree National Park. Its long, spiny branches stretch upward like delicate calligraphy against the blackened desert sky—a ghostly dance of light and structure.

    The ocotillo is one of the desert’s most uniquely expressive plants. In visible light, it can blend into the harsh terrain. But in infrared, its delicate branches flare white, revealing textures and structures the eye can’t normally see. The deep black sky and distant mountain ridge serve as a stark backdrop, enhancing the surreal, almost lunar quality of the moment.

    This photo is part of our ongoing Americana Project, specifically within the sub-series exploring infrared desert landscapes. The scene speaks to stillness, survival, and the abstract beauty of the American Southwest.

  • Alien Lovers

    Alien Lovers

    While road-tripping through Utah, I made a spontaneous stop at Goblin Valley State Park—an otherworldly landscape filled with wind-sculpted hoodoos that resemble creatures from another planet. The park’s name is well earned; it feels like stepping into a Martian playground carved by time and weather.

    As I wandered through the maze of rock formations, this particular pair of “goblins” caught my eye. There was something oddly tender about the way they leaned into each other—like a couple caught in an eternal embrace, frozen in stone. It felt both intimate and alien, and I knew I had to capture it.

    I photographed the scene using my Nikon D2X, modified for infrared photography. The resulting black-and-white image brings out the texture and contrast in the stone, stripping away color and enhancing the surreal mood of the moment. With the high desert light and infrared effect, the surface almost glows, giving these sandstone figures an eerie, ghostlike presence.

    To me, this shot tells a quiet story of connection in an unlikely place—a pair of stone lovers standing side by side in the heart of Utah’s alien terrai

  • Solitary Sentinel – Joshua Tree in Infrared

    Solitary Sentinel – Joshua Tree in Infrared

    Captured in the heart of Joshua Tree National Park, this surreal image transforms the desert landscape into something otherworldly. Using a Nikon D800 converted for infrared photography, I was able to reveal the stark beauty of the desert in an entirely new light.

    The Joshua Tree, a symbol of resilience and wild elegance, stands alone against a backdrop of gently rolling hills and a nearly black sky—an effect created by the deep infrared spectrum. The spiky foliage glows with an ethereal, icy tone, while the texture of the bark and desert scrub becomes hyper-detailed, giving the scene an almost alien quality.

    Infrared photography at Joshua Tree offers a dramatic reinterpretation of the familiar. Where the sun-bleached sand and blue skies typically dominate, the infrared view emphasizes contrast and mood, stripping away color to reveal form, light, and shadow in their purest expressions.

    This image, for me, captures not just a moment in the Mojave—but the essence of isolation, strength, and beauty in one of America’s most unique landscapes.

  • The Long Road – Monument Valley in Infrared

    The Long Road – Monument Valley in Infrared

    Shot with a Nikon D2X converted for infrared photography, this image captures the legendary view from Forrest Gump Point on Highway 163—where endless road meets timeless landscape. This stretch between Monument Valley and Mexican Hat, Utah, is etched in cinematic history as the spot where Forrest Gump famously stopped running, with the buttes of Monument Valley standing solemn in the distance.

    In the infrared spectrum, the familiar transforms. The asphalt shimmers with alien intensity, while the desert terrain turns ghostly white, and the sky deepens into a void of stark black. Monument Valley’s towering sandstone formations rise like silent sentinels from another world, frozen in time and shadow.

    The composition—perfectly centered on the broken white line—pulls the viewer down the road into the surreal horizon, symbolizing both a journey through the American West and a passage through visual imagination.

    This isn’t just a photograph of a place made famous by Hollywood—it’s a reimagining of an icon, filtered through the lens of infrared light and a camera that still holds up in a digital world driven by megapixels.

  • Desert Sentinel – Joshua Tree in Infrared

    Desert Sentinel – Joshua Tree in Infrared

    In the high desert of Joshua Tree National Park, the sun bears down relentlessly, and even the hardiest plants take on an otherworldly beauty. This infrared image transforms the stark reality of the Mojave into something dreamlike—where the sky turns jet black, the scrub glows white, and the yucca tree stands alone like a quiet sentinel.

    Shot with an infrared-converted camera, this photograph highlights the reflective properties of desert flora, exaggerating contrast and revealing textures invisible to the naked eye. The strong midday shadows deepen the drama, while the deep black sky creates a canvas of high-desert minimalism.

    Joshua Tree is a place of extremes—heat and stillness, life and emptiness. This image is part of our Americana Project, capturing the strange beauty and solitude found in some of the most iconic landscapes of the American West.

  • Desert Relic in Infrared

    Desert Relic in Infrared

    Just outside of Mexican Hat, Utah, along a quiet stretch of road near what appeared to be an abandoned building labeled “Cow Canyon Trading Post,” I came across this rusting beauty from a bygone era. The desert sun had long since faded its paint, shattered its glass, and stripped it of its purpose—but not its presence.

    Shot in infrared, the scene takes on an almost ghostlike quality. The car feels suspended between decades, its chrome grin peeking through the silence of red rock country. There’s a certain dignity in how it sits—worn but unyielding, a relic that still holds the road in its own way.

    These are the kinds of discoveries I treasure on my photography journeys: moments when time, texture, and technology come together to tell a story that’s part documentary, part dream.