mojave
adjusting to a slower life out in the desert country. feeding the wild birds, putting water out for the coyotes, & peanuts for the ravens. hummingbirds circle my house all day, their wings a low buzz.
almost every night I sit out in the dirt circle that serves as my driveway to watch the sunset. the mountains of the san bernardino national forest swallow the sun every night, sometimes crowned in clouds glowing orange or pink.
turbulent skies & songbirds in the mojave today.
a morning spent exploring mojave california & the surrounding area with my kodak ektar h35 half frame camera & a roll of ilford hp5.
journal:
woke up at 3am & went to the desert. highway 14 served as a kind of line between the slowly spreading dawn & the thick close smoke of fires burning to the north.
the morning sun doesn’t so much rise here as it does spread out. the light fills the darkness like water saturating a cloth. it blooms. osmosis.
spent a morning a few weeks ago at my favourite state park – red rock canyon in cantil. I’ve taken a lot of photographs of this park over the years so I decided to bring my film cameras out to play.
off route 66 outside of victorville you’ll find an incredible art installation called elmer’s bottle tree ranch. elmer long built this unique forest using recycled & found materials, constructing trees out of everything from rebar & glass to old typewriters & even a missile. one of my favourite things about the desert are these types of places, the spots where someone’s creativity shows up in unexpected ways. wandering through the trees under the bright blue spring desert sky was a perfect way to spend a route 66 pit stop.
elmer passed away in 2019, so the ranch is no longer expanding, but the existing structures are well worth a visit.
the ranch is open daily sunrise to sunset, it’s free to enter but donations are gladly accepted.
shot on a vintage lubitel 2 with kodak porta 400
amboy crater rises up almost 1000 feet above its surrounding lava field.
amboy crater is a cinder cone volcano located just off route 66 in california’s mojave desert. a cinder cone volcano is the simplest form or volcano, created when lava & particles are shot into the air during an eruption from a single vent. the cooling lava falls back to the earth creating a cone shape around the vent.
the amboy volcano is considered extinct & hasn’t erupted for at least 10,000 years. an easy 4.1 mile out & back hiking trail takes you through the surrounding lava field & into the crater. temperatures get very hot in the summer, above 100 degrees most days. bring extra water, sunscreen, & sun protective clothes.
view into the crater from the volcano’s rim.
