I am not quite sure if this is good or bad, but I’ve just returned from my second trip out to Joshua Tree this year, while I’m still sharing images from the first trip here on Picture of the Week.  I haven’t even begun to mess with the images I captured this second go around, but suffice it to say, I’m sure I’ll have more pictures to share in the future!

This week I wanted to continue sharing day time images from the trip – this time from within Joshua Tree National Park.  Typically when I visit the park, I don’t spend a lot of time in the park where all the Joshua Trees are, but rather tend to hang out in the far reaches of the park where you’ll find giant piles of rocks just out in the desert (to be fair, there are also giant piles of rocks near the famous trees as well).  That might not sound terribly interesting, but when the light hits them just right – whether light from the sun or artificial lights – it can make for some really cool scenes in my opinion.  As you’ll see below in the Alternative Perspectives section, particularly in the first image, if you take the time to look around you’ll see all sorts of interesting shapes, and maybe a few “faces” even!  The very last image is admittedly a bit unusual.  I stumbled on this scene while I was out wandering among the rocks, looking for arches.  I actually found two of these tortoise shells on this outing, both with a hole punched in the top.  I was surprised to learn that ravens are one of their top predators!  Yikes!

More next week!

–Dan Thompson