Bert Mattingly Alaskan Photographer

I love the balance of this photo. The tree in the foreground just off center, the rocks on the left with the smaller tree on the right and just for good measure the moon above on the left. This is an example of what I call a natural photo, it just capture the beauty presented, naturally.

Joshua Tree National Park, California, October 20, 2016, 7:41 am

My feeling in this image is captured in the quote of Edward Abbey:

“What draws us into the desert is the search for something intimate in the remote.”

In this image, we look from the outside in then from the inside out. We look thru, trying to put together a story, a history, some form of intimacy with the past. Then our eyes wander upward to the remote mountain and then the infinity of the sky. The harshness of the image is balanced with the soothing blueness of the sky.

Death Valley National Park, California March 13, 2015 3:48 pm

The Ocotillio is a purely desert plant. A truly amazing desert plant when you consider that it consists of the only the barest of structural formation. No excess limb, leaves or other appendages. Only what it needs to survive.

A simply beautiful plant, if you ask me.

Joshua Tree National Park, October 28, 2016 5:49 pm

The desert, like most of nature, is always in a process of life. Some things are dying, while others give birth. In the hope of a new day, a new Cholla Cactus reachs for the light.

Joshua Tree National Park, California, October 25, 2016 7:02 am

The rule of the desert is adapting. Plants find ways to survive both in the direct sunlight, as well as in the shadow of the rocks that tower above.

Joshua Tree National Park, California March 7, 2015 5:44 pm

The desert is a place of complete contrasts. The heat should forbid anything from surviving, yet life not only survives but it thrives in the heat. With the heat of the sun, shadows appear dark and the light bright and warm. Life moves on regardless.

Joshua Tree National Park, California October 22, 2016 6:51 am