For The Joy Of It.

The best reason to get out and create photographs is simply for the joy of it. The joy of photography, the joy of being outdoors, the joy of exploring new places. Any of these is enough reason to get out and create my art. At best, I come home with a great image that I can make into a print and hang on my wall to enjoy and remind me of my explorations and discoveries on that particular day. At worst, I just had a relaxing day enjoying a good hike. Either way, I have an enjoyable outing. 

My most recent outing has been just that, an enjoyable outing. I found a great trail in the Whitewater Preserve in southern California. This is a beautiful piece of BLM land with some great canyon hikes. I chose to explore Rainbow Rock Canyon, and it was a treat. So many different shapes and textures, and colors. It was an overload of landscape photography possibilities. It was a challenge not to continue creating a photograph every five feet. 

However, there was one five-foot spot I could not bring myself to walk away from. A fire damaged a tree, and a weathered log had fallen onto the desert floor. The patterns and textures in one section, particularly, mesmerized me. I spent an hour here trying different compositions on one section alone. It is often pattern and texture that draws me into creating a photograph, especially in an intimate scene like this one, and there was no way on earth I could not spend time with this fallen tree. 

After some time and at least three different framings of this one section, I found what I think is my favorite arrangement of the patterns. At first glance, this reminded me of the Van Gogh painting Starry Night, which led me to create this image. 

But at the end of the day, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and my time on this trail. And that was my greatest reward, the pure joy of being out and doing something I loved.