My January 2007 Photo of the Month is Red Dawn, an image made before sunrise at Joshua Tree National Park’s Cholla Garden.
Red Dawn Background
A beautiful clearing storm in Winter is just what you need to make a colorful photograph. Without an expensive DSLR, and using just a standard point-and-shoot camera, I silhouetted the Eagle Mountains as the sun began its procession West. The clouds lit up beautifully.
A “red” sunrise or sunset is always a goal for a beautiful landscape photograph. It contrasts beautifully with the silhouette of the mountains. It’s the subtle textures I spend most of the time studying. I like the small ripples in the clouds. I enjoy the small hints of blue and purple. The shadows that seem to be dark from the brighter clouds are fantastic.
This is also an image that doesn’t match what I saw. Our eyes can discern so much more contrast, and it wasn’t difficult for me to discern the cholla cacti from the Eagle Mountains, or the clouds above. It is important to think like your camera sees, even when various cameras have different capabilities. If I borrowed my friend Jeremy’s extra DSLR, I would compose this image differently because of a better dynamic range. While my personal camera is a little more limited, I also know those limits, so I can create something that works within it’s abilities. Sometimes you just need to worry about what you have, not what you don’t.
It is also important for me to remember what this scene looked like and felt like. It’s different than the photograph. It brings me back to my experience as a 13 year-old in the Grand Canyon, hiking in a storm, something that there is no photograph to recount. It is vivid in my mind.
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the image.
T.M. Schultze is a San Diego-based photographer, traveller, and writer. He writes, photographs, and draws things of the outdoors that have inspired humans for thousands of years. He co-authored the Photographer’s Guide to Joshua Tree Park which can be purchased here.