My March 2026 Photo of the Month is EC1107, taken in San Diego County’s Oakoasis County Preserve.
EC1107 Background
March 2026 proved to be one of the least productive photography months since I picked up a camera as a serious hobby over 20 years ago. For those of you who may not be local, the problem proved to be an unusual (and more more frequent) heat dome that was stubborn and lasted almost the entire month. My community hit 100 degrees at one point, with many days in the high 90s. For a person like me who moved here for its mild climate, it was pretty miserable.
I am also a bit of a cloud photographer. One, I have a Portfolio Gallery of nothing but clouds, but beyond that, friends know that my type of photo weather is mid-morning or mid-afternoon with nice clouds out. That persistent heat dome did something else – made my preferred style of photography elusive.
I often think about a presentation that Sarah Marino gave to my Photo Club about finding ways to photograph in “bad” light (somehow, that was 6 years ago….). This was still a nice morning in an overlooked county preserve that I happen to like, so it wasn’t like I was completely stuck with an impossible photography situation.
The best part of Oakoasis is a small canyon with a nice (unnamed?) creek running through it. A larger mountain loop takes you through the entire preserve, with nice views of San Vicente Reservoir, but because it was going to be a very hot day, I stuck with the canyon.
The creek canyon has one of my favorite forest canopies in San Diego County, with a lot of old, large, and healthy (for now) oak trees. Now, I have made a lot of images of twisty oak branches. I never get tried of that, but then I looked straight up, and I found a composition I liked. It may have reached the 80s by this point, and I knew I needed to get back up out of the canyon to my car, but it must have felt 15 degrees cooler under the canopy. Had I worn a better hat and brought some snacks with my Kindle, I could have hung out there most of the day. As it was, I only encountered one other hiker. Like good introverts, we didn’t greet each other.
When I climbing out of the canyon, more exposed, I definitely felt the heat and was happy to get back to my car. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the same time I arrived at Oakoasis that morning, a hiker across the street started his hiking journey at El Capitan County Preserve and sadly passed away. There isn’t any information on what happened, but it was definitely not an ideal day to be making an attempt on El Capitan, one of the hardest and most exposed hikes in San Diego County. I hope the gentleman was able to enjoy some of the beauty outdoors that morning, and best wishes and condolences to his family.
As always, thank you for viewing, and I hope you enjoyed the image.
Further Viewing
Photos of the Month Portfolio Archive
T.M. Schultze Fine Art America Print-On-Demand Store
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.
Looks like a place I’d like to visit. The trees look great in your image.
I wish I had your talent – beautiful picture.