Canon 5D
, natural light and hand metered
.
Orange County Photographer Greg Garcia Hunts Wildflowers in Anza Borrego
Every few years when conditions are right, the Anza Borrego
desert will get a nice bloom of wildflowers
in the spring. I love the Anza Borrego
desert and I seem to miss this spectacle every time I hear about it... "it's blooming... it's blooming!" Before I can arrange a trip, weather heats up and all the wildflowers are gone.
This year with all the recent rain, I figured this would be the year to catch it. Well, as scheduling would have it, once again, my trip kept getting bumped back. I didn't want to miss it again so knowing that I had a shoot scheduled on Saturday afternoon, I called a couple buddies that were game, grabbed my dog Paige and we headed out friday evening.
We arrived in Ocotillo Wells 10 or 11pm on Friday night after a bad KFC
experience and witnessing an overturned vehicle on the winding road outside Banner. (My last three trips down this road held witness to incident. Be cautious folks.) Obviously too late and too dark to see any kind of flora, we built a fire and set up for the night. The weather was comfortably warm with a slight breeze which cleared the skies for an awesome view of the stars. It was a peaceful desert night. Only the sound of the fire and jokes cracking could be heard until a lone rider on a dirt bike seemed to be lost and circling our camp for hours well past 2am.... which lead to more jokes, but eventually, we crashed out for the night.
7am. Up and at 'em! We packed up camp and headed over to the Blu Inn for breakfast. This place has been there for as long as I can remember. It's probably changed hand a few times since I've visited but this is by far the nicest "version" of the Blu Inn. It's got an Old School Diner motif with all the typical fixin's and pretty bad ass Breakfast Burrito from what I witnessed. They have added a nice patio for outdoor seating and service as well. I didn't inquire but it looks like they are expanding to an RV Park
and Quad Rentals too.
After we grubbed it was time to hit the trail. The Wildflower Report claimed the bloom had moved to the upper desert around Culp Valley and Hell Hole Canyon. I'm not to familiar with that area and being on a limited schedule, we chose some familiar trails and hoped for the best.
We headed out to Split Mountain and started up Fish Wash. I could see scattered color from flowers on the side of the road as we drove up Split Mountain Road. We stopped at Split Mountain, the Wind Caves and Fossil Reef to view the "Elephant Knees" but didn't hike to the Wind Caves due to time. We continued all the way down Fish Wash and entered Sand Stone Canyon. We were able to get passed the Narrows but we were not able to get much farther on the trail. Apparently from the recent earthquake on Easter, quite sizeable boulders had fallen and blocked the path. (To see images, follow the link below or click here.) At that point we turned around and headed back up Fish Wash and turn on to Arroyo Seco del Diablo Trail. We negotiated the small rock field and climbed to the plateau above Diablo Drop Off. That's when we viewed the Ocotillo and Cholla in bloom and took most of the days pictures you see above.
Next, we raced to the Tapiado Mud Caves for some quick exploration. The day was starting to heat up and coolness of the Mud Caves were inviting. (There are pictures from the Mud Caves in my online gallery as well.) Running short on time, we rushed out Arroyo Tapiado to Vallecito Wash and headed for pavement through Canyon Sin Nombre. Here, we stopped for a minute or two and captured some more images of purple and yellow flora before hitting pavement.
This was a fun and interesting short trip. I titled this blog a Four Hour Tour because, rubber hit the dirt for only about four hours and we were able to cover a lot of ground and see a lot. It was very rushed and I almost felt like Chevy Chase in National Lampoons Vacation..." there it is... OK, Let's go..." but it was well worth it. Even with traffic backed up on the 5FWY because of a van on fire, I made it home with enough time to shower before my shoot. I love it when a plan comes together. I'm going to try and sneak in another trip before all the flowers are gone... That'll be my excuse any way... I love it out there.
desert will get a nice bloom of wildflowers in the spring. I love the Anza Borrego desert and I seem to miss this spectacle every time I hear about it... "it's blooming... it's blooming!" Before I can arrange a trip, weather heats up and all the wildflowers are gone.This year with all the recent rain, I figured this would be the year to catch it. Well, as scheduling would have it, once again, my trip kept getting bumped back. I didn't want to miss it again so knowing that I had a shoot scheduled on Saturday afternoon, I called a couple buddies that were game, grabbed my dog Paige and we headed out friday evening.
We arrived in Ocotillo Wells 10 or 11pm on Friday night after a bad KFC
experience and witnessing an overturned vehicle on the winding road outside Banner. (My last three trips down this road held witness to incident. Be cautious folks.) Obviously too late and too dark to see any kind of flora, we built a fire and set up for the night. The weather was comfortably warm with a slight breeze which cleared the skies for an awesome view of the stars. It was a peaceful desert night. Only the sound of the fire and jokes cracking could be heard until a lone rider on a dirt bike seemed to be lost and circling our camp for hours well past 2am.... which lead to more jokes, but eventually, we crashed out for the night.7am. Up and at 'em! We packed up camp and headed over to the Blu Inn for breakfast. This place has been there for as long as I can remember. It's probably changed hand a few times since I've visited but this is by far the nicest "version" of the Blu Inn. It's got an Old School Diner motif with all the typical fixin's and pretty bad ass Breakfast Burrito from what I witnessed. They have added a nice patio for outdoor seating and service as well. I didn't inquire but it looks like they are expanding to an RV Park
and Quad Rentals too.After we grubbed it was time to hit the trail. The Wildflower Report claimed the bloom had moved to the upper desert around Culp Valley and Hell Hole Canyon. I'm not to familiar with that area and being on a limited schedule, we chose some familiar trails and hoped for the best.
We headed out to Split Mountain and started up Fish Wash. I could see scattered color from flowers on the side of the road as we drove up Split Mountain Road. We stopped at Split Mountain, the Wind Caves and Fossil Reef to view the "Elephant Knees" but didn't hike to the Wind Caves due to time. We continued all the way down Fish Wash and entered Sand Stone Canyon. We were able to get passed the Narrows but we were not able to get much farther on the trail. Apparently from the recent earthquake on Easter, quite sizeable boulders had fallen and blocked the path. (To see images, follow the link below or click here.) At that point we turned around and headed back up Fish Wash and turn on to Arroyo Seco del Diablo Trail. We negotiated the small rock field and climbed to the plateau above Diablo Drop Off. That's when we viewed the Ocotillo and Cholla in bloom and took most of the days pictures you see above.
Next, we raced to the Tapiado Mud Caves for some quick exploration. The day was starting to heat up and coolness of the Mud Caves were inviting. (There are pictures from the Mud Caves in my online gallery as well.) Running short on time, we rushed out Arroyo Tapiado to Vallecito Wash and headed for pavement through Canyon Sin Nombre. Here, we stopped for a minute or two and captured some more images of purple and yellow flora before hitting pavement.
This was a fun and interesting short trip. I titled this blog a Four Hour Tour because, rubber hit the dirt for only about four hours and we were able to cover a lot of ground and see a lot. It was very rushed and I almost felt like Chevy Chase in National Lampoons Vacation..." there it is... OK, Let's go..." but it was well worth it. Even with traffic backed up on the 5FWY because of a van on fire, I made it home with enough time to shower before my shoot. I love it when a plan comes together. I'm going to try and sneak in another trip before all the flowers are gone... That'll be my excuse any way... I love it out there.
To see more images from this trip, please follow this link:
http://greggarciaphotography.com/online/borrego/
http://greggarciaphotography.com/online/borrego/
staying in a Double Barrel Shotgun, in the area by Armstrong Park. We didn't have any electricity or water to speak of. We were lucky enough to run an extension cord from the neighbor that lit a single lamp so we could see after dark. Water would trickle out of the bathtub faucet, so we would collect the water in cups and tubs for usage later. We converted an old washing machine into a BBQ so we had a place to cook. We called this the Hobo Camp. It was pretty much open to whoever wanted to stay there. There were always interesting characters coming and going. They didn't seem to mind me or my camera. Enjoy!
on 
area I suggest you check this group out.
Sculpture is from 
. All three images were shot in Manual mode on my 
. I used in camera metering and utilized the histogram to calculate my exposure.
would. So, I walked up to the statue on the shadow side to get my meter reading. I locked in the exposure and recomposed to completely obliterating the background. There is some flare because on the second day in the desert I'm sure my lens had seen cleaner days but I was happy with the effect I got. 
days. Now it's done in 
instead. I'm sure there's easier ways to do it but I'm Ol' Skool. Haha! Ah... don't you just miss the smell of mixing fresh chemistry in the morning? Lol! Now go have fun!!!