home; teepee; mothership; blue; landing; Joshua Tree Natiional Park; city lights; Orion; stars

This mothership has landed in the high desert of Yucca Valley and Joshua Tree National Park. Renting a mid-century modern small concrete structure, it came with this teepee. You could sleep in it but their were signs, do not bring food into the teepee, crumbs attract mice which attract rattlesnakes. I’ll pass. It was January, and snakes don’t do too well in cold weather. Joshua is a designated Dark Sky region that means few city lights to wash out the sky. The Dark Sky area was 180 degrees from this view. Just before sunset, this was the scene. Crisp and clear with Orion directly placed above the teepee. There was some blue. My interpretation was to pump up the saturation of blues. I had my son, get inside and paint the interior with light to get it to glow while I took a 30 second exposure. It seemed like the mothership had landed. We then spent a number of hours shooting our ship many different ways. For me, this was well-worth braving the cold air to get this shot. The desert always looks empty to me, but it never ceases to amaze me how much there is to shoot when you stop and look, and even listen.