Category: Exploration

Overlanding

3/1/2015

Overlanding is a term I learned not too long ago. “...Self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations… by mechanized off-highway capable transport (from bicycles to trucks)”. (“Overland Journal,” n.d.)

Most of what I’m photographing these days could fall into this category. The area we are currently camped in is the ideal environment to shoot this type of scene. Our location is actually termed as “remote” because we’re using solar as our main power source, water is scarce and we’re without a cell signal.

When we're in the Northern part of the U.S., I dream of shooting desert scenes. When we're in the Southwest, I’m dreaming of greener landscapes. If you’ve noticed that our gallery is filling up with desert scenes, not to worry, we’ll be back shooting in Northern Minnesota in about two months.

On rare occasions, we're fortunate to witness some stormy skies contrasting with the orange sand/dirt. From what I understand, Joshua Tree N.P. has clear blue, cloudless skies more often than not. So this is what makes my image (top right) a little more special.

-Kurt

HO Scale Jeep Rubicon - Joshua Tree NP

HO Scale BMW motorcycle - Box Canyon Rd, California

HO Scale Toyota FJ40 - Joshua Tree NP

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Joshua Tree

2/21/2015

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Kurt and I are currently in Joshua Tree National Park working as volunteers and in our down time Kurt is photographing for our Un Petit Monde project.

Joshua Tree NP is notorious for its climbing opportunities as well as its off-road driving, night skies and of course, Joshua Trees. It’s a good thing that the miniatures in Kurt’s bag are always ready for adventure and exploration.

While exploring a wash in the Southern end of the park, Kurt found a good spot for his 4x4 jeep convoy. The sand was smooth enough for their tires to be able to deal with it. Half hour earlier the sky had the most unique display of clouds, it would have been a perfect addition to the scene!

On a separate occasion, we scrambled up granite boulders so Kurt could document a miniature climber in action.

Kurt is focusing on a few 4x4s overlanding in Joshua Tree NP

Joshua Tree National Park, California (2015)

Kurt is placing a climber on the side of a monzogranite boulder in Joshua Tree NP

Final image - Climber in JoshuaTree NP, California (2015)

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Salton Sea

1/2/2015

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Abandoned structure covered with salt, barnacles and rust (Photo: Edwige)

Dead fish on the beach (photo: Edwige)

Salton sea was an accident. Water from the Colorado River was being diverted to irrigate agricultural fields in the Imperial Valley desert, southeastern California. A dam broke and the water started pouring over railroads and villages. The "accident" created a sea in the middle of the desert. The "sea" has no outlets so its salinity keeps increasing, killing fish and birds (Salton Sea is 40% saltier than the ocean). The water is also laced with chemicals from the agricultural run offs which also contributed to the killing of a large amount of fish and birds. The beach sand is mainly composed of crushed fish bones. Kurt and I had to step around dead fish and birds.

On the beach, there were abandoned structures, trailers' frames, poles with electric cables going nowhere, shoes, decrepit chairs, it looked like a tornado had went through. Barnacles grew on poles, toilet, pretty much everything abandoned on the beach.

The temperature was cool enough that the smell from decomposing fish was bearable. The Hazmat crew were the only miniatures used at Salton Sea. Kurt found plenty scenes for the crew to investigate.

Kurt photographs the Hazmat Crew near an abandoned toilet

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The saguaro

12/20/2014

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We spent time in Saguaro National Park to try and capture the saguaro cactus. Pairing the miniatures with saguaros was another one of Kurt's wish for this trip. To him (and to me) the idea of the American West was a mix of saguaros, Monument Valley and friendly road runners. We learned that 1. Road runners are mean 2. Saguaros grow only in the Sonoran Desert 3. Monument Valley is miles away from the Sonoran Desert.

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Making Of Un Petit Monde App

12/18/2014

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For this project, Kurt was originally looking to capture an orange-sand-blue-sky desert look, similar to the look of the scenes he photographed in Utah back in March 2013. We were set and ready to go to Utah when the weather threw a wrench in our plans. In Moab, the daily temperature highs were in the 50s and the nights in the teens which would make the project very challenging.

So, we looked at our options further south within a 2-day drive from Minneapolis, with reasonable temperatures and striking desert looks. We remembered White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. White sands, blue sky, beautiful weather. We spent 8 days in the dunes so Kurt could capture the different times of day.

The result is a set of still images, including a few stop motion animations to illustrate a day on the dunes. Here are a few behind-the-scene images:

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On the beaches of Marco Island

1/16/2014

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Kurt and I went to Marco Island to capture the beauty of its beaches with our miniatures.

We set out for South Beach on a Monday, mid-afternoon, it was warm and sunny. We were fortunate not to have to contend with a crowd. The sand looked almost white and right on the edge of the surf there was a multitude of shells and mollusks .

Kurt had to deal with the glare on his camera screen and the heat but we don't want to complain about the heat, it's below zero back home.

Kurt gets as low as possible to shoot the minis on South Beach

The shells and the mollusks added some visual interest to the photo shoot. Kurt had a bunch of scenarios going. The colors were in the pastels, milky-creamy, very soft looking.

Tigertail Beach photo shoot was late afternoon on a cloudy, windy, stormy looking day. Kurt decided very quickly to quit trying to photograph the little lady tanning herself and pulled out instead a woman and her umbrella struggling against the wind, how fitting!

That day we almost lost the woman with her umbrella to a wave. Fortunately this isn't Sunset Beach and the waves were gentle enough to release her back to us.