September 30, 2017. -- "Upward!"

The monzogranite boulders that dot the landscape of the Mojave desert were forged 85 million years ago, 20 km below the Earth's crust, before being brought to the surface by the relentless shaking of the planet, and shaped by the elemental force of the rain and the wind.

In the 1970's a group of rock climbers and adventurers calling themselves the Stonemasters popularized a new kind of climbing, a climbing with fashion style: white painter pants, flowing paisley shirts, headbands, but also a climbing that focused not on the accomplishment, not in the reward of getting to the top, but in how fluid and (apparently) effortless your climb was.

The 50m tall boulder known as Intersection Rock was the birthplace of climbing in Joshua Tree. To this day, it remains a very popular destination for climbers all over the world.

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I spent yesterday scouting Joshua Tree National Park and I've made a list of the shots I want to get.

My first attempt was Keys View, a sweeping panorama of Coachella Valley and the San Andreas fault. Beautiful to experience, but one of those locations that is not very photogenic unless you have a very interesting sky. Unfortunately today it looks like we'll only get a few wispy clouds on the horizon.

Time for Plan B, Intersection Rock, which provides an interesting composition, beautiful light at sunset, and has some historical significance. I got lucky and was able to capture some climbers planning their route silhouetted against the sky.

I shot this a good half hour after the sunset. In low light conditions humans are basically unable to perceive colors, everything resolves into grays or muted blues. But it doesn't mean that color isn't there, and the sensor of a camera will capture it with a long enough exposure.