Tag Archives: Mohave Desert

I hope we’re not too tired of canyon vistas, but … Last year I did a series of images from shots of the desert with infrared imaging and other extreme postprocessing to produce some imaginative and other-worldly desert images. →For example, and also →for example. I think there were 10 images in the series. I’d like to add a new round of images, starting the Desert Series Volume 2.

Desert Series V2-1. The "Little Colorado" Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.

Both of the first two new images were shot in the north central Colorado Plateau of Arizona, depicting the start of a canyon from a tributary of the Colorado River, the “Little Colorado.” I’m omitting camera data. All but the fourth image below were shot with the Nikon D200. Otherwise, cameradata is kind of meaningless. Postprocessing includes infrared processing, solarization, highly selective tonal adjustments, graduated filters, and other techniques.

Desert Series V2-2. The "Little Colorado" Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.

Photography is unique in that it has the capacity to both challenge and reinforce our perceptions of reality at the same time. It’s a cliche to say that we “see” differently when we view an altered imaged, but it’s true. We know generally what the unaltered image looks like,* so the altered image forces us to confront different qualities of perception that we miss or ignore in the original. Occasionally we gain wholly new insights – often subliminally – into the image. (* What’s especially interesting is what happens to our perception when we don’t know – or don’t know that we know – what the original looks like.)

One of the effects noted in several of the first series was the extreme emphasis photo-alteration gave to geologic or terrain elements that the eye tended to miss when confronted with the “natural” scene. Image 2 here is certainly an example of this effect.

Desert Series V2-3. The Badlands Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.

Image 3 is a classic example of the type of terrain found in many places throughout the west and the northern middle west and known as “badlands” – highly irregular terrain, usually arid but formed by extensive erosion, with gullies and ravines, rough and rocky hills, and usually difficult to traverse.  This particular image was shot in the Petrified Forest of Arizona.

Desert Series V2-4. Mohave Desert Copyright Joanne Mason 2012.

Finally, the fourth image, shot with the Fuji X100, is from California’s Mohave Desert.