One Tree Hill

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DSCF4815FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/210 sec, ISO200)

I know that there are at least two trees in the image but there is no hill either.

I just wanted to use another song title from U2’s Joshua Tree album as a title of a blog post. I need to stop to go there because I start to run out of titles. But this park is such a fantastic place and the best thing is that it is not overrun by tourists like Yosemite or Bryce Canyon. As soon as you leave the parking lots behind you are on your own.

DSCF4837FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/280 sec, ISO200)
 DSCF4839FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/5.6, 1/280 sec, ISO200)
 DSCF4849FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/280 sec, ISO200)

Like on the Hidden Valley trail. A short, flat walk of about 30 minutes but still too long and exhausting for most visitors. This is truly a car country.

I love this place and my wife loves it too so I was able to convince her for the short round walk despite the 40+ degrees Celsius. Maybe August is not the best time to for a visit but I love the hot and dry desert air. There is nothing like that.

DSCF4853FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/100 sec, ISO250)
 DSCF1905FUJIFILM X-M1 (16mm, f/5.6, 1/240 sec, ISO400)
 DSCF4871FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/105 sec, ISO200)

I don’t look very happy on the image above but there is a reason. I had barely recovered from a bad bicycle accident when I had a herniated disk just before we went for this trip. Every morning and every night I put huge amounts of Bengay cream on my lower back to get through the day and through the night.

My shoulder and my bad back were the reasons why I left my DSLR gear at home and traveled light. In this image I had the Fuji X-T1 with the 14mm around my neck and the Fuji X-Pro 1 with the 18-55mm on my shoulder. I love to use two cameras to limit lens changes. Strangely no 18-55mm – image made it in the blog post. Seems that I just prefer the wider view.

DSCF4882FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/280 sec, ISO200)
 DSCF4883FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/210 sec, ISO200)

The 14mm is such a fine lens but on my next trip I will mainly use the Fuji XF 10-24 OIS for landscapes. I just got the lens and like it a lot. It offers a much wider view plus the flexibility  of a zoom. That way I can put the Fuji XF 55-200 OIS on the second camera on those walks to be even more flexible. I just hope that I will like the shots with the 10-24 as much as I like the shots I got with my 14mm. The 14mm will still go with me on the next trip for all the city walks where I will combine it with the 27mm pancake for a super light and small set up.

Today camera gear is amazing. There is no need to carry a big camera or massive lenses and there is no need to lug around a heavy tripod. All you need is a small, high quality camera and one or two lenses. Now photographers can finally discover the world behind the parking lot.

DSCF4890FUJIFILM X-T1 (14mm, f/11, 1/220 sec, ISO200)