Light painting in the California Desert.

I recently had the opportunity to join several other photographers for an evening of "light painting" in the California Desert. Light painting is a technique where one can create a long exposure of the pitch black night sky, often including the Milky Way, while briefly lighting the foreground for a second or two with a hand held light. It takes a little practice, but the results can be dramatic. It helps if the photographer is working in an official "dark sky" area.

In this case the location was the Galleta Meadows Sculpture Gardens near the town of Borrego Springs in California's Anza Borrego Desert State Park. The park is east of Palm Springs not far from the Salton Sea. Daytime temperatures hit 106F, and the rattlesnakes and scorpions are abundant. (We saw several scorpions, and had to carefully check our camera bags for them when we were finished).

Dennis Avery, heir to the Avery Label fortune, was a resident of Borrego Springs. He purchased the land and commissioned the sculptor, Ricardo Breceda, to create one hundred and thirty metal sculptures, which are placed in the surrounding desert. It's a kick to drive around looking for them in the middle of nowhere. We were honored when Mr. Breceda joined us and hung out for about forty five minutes.

Some of the shots were lit with a small LED RGB light, some were lit with a laser pointer, and some were lit by an overhead drone. All of these exposure were twenty seconds long, and the light painting lasted about two seconds during that long exposure. A few of the softs are soft because due to the difficulty of focusing in pitch black circumstances.

Enjoy!