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I’ve been busy, but I’ve still been taking pictures and reading. See the descriptions of my new photo galleries below and check out my reading list and book reviews.

Joshua Tree National Park – I visited California and had a day off to visit Joshua Tree National Park. National Parks are exceptional and Joshua Tree fits right in. It straddles three ecosystems, the northern end of the Sonoran Desert called the Colorado Desert, the southern end of the Mojave Desert and the Little San Bernardino Mountains. Joshua Tree National Park is also bordered by the San Andreas Fault on the south and has several fault lines within the borders of the park. The southern end of the Mojave Desert has the Joshua Tree. We entered the park from the southern end from Interstate 10 on Cottonwood Spring Road. At the start the land is scrubby, flat desert, and then it starts to get hilly as you get into the Cottonwood Mountains. A short side road from the visitor center leads to the Cottonwood Springs Oasis with large fan palm trees providing some shade.

Near the border of the between the Colorado Desert and the Mojave Desert there is a stand of spiky ocotillo trees followed by a large patch of cacti that suddenly appear. As you progress through the Mojave Desert the land suddenly changes revealing large granite monoliths including an arch. Finally in the northern end of the park Joshua trees suddenly appear. A great side trip is to visit Keys View – at an elevation of 5185 ft – which overlooks Palm Springs in the Coachella Valley. I was surprised to find on the map that parts of the valley in view in the photo are actually below sea level.

I have a few photo sets of this great park. Here is a set of photos from Joshua Tree National Park in black and white and here is a larger set in color. Black and white fit well with the patterns and textures that are everywhere you look. For a photographer, the lighting is exceptional at dusk and dawn. When I go back there, I will stay in the area, taking pictures in the morning and evening.

Los Angeles – We had some time to visit in the Los Angeles area during the evenings. We did a nice loop in the evening to Newport Beach and took the ferry to Balboa Island. Balboa Island is a great little community of cottages surrounded by water. There is a bridge to the island on the northeastern corner and a small 3-car ferry from Newport Beach on the southern side. I was surprised to find that Fullerton, California has its own charming downtown. It took some photos at night.

Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Milwaukee Art Museum – We visited two art galleries over the last few months. They both allow you to take your camera, but you are not allowed to use tripod or flash in the museum. This makes it difficult to take pictures, but with a steady hand and a high ISO setting, very reasonable pictures are possible. Here are my photos of the Minnesota Institute of Art and of the Milwaukee Art Museum. The Milwaukee Art Museum is housed in a great building so I’ve added some photos of this too.

South Dakota – I traveled to South Dakota for a few days with my daughter to see Mt. Rushmore and the Badlands in March. The weather was poor and there was snow on the ground, but this created some interesting opportunities for photos. There weren’t a lot of tourists around! When we arrived at Mt. Rushmore it was foggy, but the fog cleared so we could get a clear view. I really liked the large photo they had in the visitor center and I was able to make a panorama of it and adjust the perspective to make a good photo. It shows a worker hanging from a rope inspecting George Washington’s cheek. We stopped in Albert Lea, Minnesota overnight and I got some great shots of downtown at dusk.

Google™ Earth and Panoramio – Check out my pictures on panoramio.com here. My name on panoramio.com is maxpixel. I’ve been adding some recent pictures. At the moment, I’ve added 459 pictures of which 468 are on Google Earth. I’ve been looking at which photos get more hits than others. Definitely, photos of unusual places get a lot of hits – like Lord Howe Island. Places where there are a lot of photos don’t get a lot of hits – like Venice. My most viewed photo is of Blinkie Beach on Lord Howe Island with 2672 views. Blinkie Beach has very good waves for surfing and this photo is one of a few in the area. I have (3) photos with over 2000 views and (19) photos with over 1000 views. It seems that a good way to have people look at your photos is to look at theirs, so I have been looking around and leaving comments on ones I like.

I like the stunning view of the Faroe Islands by G. Nordoy and a view of baobab trees in Madagascar by Dominik M. Ramík. It would be great to visit those places.