All the way back in January, a photographer friend of mine, San Diego fashion & editorial photographer Josh Mitchell invited me to come along for his birthday celebration/shoot out in Palm Springs & Joshua Tree. Josh also has a fantastic San Diego headshot & business branding photography website called Your Face is Rad – how cool is that name? I had always wanted to visit Joshua Tree so I said sure and made the drive out. I kind of loved the 5 hours of driving through the deserts. Arizona’s deserts is so different from that area of California. California deserts are very stark and much more brown, whereas I feel like Arizona has so much more color and desert plant life. Joshua Tree was otherworldly. Arizona has some joshua trees around- probably not native, but the concentration of trees in the park was really interesting. They are strange plants. I’d love to go back to Joshua Tree for a wedding or elopement. Maybe someday! I definitely don’t consider myself to be a fashion or editorial photographer, but getting out of my comfort zone and doing shoots that are different for me creatively is so key for artistic growth. Of course, working with fantastic models with great styling always helps. I loved seeing how Josh & some other photographers like the super talented NJ wedding photographer Dennis Pike that came along as well worked, I honestly had just as much fun watching them shoot. I stayed for a 2 days before driving back to Phoenix and we shot at Joshua Tree, Slab City, Salvation Mountain & an abandoned place along the Salton Sea affectionately known as “The Meth Lab”. Don’t worry, Mom, I was totally safe the whole time! The Salton Sea was eerie- it was perfectly still so it was like there almost wasn’t any water there, just a giant mirror reflecting the stark landscape and sky back. I wish I had more time to shoot that, I liked it as much as Joshua Tree. It would also make a really interesting and unique place to elope. The last photos are my favorite- it was simply a white hallway in our Airbnb. With some creative photographers, any sort of space can be turned into a cool photo. Huge thank you to Josh for putting this little small creative retreat together and inviting me along!
Talent Team:
Hair & Make Up:
Chelsea Jean
Lexi Bowman
Models:
Madeline
Lexi
Jasmine
Chelsea Jean
Kelly
Please go check out everyone’s work, everyone is very talented and it was an honor to work alongside them all!
Josh Mitchell Instagram
Dennis Pike Instagram
Sage Justice Instagram
Models & HMUAs’ IGs are all linked above!
