Experiment with Nature » desert

Journey 019 – High Sierras :: Hot Springs

Steve Ebert — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 22:12:55 +0000

For the 19th installment of our Journeys series, we follow along with Kelly Shea & Brendan Banks of Vancrafted on a stop in the High Sierras during their cross country road trip. In their own words: “This account takes places on week 15, day 105, of 5 months spent living on the road :: We are 2 people who traded our city apartments for one 30-year-old Volkswagen van and 15,000 miles of fresh air. At this point in the journey, our nerves have become as accustomed to gleaming mountain lion eyes at night as they were to taking the subway every day to work. This part of our journey finds us at a point where we have gained ease in the unknown of each coming day and love for camping with only nature surrounding us.”

See some sample photos below and check out Kelly & Brendan’s full photo essay HERE.

Journey 017 – South America

Steve Ebert — Thu, 16 Apr 2015 21:37:01 +0000

For the 17th installment of our Journeys series, we follow along with Amanda Leigh Smith on a motorcycle trip across South America. In her own words: “In November of 2013, my boyfriend and his best friend left on the journey of a lifetime riding two custom Honda XR600s from Whistler, Canada to the southern most town of South America: Ushuaia, Argentina. On James’ way back north I met him in Pucón, Chile in April, and from there we would ride together on his motorcycle as far north as we could make it. In the end we rode over 8,500 miles on both pavement and dirt though 6 countries until we reached Bogotá, Colombia three months later.”

See some sample photos below and check out Amanda’s full photo essay HERE.

Journey 012 – 2 Hours East

Steve Ebert — Mon, 17 Nov 2014 18:20:01 +0000

Living in Southern California can become a little monotonous, with only small changes in the weather and the constant urban sprawl. The landscape changes drastically just a couple hours East, however, and Eli and crew decided to explore to escape their day to day routine. In his own words: “I had meant to plan a camping trip for myself and a few friends through Anza Borrego and then up through Joshua Tree for some climbing, but the pieces hadn’t fallen together, and as the start date for my new job in San Francisco approached I figured it was time I acted on my desire regardless of what the trip ended up being. So during my last week in San Diego I decided to do a day trip for a bit of exploring. It was a nice way to break up the monotony I had been experiencing, and take advantage of San Diego’s proximity to such unique landscapes while I still had the chance.”

Check out some sample photos from Eli’s essay below, and see the full post HERE.

Journey 011 – Warm Winters

Steve Ebert — Mon, 22 Sep 2014 18:56:45 +0000

Melbourne winters can be brutal (for an Australian), so Lloyd Stubber decided to escape the cold and tour tropical Queensland. In Lloyd’s words: “Neither of us had ever been, but seeing that their winter is what they call the “dry season” and 25C, we locked it in without hesitation. Our plan was to pick up the car in Brisbane, then drive hammer and tong to Townsville as there wasn’t too much to see in between. From there, we planned to drive up the coast towards Cairns and see anything and everything in between.” Check out some selects from the trip below, and see the full photo essay HERE.

Journey 006 – Without Purpose

Steve Ebert — Wed, 02 Jul 2014 16:57:19 +0000

Journey 006 features Jesse Morrow and crew as they travel the American Southwest, head up the California coast, and return to their home base of Seattle. Originally their trip was planned to support a coffee roaster initiative, interviewing individual roasters, shooting photos and compiling it all into a book of sorts. After several roasters pulled out of the project last minute Jesse was left with a decision to make– call off the trip or continue as planned, without a true purpose for the trip.

See the full photo essay here.

See the rest of our Journeys series on: journeys.shwoodshop.com

You can find more of Jesse’s on Exposure: photo.mrrw.co or on instagram @jessemorrow

China’s Zhangye Danxia Landform

Josh Fulfs — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:17:55 +0000

Hidden in the Chinese frontier of Gansu province is the Zhangye Danxia Landform, a sprawling range of brilliantly colored mountains. Eons of tectonic activity and erosion have revealed stratified layers of rock, varying wildly, and completely free of vegetation due to the aridity of the region. Check out the whole photo set here. (Photos from Mohsin A. Soomro‘s Flickr.)

Spherical Mars Panorama

Josh Fulfs — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 18:57:13 +0000

Following our Mt. Everest Gigapixel post, is a photo that is somehow even more breathtaking – Andrew Bodrov digitally stitched together over 400 HD pictures taken by the recently landed Mars rover, Curiosity, and built an interactive spherical panoramic photo of the red planet. Go check out the 360° of martian horizon, desolate rolling red hills and hazy atmosphere (and a peek of Curiosity itself), and get the clearest idea yet of this whole new wilderness. [LINK]

(via 360Cities)

The Edge Effect

Jillian Barkley — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 20:05:35 +0000

Artist Daniel Kukla substitutes mirrors for canvases to create dynamic desert images you’d swear were paintings. The photographs were captured in Joshua Tree National Park, where the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts meet. Kukla states:

“While hiking and driving, I caught glimpses of the border space created by the meeting of distinct ecosystems in juxtaposition, referred to as the Edge Effect in the ecological sciences. To document this unique confluence of terrains, I hiked out a large mirror and painter’s easel into the wilderness and captured opposing elements within the environment.”

View the full body of work at danielkukla.com

Jean-Paul Bourdier

Jillian Barkley — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 20:28:24 +0000

Artist and architecture professor Jean-Paul Bordier proves that when it comes to experimenting with nature, just a little imagination can go a long way. Bordier creates powerful landscape manipulations using rather simple techniques such color blocking and inverse stone-stacking, and the results are breathtaking.

See his full body of work at jeanpaulbourdier.com.

NEIL KRUG

Jillian Barkley — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 18:45:45 +0000

The lomographic style has made a huge comeback in the last 5 years; beginning with Urban Outfitter’s reintroduction of the Holga, and most recently with Instagram’s one-click filters on their smart phone app. But Los Angeles based artist Neil Krug pushes the limits of this old film style to a whole new level. His films and photographs boast rich color and vivid landscapes that leave the viewer with a slightly-out-of-focus peek into a dreamy fantasy land.

Visit Krug’s website to view his wide array of photographs, as well as album art and videos he’s created for musicians such as Ratatat, Ladytron, and Devendra Banhart. www.neilkrug.com