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Desert Locations
We are looking to do a photo shoot in the desert area near the San Diego area; we were thinking of a dry lake bed or some other place where there is no brush and it's mainly dry, cracked land... Does anyone know of a place? Please let us know, we plan on going scouting this weekend (May 14th & 15th). Thanks, Kortney May 09 05 02:07 pm Link don't know about the san diego area, but if you're willing to drive a few hours, el mirage dry lake is probly exactly what you're hoping for. it's near victorville, california. i'm guessing that'd be about two-and-a-half hours up the I-15 from san diego. May 09 05 02:48 pm Link I grew up in San Diego and did a lot of desert shoots. Do you have a 4x4 to go offroad? One good spot is WAY up the highway 8, past El Cajon and up above the desert, Anza Borrego. It's an area known as Smuggler's Cave. You go up the mountain (offroad) and then down into a really nice and private valley. It is BLM land, you are not tresspassing. Continue further instead of Smuggler's and you drop down into the desert. The next great area is Davies Valley and Pinto Canyon. You can find both of these using google for directions. Both are also great camping spots as well - be careful in Davies as it is often a crossing area for the border and also if you go to far in, you will be in Mexico (made that mistake once!). Occassionally you may get pulled over coming out by border patrol. These are great San Diego areas to shoot. After that, if you're real ambitious, I'd suggest planning a trip up to Death Valley and heading into Rhyolite near Beatty, Nevada. It's a well preserved ghost town and fun to shoot at with some great backdrops. May 09 05 03:10 pm Link Everything is far. Best bet are the sand dunes towards AZ. May 09 05 05:13 pm Link I did my cheetah bodypaint pictures in Pheonix,AZ,perfect place May 09 05 05:19 pm Link Thank you all for your helpful tips, we definitely need to find a place near, as opposed to far, but will keep all your ideas in mind, I'll research the areas you've suggested and we'll let you know what happens. Feel free to keep the ideas flowing! ~Kortney May 09 05 06:55 pm Link There's an outdoors/backpacking store (or used to be) in La Mesa that sells maps of all the BLM areas, including dirt roads, etc. Must have's for that and plus you can map out your trip in advance. I don't know if the store is still there, it was not far from Grossmont Center. May 09 05 06:58 pm Link Thank you, John just found a site: www.digital-desert.com that lets you search for places in the area and provides you with directions on how to get there (and there's photos too!). It's a pay service but well worth the money, especially if you shoot on location a lot. Thanks again! Posted by Austin Models & Talent Agency: May 09 05 07:44 pm Link el mirage dry lake bed is the best place to shoot...A little photgrapher by the name of Herb Ritz used to shoot there. May 09 05 07:46 pm Link Drive East and you will see sand! May 09 05 08:22 pm Link I am in San Diego and I have been on teams twice in the last 6 months that have done desert shoots....we never found dunes without greenery (because of all the rain) I have no clue where dry lake beds are outside of Nevada but I hear there are some. Be careful when you find the dunes that they are not on government property. We were half way through a shoot not long ago when we were booted off the property, man was that a long walk back to the car.  Shot before we were booted out....Photo by Jason Christopher  May 09 05 09:03 pm Link I'm planning a desert shoot also, though not necessarily dry lake bed. I've been looking into Anza Borrego but you need a permit from the state parks if it's commercial. What's BLM? May 09 05 10:13 pm Link BLM stands for 'Bureau of Land Management' and is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior. The BLM is responsible for much of the Federally owned land which may or may not be in a National Park, Forest, Recreation, or Conservation area. May 09 05 10:21 pm Link Posted by SayCheeZ!: Hmmmm, interesting... Do they require a permit? May 09 05 10:28 pm Link BLM!!!! thats who kicked us off the dunes!!! the guy wansn't nice about it either. I guess the quarter mile hike in the heat didnt put him in a good mood. There were 7 of us and not one of us saw the signs that we were on Government property. I guess the barbed wire fence we had to climb through should of clued us in. LOL!May 09 05 11:24 pm Link We're going to go scouting this weekend to find the perfect location, I'll let you know how it goes! ~Kortney May 10 05 05:32 pm Link Posted by Gary Davis: Yes, if it's commercial you need a permit. On the other hand, depends how far off the road you are and whether or not you want to chance it. If it's a shoot with money tied up in it, I'd recommend permitting just in case. May 10 05 05:40 pm Link Thanks for all your help, we will certainly keep those issues in mind. Leaving at 3am tomorrow morning, we'll let you know how it goes! ~Kortney May 13 05 04:14 pm Link Show off some images from the shoot after - would love to see! I miss the San Diego area deserts!!! May 13 05 04:21 pm Link We did it! We found the perfect location, actually, we found two! It's Soggy Dry Lake near Victorville, CA. Along the way we passed this amazing rock formation and we're planning on shooting there as well, I can't wait! I'll certainly post the photos in our profile when we finally do the shoot, so keep checking back! Again, thanks for all the comments everyone! ~Kortney May 16 05 10:59 am Link Let me know when you have a dessert shoot planned... May 16 05 11:01 am Link Posted by W. Herb Clark: We sure will! May 16 05 01:36 pm Link ... burning man is soon ... May 17 05 06:59 pm Link I used to live in Coos Bay near the sand dunes. It was a lot of fun riding buggies. Now that I think about it, one of these days I would love to do a shoot over by there sometime. It was beautiful and it still is. And since it's on the coast, it's not too warm and not too cold. [img] http://img286.echo.cx/img286/8815/sanddunes10bm.jpg [/img] [img] http://img284.echo.cx/img284/3641/sanddunes21mm.jpg [/img] [img] http://img284.echo.cx/img284/4664/sanddunes35vd.jpg [/img] [img] http://img284.echo.cx/img284/376/sanddunes43pn.jpg [/img] May 18 05 06:22 am Link |
