tatjana kudla photography | tatjana kudla photography

Nature always captures my attention. Since my very first visit to a desert landscape I knew I would come back again and again to photograph the rugged scenery. I’ve been experimenting lately with macro and black and white photography, so please check them out and let me know what you think. Every now and then I’ll write a little bit about a photo, how I got there or how it inspires me.

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Delicate
These are fragile times. Many of us are struggling with the unknown. The unknown of when we can resume our “normal” lives. Some don’t know if they will have food on the table at the end of the week. Some don’t know when they can go back to work to provide for their families. Some work hard and put their lives at risk to make sure the rest of us is looked after. I don’t think we can ever thank “essential” workers enough for the risk they take every day. Many struggle with depression and overwhelm during these times. I am one of the lucky ones. I can do my work from home. I can have my groceries delivered. But even I feel overwhelmed at times. Usually, I would take my camera and go for a walk in nature to relax and heal. This hasn’t been as easy with most parks and trails closed. As trails open up, I carefully look for the ones less popular to keep avoiding crowds. The photo below is a reminder to focus on one thing at the time. Leave the rest in the background for the moment, keep it blurred and just focus on […]
Easter Sunrise on Mt San Jacinto Throwback
Happy Easter and Passover to you all! Many of us aren’t feeling happy or want to celebrate the holidays. At least not this way in isolation. I hope you are taking care of yourselves, your hearts, your minds. This is the way to get through this. My plan for Easter Sunday was to join the Easter Sunrise Service on Mt San Jacinto and then watch the sunrise from the mountain. Well, I am in sheltering place at home. The Palm Springs Tramway is closed. This plan was ahattered. I did go last year. So I decided to go back and leave through my pictures and relive last year’s sunrise on Mt San Jacinto. I love the different layers of clouds, dust and air. I hope you enjoy these views as much as I did last year and still do! The below quote resonates with me currently. Take care of yourselves and each other! “My life isn’t good or bad. It’s an incredible series of emotional and mental extremes, with beautiful thunderstorms and stunning sunrises.” ~Jaeda DeWalt This post was inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #92: Going Back – the Second Time Around. 2020.9
A river runs through the desert 2020.8
One of my favorite hiking and photography grounds is Whitewater Preserve near Palm Springs. It is one of the few spots in the desert with water all year round. Whitewater Preserve is surrounded by the San Gorgonio Wilderness and the Whitewater River runs right through it. I took this photo in November right before the rain fall started. The water was clear blue, just beautiful. Last month I hiked the Canyon View Loop Trail, a 4-mile trail that takes you up the hills with a roughly ~675 feet elevation gain. The trail uses a tiny part of the Pacific Crest Trail, so a fun and easy way to experience the PCT. From the top of the trail you’ll get this marvelous view over the canyon. You can barely see the river snaking through the valley. During periods of very heavy rain though, the river can swell up to cover the basin from mountain wall to mountain wall. Because of nature, the trail system looks different after every larger rain fall, when the river swells up and finds a new path. Whitewater Preserve is therefore always fun to go back to and see how nature is always working. Due to the […]
Light The Night in Joshua Tree National Park 2020.7
If you have been out to Joshua Tree National Park at night, you know it’s dark out there, pitch-black. That’s of course why a lot of photographers head out there to take night sky photos. Last year I had the opportunity to shoot light paining with a few fellow photographers. This was my first time to do any light painting and I had no idea while I stood behind the camera what the photo eventually would look like. If I had to pick a favorite, this is probably it. And if I had to explain why, I’d say because I can see all the stars in the world above and I love how the light paining disrupts the photo in the most beautiful way. I do think, though, I love this photo because of the way it makes me feel, remembering how we worry too much about the unimportant things and miss the important things in life, like friendships, love, and magic. If people looked at the stars each night, they’d live a lot differently. When you look into infinity, you realize that there are more important things than what people do all day.~ Bill Watterson Check out 3 more […]
Sunset in Red Rock Canyon 2020.6
I arrived late in the afternoon. A good time, I thought, to catch the sunset. I’ve never been to Red Rock Canyon before, so I just followed the sun. The Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area is located just a few miles west of Las Vegas within the Mojave Desert. There are many stops along the 13-mile Scenic Drive through Red Rock Canyon to get out of the car and explore the canyon and its many trails. Almost at the end of the 13-mile Scenic Drive I found a spot to watch the sunset. I didn’t have the rocks in my view, however the colors of the sky were spectacular. Usually I would never try to take any color away from this photo. It’s almost perfect after all. However, I wanted to see what it would look like in black and white. How ironic, a sunset photo in black and white… As I slowly turned this photo into black and white, it revealed a dramatic sky that though fabulous in color, was magical in black and white. Wouldn’t you agree? This play with black and white was inspired by Cee’s Black & White Photo Challenge: Clouds. The sky is the […]
Slot Canyon in the Valley of Fire 2020.5
I wish I remembered how we got here. I believe it was during our walk to or from the White Domes (I’ll leave that for another post). The slot canyons in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada are amazing. They are long, narrow, and deep small canyons with sheer rock walls that are typically eroded into either sandstone or other sedimentary rock. The slot canyons in the Valley of Fire are a little wider than a person in the narrowest parts, so easy to walk through for anyone. Since slot canyons are subject to flash flooding plan your visit accordingly. The trail through the slot canyon leads you to a (very old) movie set with little still intact. So don’t get your hopes up too high. However the landscape is gorgeous and you can just image how the scenery fit an old Western-genre movie. I love the symmetrie of the lines in the sandsone walls showing how the slot canyon formed over time and leaving sediments behind time after time. This post was inspired by Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #84: Narrow and by Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Vanishing or Leading Lines. Thank you both for your inspiration! Head over […]