The Bones of a Joshua Tree Toddler T-Shirt

I realize that one day my bones will bleach in the sun with the bones of the buffalo, so when we came across these remains of a Joshua Tree in the 117-degree heat of Joshua Tree National Park I had to stop and look for a few minutes, just look. The tree's death was not published in an obituary and it received no eulogy or proper burial, but it lay as a beautiful part of this desert landscape and ultimately will recycle into the soil and feed other desert life.

Through my photography, I share the things I see in the natural world around me. My photographic aim is to end up with a photograph I can share that looks like what I saw in my mind's eye and to have it appreciated by the viewer. To that end, I shoot in camera raw and develop it in my digital darkroom to achieve a high quality, realistic-looking photograph of what I viewed. Beyond that process, I sometimes take a photograph to an additional step by rendering it as an Impressionist might have painted it centuries ago or by giving it a 'dreamy' look through my own technique . . . it all depends upon the photograph in front of me and how I wish to present it. I feel there exists an immediacy in much of photography that does not exist in...