Joshua Tree Impromptu

 

I always cringe when I get last minute messages from models about being in my area, because I can rarely make it work. This one sent me a message way back before I had to come to terms with the fact that I couldn’t really do this right now.

She mentioned tentatively being in LA in May, so I told her I was actually out by Joshua Tree, and she said she would be coming to JT anyway, so I told her to send me a message closer to the date, then months of silence. I had noticed that she was posting photos from Sedona, but there is a lot of land between here and there, then I got a message on Saturday saying she would be here today. Shit. I sent the depressing, automated response that we couldn’t really afford it right now, and she responded that she really wanted to work with me…..whaaaaaaat?!

Sunday just happened to be my only real day off, so we made something work that made everyone involved happy, and I got a serious ego boost. On top of that, my wife received a message from a photographer who was supposed to shoot with Wonderhussy in JT, but she up and went to friggin Namibia, and Sarah not only referenced my work to this photographer, but recommended my wife as a model in the area……. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

The punchline to that is that my wife is done/kind of done/not really done/completely done with modeling, BUT ego high fives all around. *cue The Jefferson’s theme* Now if I could just get Thomas Holm and Roarie Yum to come up and try my beer while they’re in town for the Palm Springs Photo Festival this week, that I can’t afford to attend, my life would be temporarily complete. Back to Sunday, Lyra was awesome. We spent most the time dodging tourists while her boyfriend mountain-goated some climbing spots. I didn't think about it heading out, but JT was in bloom, something I've never seen because I maliciously avoid the park when it is flooded with tourists.

Luckily there are plenty of nooks and crannies to sneak into, though it is always inevitable that some unsuspecting wanderer get an accidental eyeful. Once again in my journey, we were unscathed by rangers, so we apparently didn't offend anyone.

In my little dream world, this is what it would be like: when photographers and models come to JT, we're the ones they hit up to work with...because we're awesome. I mean, our guest room has been open to creatives coming through for a while, but who comes to Idyllwild? No one. No one comes through Idyllwild........... yet.