William Lawson Photography

Favorites Local Coast LOCAL DESERT Local Inland High Sierra Travels

At first glance there's nothing to see here. When you tell people you're going here they usually give you that questioning look like there's something wrong with you. Why would you drive an hour and a half to go here? And camp? The beach is only a half hour away.

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Mud Hills | Maybe my favorite place in Anza Borrego. No obvious, iconic landmarks. Just endlessly interesting patterns.

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Sunrise at Fonts | Morning light on the badlands and local mountains from Anza Borrego's iconic viewpoint.

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The Bloom | A popular spot for sure. Not my preference. But it was certainly a great windflower display. And I didn't really mind the little bit of a crowd. More bothered by the distracting elements scattered around this image.

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Night Lights | The white flowers of the Dune Evening Primrose stand out in a field surrounded by San Verbena and Desert Sunflowers as day blends into night near Borrego Springs.

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Mountain Palm Springs Sunrise | A colorful sunrise in the Anza Borrego Desert. This part of the park is densely covered in these beautiful but dangerous cacti.

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Glowing | Backlight and cacti. And a decent amount of lens flare. Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

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Sunrise in Mountain Palm Springs | Dangerously close to fallen pieces of cactus for this picture.

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Sunrise in the Mud Hills | Just barely off the beaten path near Elephant Knees. Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

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Mud Hills | Late afternoon light on the Fish Creek Wash mud hills. Telephoto shot from the wind caves trail.

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Mud Hill Layers | Sunset in the Fish Creek Wash Mud Hills. A favorite place to wander.

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Mud Hills, First Light | First light on Fish Creek Mud Hills. I knew of this wash from the map, and had checked out the area on Google Earth. Was a fun morning exploring this area for the first time. The sun had partly cleared the horizon when I shot this. Crazy how much a scene like this changes in a few minutes at sunrise.

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Mud Hills, Morning Light | 1 minute and 7 seconds after the image above. .

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Sunrise on the Badlands | First light on the badlands. Viewed from the popular Font's Point overlook.

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Sunset on the Badlands | From my first visit to Font's Point in Anza Borrego Desert State Park. An exciting day. The first time I took my 4Runner off road. Then I get to the parking area and someone is there in a Camry.

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Morning Light | From my first trip to the Fish Creek Wash mud hills in 2013. Was super excited to see the Elephant Knees formation in person. But this was photographed facing the opposite direction. Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

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Cracked | Are you even a wannabe landscape photographer if you don't shoot mud? The desert version of low tide sand patterns. Hard for me to resist. I thought the shadows were pretty cool. Without them this is very 2-dimensional. But the shadows from the low sun angle exaggerate the 3-dimensionality showing the peaks where the mud has curled up. The little craters are cool too.

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Dune Patterns | Sunrise dune patterns. After a windy day, before others arrive. That's the trick. North Algodones Dunes.

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Desert Highway | A well traveled wash in Anza Borrego Desert State Park.