Once upon a time, there were three kids from Stamford, Connecticut that would eventually grow up and live in Los Angeles, California:

There was Kayla: the young, bright, burst of energy, love, acting and comedic whit who dressed like a Barnes and Noble employee. There was Eddie: the gruff, bothered, yet love-able comedian who just told it like it was. And there was Mallury: the uptight, perfectionist photographer who never knew when he had the shot, but man, he was talented.

If someone made a short film or TV pilot based on this trip to Joshua Tree National Park...the synopsis above is exactly how it would go.

In February of 2016, my friends Kayla, Eddie and I could feel the universe bringing us together. We are from the same hometown and now live in LA (as the opener stated) and every couple of months we make an effort to spend time together. We're family: we love to hate each other, but are there for each other if things really go south. LA can be a tough town, but we each take it on with heart.

Kayla Pavia is the pioneer, having moved out here in 2011. She likes to act and does some stand up comedy. Think: a petite, brunette Chelsea Handler. Eddie Furth and I moved out here at pretty much the same time, in November of 2013. He arrived in LA about a week before I did, and he has been on stage for a good while now at the Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics and the Comedy Store hosting his brilliant co-created show, Historical Roast.

We decided it was time for a California adventure and this particular day we trekked out to Joshua Tree National Park, a place none of us had been to. We had heart to hearts, ribbed at each other, but most of all enjoyed goofing around in the vast desert....

No desert mountain rock can hold Eddie Furth down...

There's always a fun line to toe in creating and later editing photographs. It's line between intention and discovery. I can't tell you how much energy goes into trying to get a shot "to look a certain way." I can see it in my mind, and I look to light or direct or compose the person or moment to be a certain way. There's always varying degrees of success. Getting it "right" takes practice and effort. But there's always fun with the other side and that is in letting go. I admit that's a harder process for me at times. I actually appreciate Eddie and Kayla quite a bit when it comes to that. They are the "let it go" kind of artists. They embrace the flow of energy and imperfection much better than I do, so when I shoot them or with them, there's a freeing process for me.

Along the lines of this idea, letting go, the post production process of editing images can be very fun when you discover images you did not intend to create. What I mean...is that I will try to compose an image in the moment, thinking and feeling that it should have a particular end or final look. But I will capture it, and feel like it's not good, that eventually it will be a "throwaway" image. As I start to play with it in Adobe Bridge Camera Raw or in Photoshop, some "ah ha" moments start to arise. I've learned over the years that, some images want to be what they want to be. Sometimes the image has a life of its own and pushes me towards discovering it's best potential or true nature.

I said all that to preface the following image. It's one of those images that I thought I would not include or throw away until I started to play with it. Here it is and I'll talk about it more in a second:

I really like it a lot. It went from throwaway to favorite in about 20 seconds. I was really frustrated with myself when I first sat down with this set. I was very unprofessional heading into this afternoon. It was a road trip and hike with friends, but still, I did not take the time to clean my lenses before we left, and it impacted the images. I will take the time to clean my sensors every couple of months but the lenses are easy: just a few drops of cleaning solution, some lens cleaning cloths or a microfiber cloth and you're good to go. Shame on me that I did not do that before this shoot and even worse that I didn't carry cleaning material with me on the day. The dirtiness of the lens kept showing up on these images and I was very upset.

In the upper left hand corner you have this really irregular sunspot or lens flare happening. It's not as noticeable after the final crop or the play with contrast and brightness, but you can clearly still see it: an odd white blob. That's really just my lens (sensor side) being dirty and dusty. Coupled with using a neutral density filter...ugh. BUT....here's the beauty of letting this image be what it wanted to be...

I played with this image in Camera Raw and had an "oh my God" moment. This image revealed what it wanted to be: intense. Once I started playing with the shadows and contrast it started to feel really good. The harsh contrasts and edges of light on Kayla's face, hand and boot really grabbed me, and I love how it's reflected in the landscape with the shadows on the ground and in the mountains. I increased the saturation a bit to really drive it home. Intense. But a real world detail makes that serendipitous and seals the fate of the image as needing to be this colorful. On this day, on our way up to Joshua Tree, Kayla excited told us that she had colored her hair in hopes that it would show up in the photos that we would inevitably create on the day. For the most part you can see the hair color in a causal and pedestrian way, but in this image, it takes center stage. The slight wisp and waft of hair shows brilliantly in the image with intriguing shades of orange, auburn and almost even purple. Here's to letting go and letting and image be what it wants to be.

Intentionally lying down in the street on hard asphalt, but creating tender moments...my friends are true artists....

... but still comedians...

Eddie really brought it on this one. This is quietly, though I don't know why I should be quiet about it, one of my favorite portraits I've ever captured:

The image blow is for a cologne ad? Love the furrow of his brow here. Deeply thoughtful, but I caught him at a slightly awkward second; his face hints of skepticism.

We ended our day the beginning of the trail towards Barker Dam. More fun ensued, but we were on a mission. We needed to find a certain spot. We need to find a rock, a vantage point, that looked good at sunset...