In the new year I headed over to California to photograph a wedding just north of LA, and since I flew all the way from Australia to LA I thought I might as well do a little road trip while I’m there and tie in a little bit of work shooting some social media content for Black and White Car Rental.
I only had about 5 days and was tossing up a few ideas and eventually I decided on heading to Joshua Tree for some down time in the desert. I got in touch with the team at Black and White Car Rental in LA and told them of my plans. They were keen to get me behind the wheel of the awesome, adventurous Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and to capture some content for them to use on their social media accounts and for their marketing team.
So I got on the road, pumped some tunes and headed south along the freeway with my first stop Slab City. The drive was mostly freeways and while the Jeep handled it fine, I could tell it was itching to get off road and get a little dirty. A few hours of driving on freeways and eventually we hit some dusty dirt roads that led to Salvation Mountain and Slab City. A couple of pretty unique yet super interesting places that I wish I had another day to really explore. But I had to get back on the road and head back to Palm Spring to rest my head before heading to Joshua Tree the next morning.
The drive from Palm Springs to Joshua Tree was horrible to say the least, it rained the whole time, and at some points was so heavy it was hard to see. The trusty Jeep though powered through and smashed through puddles like a warm knife through butter (and getting a bit of a bath at the same time). Eventually I made it to rainy but still beautiful Joshua Tree.
I spent a few nights here exploring the park, hiking and taking the Jeep on some little adventures off the beaten path. The Jeep seemed right at home here, it doesn’t just look tough, it is tough. Bumps, rocks and soft sand didn’t slow her down at all. I had loads of fun shooting the Jeep (although my wingman bailed on me last minute so was tricky getting some action shots of the car with no one to drive it while I shot) but I still got some rad shots of the Jeep Rubicon in its natural environment.
