Joshua Tree National Park & Palm Springs Engagement Photography | Erika + Albert

ERIKA + ALBERT

Location: Joshua Tree National Park & Palms Springs

Date: 03.16.2021

Wedding Photographer: Mike Federis Photography

Wedding Coordinator: Claudia Terrazas

I’m always excited when a couple decides to choose Joshua Tree National Park as the location for their engagement session. I absolutely love Joshua Tree National Park for engagements, elopements, and wedding photography! There are so much variety and interesting spots to choose from.

Erika & Albert are huge fans Downtown Palm Springs but have never been to Joshua Tree National Park. I sometimes feel like a tour guide because I love teaching people about the history and unique spots of Joshua Tree National Park.

If you are traveling to Joshua Tree National Park for the first time, there is a $30 fee to enter the park unless you have the Annual “America the Beautiful” Park Pass. For all my veterans out there, veterans and their families are now free to enter all US National Parks based of the new rule under the Interagency Annual Military Pass.

Joshua Tree National Park is a huge park, so I definitely recommend you choose 2-3 spots for your engagement session. Unless, you plan to spend the entire day inside the park. My go to spots are Skull Rock, Jumbo Rocks, and Cholla Cactus Garden. Sometimes, we randomly just find a cool spot and takes picture from there. We were fortunately enough to find this really interesting Joshua tree that was leaning to one side like the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” (see first picture below) I positioned Erika & Albert right under neath the tree and framed them perfectly!

After visiting Joshua Tree National Park, we traveled to our next stop “Windmills of Palm Springs” Did you know that there are over 4,000 windmills that can literally power the City of Palm Springs and the entire Coachella Valley. The best spot to take pictures of the windmills is right on Indian Canyon Road. The closer you get to the windmills the windier it gets.

Our last stop was to take some photos in front of modern and vibrant houses in Downtown. We love how many of the homeowners paint their front door with vibrant colors (yellow, teal, blue, pink).

Thank you so much to Claudia Terrazas for putting the timeline together and joining us for the session!

Erika & Albert you guys are the coolest couple around for spending the day with me and allowing me to capture your love! Can’t wait to photograph your wedding!

Camping Trip and Couples Portrait Photography at Joshua Tree National Park

NATHAN & MELISSA:

11-23-19

For the last couple years, it’s been a tradition for me to plan a camping trip with my cousins and closest friends. This year I decided to take them to Joshua Tree National Park in November, which I think is one of the best times of the year. The weather averages around 65-70 degrees during the day but does drop to 30 degrees at night.

Since we were going to spend a couple days at Joshua Tree, this would be a great opportunity for me to photograph a couple. My cousin Melissa and her boyfriend Nathan kindly agreed to be my couple for this trip. They were seriously more than happy to. This place is too gorgeous not to.

Our campsite was located towards the south entrance near the 10 freeway. Cottonwood Campgrounds was the only available site in November. Most of the hiking trails and beautiful spots are located closer to the north entrance.

So we decided to enter via the West Entrance Station from the 62 freeway. The entrance fee is $30 per vehicle https://www.nps.gov/jotr/planyourvisit/fees.htm However, if you purchase the $80 America The Beautiful Annual Park Pass https://www.nps.gov/planyourvisit/passes.htm You will have unlimited access to all the National Park Pass for an entire year. Also, if you can use it as an Adventure Pass if you decide to park at certain areas such as National or State Wilderness Parks.

From here, we stopped by a few locations before we got to our camp sites. A few of my favorite spots are Skull Rock, Cholla Cactus Garden, and Baker Dam.

Honestly, you can pretty much pull off the side off the road and every view is beautiful. Here’s a portrait shot of the couple in the middle of the road.

The Cottonwood Campgrounds were actually pretty nice. The restrooms were clean, which was a bonus. The campsite itself was large enough for tents and had a pit for fire.

The next day we decided to stop by the Hall of Horrors, recommended by my cousin Jan. This is actually a prime spot for rock climbers, but also a really cool place with a bunch of caves. So many perfect spots for wide angle shots.