junior and i spent a day in the desert on our recent trip to the west coast.  i think it is absolutely necessary to go to the desert when in southern california.  last time we went to the desert, we spent our time at joshua tree national park.  this time, we had lunch in palm springs (which i'll share in a separate post) and then drove to pioneertown.

again, i hadn't done much research about pioneertown prior to actually going.  junior had suggested it while we were in palm springs and i was like heck yea!  let's go!!   so that's what we did.  

apparently pioneertown was built in the 1940s as a live in movie set!  now people actually live there (or just have property there...i'm not entirely sure) but all of the buildings/houses are private property.  we found that out the hard way.  while we were shooting, an older gentleman told us that if we were bloggers, we have to pay to take pictures in front of his property because "a blogger was here last week. he was a millionaire and paid $300 to borrow my saddle".  we very nicely told him that we were not millionaires and would be happy to stop shooting near the property.  we were actually in front of the property and not trespassing at all but since we have professional equipment, it looked like we're professionals.  i honestly was under the assumption that it was like a national park and owned by the state.  

something similar happened to us at the new york public library.  photography is allowed, however not professional photography.  we're always so caught off guard when people tell us this because we're just a team of husband and wife, exploring and wanting to capture beautiful images.  for people to categorize us as professionals is always so shocking, but flattering.  

so in summary, just always be aware of where your shooting, (if that's your thing) especially if you're using "professional grade" equipment.  always be polite, courteous and respectful!  and always ask permission if there's someone around to ask ;)

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