Desert people are a special breed of folks, drawn into the lure and the lore of the arid landscapes and wide-open spaces that desert environments offer. Paulette Donnellon is one of those. A U.S. Army Desert Storm veteran, and now leader of photography workshops with the Anza-Borrego Foundation, Donnellon has been visiting — and dreaming about — this special piece of California real estate for more than 40 years.
Six years ago, she got it in her mind to take camera (and zoom lens) in hand to “capture” the sights and ambience of the desert and has become an award-winning nature photographer. Her current exhibition, The Untamed Desert, fits perfectly in with the stated twin agenda of Solvang’s California Nature Art Museum.
As Donnellon writes, “This exhibition is more than a visual journey; it’s a celebration of the park’s wild spirit and a reminder that even in the harshest environments, beauty endures.”
On her journey, the zoom lens is very much her friend, enabling her to peer in on the lives and the beauties of animal inhabitants of the area. She goes for taut close-up views, neatly framed, with an eye for composition and ambience.
The “best in show” image, to my mind, is the aptly named “Desert Majesty,” a tightly cropped image of a Peninsular bighorn ram, intently focusing on the dramatic presence and arcing form of the indeed big horn, and just one wise, amber eye. This majestic beast is, in fact, the official mascot of the Anza-Borrego (borrego translates to “sheep”).
Said mascot is seen in a very different and less peaceful role in “Ram Clash,” an action shot of rams locked in conflict. One animal is caught with three legs in mid-air, mid-strike. All is not quiet and still in the desert.
She also takes a special interest in owls, those enigmatic and often out-of-sight creatures, images of which qualify as special “finds” for a necessarily patient photographer. The owl pictures appear in a variety of forms. A virtual family “portrait” is the gist of “A Family Affair,” its subjects frontally placed, as if the owls are posing for the camera. Single subjects take the spotlight in “Curious Gaze,” with the bird’s nearly overturned face seizing our eye, and “Once in a Blue Moon,” a shamelessly sentimental nocturne and lunar shot suitable for a poster.
Other bird life images of interest include “captures” of the iridescently colored Costas hummingbird and another color-bursting photograph, of the strange and stately California quail, “The Topknot Life.” The title plays on the quirky distinguishing of the quail, the top knot oddly protruding from its forehead.
Atmospheric images contribute to the show’s overall objective of presenting a rounded and broad view of life and sights in this legendary desert. Taken at the spot known as Seventeen Palms, “Daybreak at the Oasis” takes as its point of focus a patch of palm trees amid the morning light and a pastel-ish palette of color. Shifting to the different drama of twilight and orange sky over the earthly darkness seeming part of the desert experience, “Legacy in Stone” conveys a time and atmospheric feeling. At the same time, it pays homage to the site of a village once occupied by the resident Kumewaay tribe. It is the exhibition’s sole reference to human habitation, if in absentia.
All in all, with The Untamed Desert, Donnellon’s gallery of images achieves the stated goal of its creator, as an impassioned celebration of a particular place, and work-in-progress. That this place is within manageable driving distance of the 805 adds an element of wanderlust in even those of us semi-inclined towards the desert.
The Untamed Desert will be on view at California Nature Art Museum (1511-B Mission Dr., Solvang) through January 18, 2027. See calnatureartmuseum.org.
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