A Foggy Morning at the Hacienda del Sol

I recently spent a week in and around Palm Springs, California. I had never been to this area of California before, and I was hoping to escape the Midwest cold and gray for some winter sunshine. Palm Springs seemed like an ideal destination with plenty of interesting mid-century buildings to photograph, plus desert scenes, and more. I’m also a huge fan of motels, and I planned to stay in a few during my trip.

I made the drive to Borrego Springs, a town in the Anzo-Borrego desert, so that I could stay at the Hacienda del Sol. All I really knew about the Hacienda was that it was an older motel that had been rehabbed, and that it had a fabulous retro sign. When I arrived, it was raining heavily, not quite the weather I had expected. I shot some night photos of the sign in the rain, and hoped for clearer skies in the morning.

I woke up an hour or two before sunrise, and saw that the rain had stopped, but that it was very foggy. The hotel sign was still on, which was great. Fog can create really interesting scenes, but you have some have interesting light. I set up out front of the motel and shot a few photos of the sign and streetlights. Despite the early hour, a few cars were also passing. I set the camera for a long exposure and triggered the shutter as a car passed, capturing the taillights as streaks.