The photographer I found for Southern California Desert Landscapes was James Liu. Born and raised in Taiwan, James has always had a love for nature and enjoyed experiencing other cultures.  He attended California State University Fullerton where he pursued a computer engineering degree. Photography was always kind of a self-taught hobby to him until college. He started his photography career back in 2015. James started out as landscape photographer and received several awards and was recognized by many brands for his astonishing skills. 

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He worked on landscaping photography for four years until he found his true passion of being a wedding photographer. James now works alongside his partner Annie, who make quite the dynamic duo setting up shoots with clients. Together they are booked for wedding day photography, and other family events such as birthdays, reunions, and banquets. Liu moved into this work because he liked working with people and being able to capture such wonderful moments of people’s lives forever. Although he doesn’t continue shooting desert landscapes his style and love for scenery are still seen in his current work. 

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Liu’s work speaks for itself. In all of his desert landscape photos we see the same lighting techniques being used. Most of his photos are taken around the same time of day, as the sun sets and the stars start to shine in the night sky. James’s photos are so crisp and clear, that it feels like you are there in the scene. We see his use of angles in his shooting. Most of his photos are taken low towards the ground but angle up linearly. This allows for him to capture every detail of the desert scenery while incorporating a beautiful view of the skyline. James is sponsored by Haida Filter USA, thanks to them his gear includes a Canon 80D, 17-40mm f/4, a Sirui Tripod, and Haida professional filters. 

James Liu makes a great addition to my Southern California Landscape Scenery Gallery, with his desert landscape photos. All of these photos were captured here in Southern California, in places such as Death Valley, Joshua Tree, and Pasadena. Liu’s incredible photos help support this gallery’s vision that Southern California is a wonderful place to live because of all its beautiful scenery it has to offer.