The easels in the desert: Photographer captures stunning mirrored reflections in American valley that look like paintings
| These incredible pictures of paintings in the desert have actually been created with a simple optical illusion - by clamping a mirror in an easel to reflect the stunning landscape. Photographer Daniel Kukla placed a square mirror clamped in an easel in key locations around the 429,690 acre Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. He then angled the mirror so it would capture the beautiful horizon of the desert in sharp contrast to the landscape directly behind the easel.  Optical illusion: Photographer Daniel Kukla captured stunning images by taking pictures of a mirror in the desert  Fine art: The mirror clamped in an easel gives the impression of being an actual painting  Beauty spot: The images were taken in the 429,690 acre Joshua Tree National Park in southern California  Light to dark: By placing the mirror at different angles, Mr Kukla was able to achieve contrasting light between the background and the reflection Mr Kukla, who also has a background in biology and anthropology, was awarded an artist's residency by the United States National Park Service at the Joshua Tree National Park. And he used his unique position to capture an incredible array of photos, entitled The Edge Effect, that show the variety of scenery to be found in the desert. He said: 'While staying in the Park, I spent much of my time visiting the borderlands of the park and the areas where the low Sonoran desert meets the high Mojave desert. 'While hiking and driving, I caught glimpses of the border space created by the meeting of distinct ecosystems in juxtaposition, referred to as the Edge Effect in the ecological sciences.  The sky at night: The clear night sky with numerous glimmering stars above the desert in California  Under the Joshua Tree: The sun setting behind the rocky hills of the desert which was declared a national park in 1994  Camouflaged: Straddling the San Bernardino County border, the park includes parts of two deserts, the Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert  Rocking it: The mirror reflection of a clear blue sky surrounded by rocky mounds 'To document this unique confluence of terrains, I hiked out a large mirror and painter's easel into the wilderness and captured opposing elements within the environment. 'Using a single visual plane, this series of images unifies the play of temporal phenomena, contrasts of color and texture, and natural interactions of the environment itself.' The resulting images create the bizarre illusion of looking at a paintings in the middle of the desert. Mr Kukla has worked on numerous photography projects on various subjects that can be viewed on his website - including pieces on zoos, global warming and fairgrounds.  Pictured beneath a falling star: In this image, the background is the star of the show  Barren: The rock formations of Joshua Tree National Park were formed 100 million years ago from the cooling of magma beneath the surface  Blending in: The rocky outcrop in this reflection almost seamlessly blends in with the background  Snow in the desert: Mr Kukla has captured the Joshua Tree National Park at various scenes throughout the year |
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