Before I went on the trip, I was realizing that I wasn't taking enough time to really set up and compose the shots. I had also heard an Ansel Adams quote where he said something long the lines of "Oh, a wide angle lens. Yeah, you use that to emphasize the foreground" and realized that was something that I just hadn't understood yet.
I wanted to communicate the emptiness of the desert and the way that the plants are strewn across the landscape.