Apr 22
Some members of my digital club joined me at the Desert Botanical Garden yesterday morning. There were plenty of blooms including many species of Echinopsis such as this candicans (aka Argentine Giant). I love the underside of these beauties so I got down low and lined them up with a blooming Palo Verde. I used a wide aperture so the background would go nice and soft. Canon 70-200mm @182mm, ISO 400, 1/640th sec at f/4.
Apr 21
Two blooms opened yesterday on my Torch cactus. An apropos common name for this gorgeous cactus. More blooms to come, I hope!
Apr 20
Because of the narrow leaves, I’m venturing a guess this is Plateau Morning Glory. I’ve been calling it Texas Bindweed but according to SEInet, that’s a smaller darker pink flower which I also photographed last week in Rackensack Canyon. I love that place! Anyway…when the sun is really bright and almost overhead, try shooting at a very wide aperture. It does something nice to the strong light. For this image, I shot with a Canon 70-200 IS at f/2.8. The ISO was at 200 so my shutterspeed was 1/3200 of a second. Plenty fast enough to negate any camera movement.
Apr 19
This marks the first year I’ve been able to fully enjoy my non-native cactus blooms thanks to Javelina Cafe. The first blooms were great! Up next and full of fat buds are the Echinopsis huascha (upper right – red), Echinopsis Hybrid (lower left – much larger salmon) and a couple of non-native Prickly Pears. One funky purple (bottom right) with extra long purple spines has yellow flowers. The other (upper left) has gorgeous rose-like pink flowers. I’ve only seen it bloom once! So far the (less than ideal height) fence has held off the Javelina but all these juicy buds will be a real test 🙂
Apr 18
Yesterday, along with botanical expert Steve Jones, I led a Photography/Wildflower walk to Brown’s Ranch. Not many flowers to see this year so this Desert Holly (Acourtia nana) was a real treat. My wide angle lens was almost touching the plant which makes it look larger than it is but in reality, they’re so tiny, they are almost impossible to spot unless you know what you’re looking for.
Apr 17
Yesterday, I finally saw the cave that Cave Creek (both town and creek) were probably named after. It’s located on private land and is now protected and watched over by the Desert Foothills Land Trust. They lead a hike to the cave about four times a year and it’s worthwhile. The cave has been home to the Hohokam and the Apache tribes as well as early settlers. In 1873, the US Calvary fought an Apache tribe and then scratched their names inside the cave alongside the petroglyphs and pictographs. Unfortunately, there has been a lot of vandalism over the years 🙁
Apr 16
I went bird and butterfly watching in Rackensack Canyon with 3 friends yesterday. A 300mm lens wasn’t much use for bird photos but it was great for butterflies. It’s rare to see a Two-tailed Swallowtail sitting still so encountering this one was a real treat. It is Arizona’s state butterfly, by the way.
Apr 15
My digital group (DIG) had a fantastic tour of a local printing company yesterday called Artisan Colour. Everyone was so impressed, I’m sure Artisan has many new customers! CLICK HERE for a slideshow of images taken with a borrowed Canon Compact. (thanks again John!)
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