Tag: flower

Holme-next-the-Sea

A close-up view of a cactus flower that reminds me of ancient peoples gathered round the inverted tree at Holme-next-the-Sea in England, commonly known now as Seahenge. Originals: _ZFC8935.NEF to _ZFC9009.NEF

A close-up view of a cactus flower that reminds me of ancient peoples gathered round the inverted tree at Holme-next-the-Sea in England, commonly known now as Seahenge.

📷: Nikon Zfc | Nikon 105mm macro
🗓️: August 27, 2022

The Royal Court

A close-up of the flower of a cactus (species unknown) on August 28, 2022. Originals: _ZFC9606.NEF to _ZFC9701.NEF

This cactus only blooms at night so you have to be quick to try and catch them before they close up for the day.

📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 105mm Macro
🗓️: August 28, 2022

Morning Prayers

A Harris's hawk silhouetted on saguaro blossoms at sunrise, surrounded by bees. Taken on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 10, 2023. Original: _RAC6918.ARW

A Harris’s hawk silhouetted on saguaro blossoms at sunrise, surrounded by bees. A feeding frenzy often follows when the giants bloom though I didn’t get that sense so much this year. To be fair I wasn’t able to get up early very often on the weekends this spring, on this occasion I struggled to sleep and decided to make the best of it. It was a planned short hike, soon it was back home to join my wife and Bear for a hike in a county park.

📷: Sony A6600 | Sony 100-400mm | Sony 1.4X
🗓️: June 10, 2023

The Powder Room

A close-up of a saguaro flower on the Latigo Trai in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 29, 2023. Originals: _Z725270.NEF to _Z725331.NEF

One of my favorite sights of spring in the Sonoran Desert is when the birds have faces completely pancaked with saguaro pollen. When I finally got around to getting my first Nikon so I could do more macro photography I wanted to get a close-up of these large flowers, the desert’s powder rooms. However each saguaro blossom only lasts for about a day and I needed to find one on a day off when I was up early and with no wind and with a saguaro with an arm that bent towards the ground and was right next to the trail and which wasn’t covered in bees. It proved to be a tall order but on Memorial Day I was up before sunrise and found an obliging giant.

Due to some mix of the early hour and lack of practice and a general tendency to forget to setup the camera properly when I get excited, I left the shutter speed far too low and even with almost no breeze ended up with a little motion blur. Plus I should have stopped down one more stop so there would be less blur in the focus stack due to the large separation between stigma and stamens.

Nevertheless these shots will bring a smile to my face for years to come. As I wrote in my hiking journal while lamenting my mistake but hoping the pictures would come out: “It was great fun regardless”. The breeze soon picked up so I went home and got Bear and came back for a hike out to see the saguaro I call Witch Hazel, my first time seeing her in bloom.

Just a lovely day all around.

The Bird & The Bee

Diffuse light from the rising sun falls on a white-winged dove and a bee sitting on top of saguaro flowers on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on June 10, 2023. Original: _RAC6962.ARW

Diffuse light from the rising sun falls on a white-winged dove and a bee and the very tops of the saguaro flowers, but not yet on the ripening fruit or the saguaro below. One of a seemingly infinite set of pictures as I play with light arriving or departing the desert, taken on a rare pre-sunrise hike without Bear a couple of months ago.

A Boy & His Pup

A soaptree yucca with two arms with flower stalks in full bloom, taken on the Redbird Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 20, 2023. Orginal: _Z725149.NEF

I call this soaptree yucca “A Boy & His Pup” in honor of Bear and I, though the appellations aren’t quite appropriate for either of us, consider it artistic liberty or a nod to our spirits and not our ages. We’re looking south on the Redbird Trail, the trail closest to our house and a favorite for dog walks. The yucca is close to the area where we enter the preserve and I’ve wanted to photograph it for a while, on this day in May both arms were in full bloom and as I turned to look back at the end of our walk saw the sinking sun was only falling on the flower stalks and the distant hills. I took several compositions but at the moment this is my favorite, one in a long series of the light arriving into or departing from the desert.

If the Muppets Made a Saguaro

A saguaro I call The Muppet blooms at sunrise on the Latigo Trail in McDowell Sonoran Preserve in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 27, 2023. Original: _RAC6272.ARW

I had four days off for Memorial Day and was able to get up before sunrise on three of them, taking a short photography hike before a quick trip back home to pick up Bear and bring him along for a longer hike. Only possible because the trailheads are so close by, one of the main reasons I wanted to settle in this part of the city. I call this saguaro “The Muppet” as its center arm has a face that reminds me of something I might have seen on Sesame Street while growing up, though this muppet lives on the Latigo Trail. Taken as the light first cleared the mountains.