Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
There’s a street nearby known as The Oracle of Scottsdale because of the insightful if cryptic messages it offers to pilgrims who brave the journey. I’ve not been able to work out what it was trying to tell me, perhaps it was a message for Bear.
📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50mm DX
🗓️: September 7, 2025
Shadows crept towards the mountains as Bear and I looked down from atop the old landslide. We were like Frodo & Sam about to head into Mordor. Except we only had a mile and a half to go. On well-groomed trails. In perfect weather. With no one hunting us. And plenty of water and snacks.
Otherwise just like Frodo & Sam.
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 27-40 f/4
🗓️: November 22, 2024
A saguaro high on the hill bathes in the light of the late afternoon sun while its comrades in the valley fall into the shadows of western hills.
📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 24-200
🗓️: March 13, 2022
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70 f/4
🗓️: January 27, 2024
It’s funny how personal photography can be. This is my favorite image from my leave of absence but if I had shown it to myself at the start of my leave I would have been confused, recognizing the scene but not the significance. For me it captures the joy and even euphoria I felt as my mind unwound taking Bear into the desert every day. As big as he is his shadow was too short to stretch across the massive rock face so you won’t see him, but I do. I see myself too and not just my shadow, but a self that was coming out of the shadows. I had to put him back into semi-hibernation for a while but we’ll meet again.
📷: Nikon Z fc | Nikon 16-50 DX
🗓️: January 26, 2024
A different take on a favored scene, deliberately adding my shadow to the desert’s own. I can’t remember if Bear’s shadow mixed in with mine or if his was too short even for this wide view, but I loved hiking this trail with him this past winter and spring.
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-200
🗓️: April 13, 2024
📷: Nikon Z 7II | Nikon 24-70mm f/4
🗓️: March 13, 2024
In the high heat of the desert summer even Sam stops seeking out sunbeams to warm his belly as he sleeps. Come cooler weather though, he’s like a flower tracking the sun as it arcs across the sky. A quick snap of one of my favorite models as I learn the new camera.
When we first moved to Arizona and I started taking pictures in sunlight I struggled with what to do about my shadow. At first I’d try to compose the picture so my shadow didn’t fall in the image, and sometimes still do, but sometimes now I lean into it and deliberately put my shadow into the frame as a reminder that I’m documenting my life in the desert. On this occasion though as I photographed the damage in the saguaro on the left, as the sun sank low a giant behind me threw its shadow all the way up the hill, allowing me to sidle down the trail and hide within it. That’s not just me throwing up my arms pretending to be a saguaro, though I can’t say the thought has never crossed my mind.
Boolie 