Visiting Tuscon Next Week - Any Great Places To Shoot?

[johnp]

My company is sending me out on business to Tuscon, AZ next week. One day I am

planning on going to see the Frank Lloyd Wright building Taliesin West in

Scottsdale. Can anyone recomend any other great places to shoot?

 

I understand Saguaro National Park has some great places. I will be right near

by. Am planning on going there.

 

Hit me with your best places/times to shoot. Any desert photo tips are appreciated.

[art_kramer]

sonoran desert museum is good too.

[bobatkins]

Kitt Peak National Observatory is about an hour away if I remember right. Well worth a visit if you are into astronomy (which is nature photography with REALLY big lenses!). Some interesting landscapes from the top of the mountian there too.

[jimlarson]

Saguaros litter the landscape particularly west of Tucson. That's where the Sonaran Desert Museum is located, just over Gate's pass in the Tucson mountains. Sabino Canyon is nice. The road to Mt. Lemmon puts you high above the desert. There are several mountain ranges around Tucson. You should get a travel map since there are plenty of great places to shoot.

[peter_daalder]

If you have time, go down to Bisbee.

[ronald_moravec1]

Is Oak Creek Canyon in the area?

[michaelging]

Oak Creek is near Sedona, Ron, about 3 1/2 hrs north of Tucson.

[joseph_smith3]

Saguaro National Forest on the West side of town, especially the overlook from the Visitors Center in early morning light, Sonora Desert Museum, Sabino Canyon, right after sunrise and at sunset, and Mission San Xavier, especially in late afternoon sun. Do not get confused and go to Saguaro National park on the east side of town--it is OK, but nothing like the one on the west side of town. Check out the mission's web site and call them to see if the scaffolding has been removed. Even if it hasn't it is still worth a visit. You just will have to limit what you photograph.

 

When I was last there, I spent one day starting at Saguaro NP on the west at sunrise, spent about one hour there driving around and getting great shots. Then onto Sonora Desert museum where I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon photographing flowers, cactus, animals, hummingbirds, raptors. Then back to SNP. Then onto the Mission for about two hours before sunset. Then sunset at the mission. Next day, sunrise at Sabino Canyon and about three hours there walking up the trails. Lots of scenery, cactus and floers to photograph. Then I drove out to the Observatory. Then back to Sabino Canyon for sunset. Joe Smith

[J.W. Wall]

Good ideas, Joseph.

 

John - Scottsdale is about two hours north northwest of Tucson, in central vs. southern Arizona. Your actual time depends on traffic - they have a nasty rush hour twice a day. It is a pretty urban area these days, as Phoenix is the fifth largest city in the country, I believe. FYI, it is starting to get hot. I've spent days in Saguaro NP West and the Desert Museum, and never really get enough. Sabino Canyon is another place a photographer can get happily involved for long periods. The drive up Mt. Lemmon has lots of interest, too, including rock formations, overlooks, forest.

[les_barstow]

Saguaro NP really has a lot to offer, and it's close to town; best at sunset. I really enjoyed Organ Pipe National Monument, but it's probably a bit late in the year to get the best out of it, and a bit far to gamble on it.