Desert Landscape 01

Any comments or ratings are appreciated! :-)

Finally back from AZ. More changes in my life coming up in the next couple of weeks, but I will be online more often (hopefully).

 

I loved the desert landscapes. I was amazed at how much the saguaro cacti added to the landscapes as compositional elements. I made it my aim to try to find the perfect landscape composed around saguaro. :-) Any thoughts you may have will be greatly appreciated!

Looks like Saguaro National Park's west unit. Did you get some shots later, toward sunset? Creosote bush in the right FG, and paloverde in left FG. The big saguaro is ready to blossom, or may have just finished. Did you go up and see the petroglyphs on the hill in the north part of the west unit? Looks like you had fun, Lou Ann. Cheers! Chris

Hi Chris! It's outside the Saguaro NP West ... in the Tucson Mountain Park. And, yes - I had a blast getting some great sunset shots in the park. I also got up to see the petroglyphs at Signal Hill, but it was about 1:00 and about 95 degrees and I was a bit dehydrated. By the time I got to the top of the hill I wasn't in any mood to make good images. I have a couple of shots, but they're not so great. You will see some of the sunset shots in the next week or so. Thanks for visiting! :-)

Welcome home, Lou Ann. Great shots of these huge cactus. Sounds like you had a great trip...

Chris - I forgot to mention that many of the saguaro were blooming ... but I read somewhere that the blossoms are most full at night. It was cool to see, though. :-)

You are correct; the blossoms open at night. You may be aware, but biologists and botanists are becoming more concerned about the long-term survival of saguaros. The saguaro has a symbiotic relationship with nectar-feeding bats which pollinate the flowers. Unfortunately, the bats are becoming more and more endangered; and it is not clear what the ramifications will be on the saguaro reproduction in the Sonoran Desert. Another bit of useless trivia from Christopher...

Thanks for that tidbit, Chris. Yes, I did read that the bats help with the pollination of the saguaro. And I did the Kartchner caves and heard about other cave systems that have been destroyed by humans. It only makes sense that bats are becoming endangered. The saguaro are beautiful! I hope that they can do SOMETHING to save them!

A classic desert pose by the natives. It has been many years since I've see the Saguaros in life and I miss the southern deserts much. Thanks for the reminder.

this is lovely! i can't wait to hear news of your latest plans.

Quite a beautiful collection of desert landscapes. I can't decide which is my favorite. I love the color in all of them. Good job. ~Sky