8 posts tagged “saguaros”

I had so much fun on Saturday afternoon with a new Flickr friend Val.  We went to Catalina State Park on a photo shoot.  I had never gone to the park without my horse!  It was fun to hike around on foot and see things at that level.  Also a blast to be with a fellow photographer and share the photo ops.  Mostly I was on visual overload and there was lots of eye candy.  Here are a couple of the photos I took on Sat. in the afternoon light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sure had a great time!  I'm so lucky to live in such a beautiful place!!!

I met a gal on my Flickr site and invited her to come over to take some photos tonight.  We set out around 4:00 pm to catch the evening light on the desert.  It was fun taking photos with some else around.  She was more interested in taking close ups and I was more interested in landscape photos so we didn't get in each other's way.

The sunset was nothing tonight...not clouds.  Here are the photos I took.  This is a cool pile of rocks that I never noticed before.  When you are working with someone else you stop and take a more careful look around.

 

More rocks, the one on the left looks like a lion's head and the one on the right looks like an Indian's head to me.

I spent the longest time trying to get this photo right and this is the best I got.  I needed my marco telephoto for this shot and only had my 28 -80 mm with me.

 

These saguaros looked like they were in a fight.

 

All in all I had a great time and hope to shoot photos again with my new Flickr friend Val.

I took this photo this weekend. Doesn't it look like the saguaro is waving me on?  If you look at the enlarged photo you can see the yellow wildflowers.  I just love the saguaros and can hardly wait until they bloom in May or June.

 

 

 

I loved this photo but it didn't get posted for the class as it didn't really fit any category and the composition wasn't all the great.  I loved the colors and seeing the mountains in the distance.  The beauty of this view truly takes you back and makes you forget all your stress and all the stupid things that happen at work.

 

This photo looks like a painting to me so I used photoshop to see if I could improve on this photo with applying the water color filter.

 

Then I had some more fun adding lighting effects and spot lighting the Saguaro in the left corner.

See the little two baby Saguaros at the base of the big guy and to the right?  I didn't see these until I put in the spotlight.

Which ones do you like best? 

I;m taking this photography class, Secrets for Better Photography on-line. I can post up to 3 photos per lesson for comments.  Today work was amazingly busy and when I got home I needed some stress relief.  So I got my old Minolta and my canon and two tripods and went west to the 100 acres next door and take some photos at sunset.  I've posted the photos here and my comments as to what I was trying to accomplish.

 

This was an example of natural light, using the rule of thirds for placement of the subject and a repetitive pattern in the lines of the straight arms of the saguaro cactus.

 

In this photo I used the rule of thirds to position the saguaro cactus in the left 1/3 of the photo, the natural light of the setting sun is lighting the mountain and the saguaro, also there is good balance between the light in the sky and the dark of the land.

This morning, I rode with my neighbor Penni.  I hadn't ridden with her in some time.  She took her horses to Colorado for the summer.  We just rode in the neighborhood and mostly on the 100 acres to the west of me.  We had a lovely ride saw several snake tracks and one small nonpoisonous snake on the trail.

I was running late today and was clean stalls around 5:00 pm and noticed that there were a lot of clouds in the sky.  Sometimes clouds combined with a sunset makes for spectacular results and sometimes it is a bust.  I watched the sky for awhile and decided to take a chance.  Grabbed my trusty tripod and camera and headed west for the 100 acre woods...almost felt like Winny the Pooh...just kidding it is 100 acres but not exactly woods, some trees, some cactus, some brush.  Anyway below are the results of my magical evening of photography.

 

Is this just glorious?  I'm so blessed to live here and be able to enjoy such a site...hope you enjoy it to.

 

 Three Saguaros saying good night to the sun.  See the mountains in the background, those are the Silverbell Mountains.

 

This old Saguaro has lost his top not sure why but it makes him more interesting.  He looks like he has just been acosted by the serriff and ask to stick 'em up.  Don't you love sunsets?

 

This was the sky to the south, I couldn't resist taking this picture.

 

I think I like this picture the best of all.  It is the sunset and the Silverbell Mountains all seen through an Ocotillo cactus.  I tried to lighten this one up a bit but the colors weren't as vibrant so I left it alone.

 

These are twin Saguaros enjoying the sunset.

 

Good night sweet desert and thanks for the show! 

The sun peeking over the Santa Catalina Mountains this morning around 6;45 am.

 

This is a very large Ocotillo cactus that has lost its leaves as the summer monsoon rains are finished.  The Ocotillos will put on new leaves and drop the leaves 4 to 5 times a year depending on the temps and the rain fall.

The Indians would cut off the stalks and use them for fencing.  Even though the stalks aren't very tall they have wicked thorns that would keep out the coyotes and javalinas.  When it rains they are loaded with green leaves and have a beautiful red flower at the end of the stalks.

 

Interesting rocks and a lone Saguaro cactus.

Two Saguaros enjoying the warm rays.  It was 48 degrees this morning, very cool as we have been in the mid 60s for lows.

Two Saguaros playing peekaboo.  Don't you just love our blue sky?  After living in Northern California for years, I really do appreciate a blue sky.

The morning lighting up the Tortolita mountains.  If you look close you can see the Saguaros in the mountains.

The sun peeking over the Santa Catalina Mountains this morning around 6;45 am.

 

This is a very large Ocotillo cactus that has lost its leaves as the summer monsoon rains are finished.  The Ocotillos will put on new leaves and drop the leaves 4 to 5 times a year depending on the temps and the rain fall.

The Indians would cut off the stalks and use them for fencing.  Even though the stalks aren't very tall they have wicked thorns that would keep out the coyotes and javalinas.  When it rains they are loaded with green leaves and have a beautiful red flower at the end of the stalks.

 

Interesting rocks and a lone Saguaro cactus.

Two Saguaros enjoying the warm rays.  It was 48 degrees this morning, very cool as we have been in the mid 60s for lows.

Two Saguaros playing peekaboo.  Don't you just love our blue sky?  After living in Northern California for years, I really do appreciate a blue sky.

The morning lighting up the Tortolita mountains.  If you look close you can see the Saguaros in the mountains.