2008 - Page 26 of 34 - Photo Blog

Chuparosa or Hummingbird-Bush

Ron Niebrugge March 23, 2008Arizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 3 Comments

Chuparosa or Hummingbird-Bush with a Saguaro Cactus, in McDowell Mountain Regional Park, near Phoenix, Arizona.

We had an exciting experience today – saw a Desert Tortoise while mountain biking! The Desert Tortoise spends 95% of its life in a burrow, so it is really exciting to see one. I rode back to my truck and grabbed my camera, but much to my surprise, we were unable to find it again! How can a turtle disappear so fast – I guess that is how it beat the hare. 🙂 So unfortunately, you get a picture of wildflowers today instead of a tortoise – maybe we will find him tomorrow.

McDowell Mountain Regional Park Wildflowers

Ron Niebrugge March 21, 2008Arizona, Phoenix, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Wildflowers at McDowell Mountain Regional Park, not far from Phoenix, Arizona.

Petal peepers in the Phoenix area won’t be disappointed in this years wildflowers! We were here last year – wow, this looks like an entirely different place! All the green plant life alone is a shocker. There are a wide variety of flowers colorful flowers to be found, a real treat!

The bright colored flowers in the foreground are Purple Owl’s Clover. In the mid-ground is a great patch of poppies, unfortunately they closed up before sunset. You can see the Four Peaks off in the distance, and way off in the distance is a near full moon.

This was another time that a graduated neutral density filter came in handy!

We now have a section of McDowell Mountain Regional Park photos.

Saguaro National Park Wildflowers, Current Conditions 2008

Ron Niebrugge March 20, 2008Arizona, Photos 2 Comments

The is from the West District of Saguaro National Park, Arizona.

The wildflowers are looking great here right now! Lots of Brittlebush, Lupine and many other wildflowers. I have never seen this National Park with wildflowers – what a treat!

The West District is further along then the East District right now, but the East side looks really nice as well. One of the best areas is between the Desert Museum and the Visitor Center. This photo was captured near the top of one of the hills in the area. Once I found this composition, we sat and waited about an hour and a half for last light – what a great place to sit and watch.

Saguaro National Park, Arizona

Ron Niebrugge March 19, 2008Arizona, Photos, Travel 7 Comments

Saguaro National Park, Tucson, Arizona.

There are two Saguaro National Parks, Saguaro West and Saguaro East, the East is also known as the Rincon Mountain District. The two are not very close together, they are on opposite sides of Tucson – I will let you guess the direction :). This photo is from the East District. I hear the West has better wildflowers right now, I’m going to check it out tomorrow. Gotta say, the East had way more color then I have even seen in my few visits – it was looking great.

It will be nice to have more Saguaro National Park photos.

Borrego Palm Canyon

Ron Niebrugge March 18, 2008Anza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 3 Comments

Borrego Palm Canyon, Anza-Borrego.

This was from a beautiful Monday morning – it was completely calm! Nice treat after the weekend storm that ironically originated in Alaska.

We had a great month in Anza-Borrego, it was fascinating watching the transformation of the desert as the wildflowers bloomed. We were very fortunate to visit during one of Borrego’s famous wildflower years.

Right now we are in Tucson, Arizona for a couple of days to take care of some business, then we are spending a month outside of Phoenix, Arizona for more photography.

Brittlebush

Ron Niebrugge March 16, 2008Anza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 6 Comments

Brittlebush wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was from a couple of hours ago. It may not be obvious in this small size, but that is fresh snow on the tops of the mountains! Hard to believe, but just a few days ago, it was in the upper 80’s!

Here you can see additional photos of Anza Borrego Desert State Park.

Bug’s View of Verbena

Ron Niebrugge March 15, 2008Anza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 7 Comments

I really like this small, colorful ground flower that is very thick in some areas of Anza-Borrego. For this photo, I placed an extension tube on my 17-35 lens. I set the lens at 17mm and f/22 and then laid my camera amongst the flowers and started firing away. It was fun to see what I was getting – I would check images on the back of the camera, and try again. The extension tube allows for very close focus. The flowers in focus are less than an inch away.

This was from a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, hard winds have made the last couple of days unproductive for photography, I feel bad for all the people who came out here to see the amazing bloom.

Update: It is actually raining fairly steady Saturday evening. Few things in life smell as good as a fresh rain in the desert!