Category Archive

McDowell Sonoran Preserve, Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Brittlebush is finally coming into bloom!  The mountains are sure green for the desert, hard to believe this is a desert.

The residents of Scottsdale have voted a number of times to increase their sales tax rate in order to raise money for the purchase of  private land in the mountains near town, thus forming the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.  It is a wonderful Preserve – beautiful scenery and wonderful trails.  When we weren’t mountain biking for exercise, we would come to this area for a trail run.  Thanks Scottsdale!

We are moving on for a brief visit to Tucson before heading back to Alaska.  It was a bit tough leaving Fort McDowell.  We had the best campsite tucked way off in the corner with no one around.  We over looked the Verde River and could see an active bald eagle nest – it was a great, quiet little location.  We received nearly daily visits from a road runner pair, some baby rabbits, flickers and a wide variety of birds.  We even had a brief visit from javalina.

The light rail Valley Metro and Phoenix Convention Center North, Downtown Phoenix, Arizona

This photo epitomizes one of the reason we returned to Phoenix.  Two years ago, the downtown streets were completely torn up due to the construction of the Valley Metro light rail project, and this block was giant construction project as they were hard at work on this brand new convention center.  The downtown area is much nicer now that these big projects are completed.

As a side note, I found it difficult to capture a photo of the Valley Metro without an accompanying automobile even on the weekend.  It didn’t take me long to realize that the train appeared to control the signals at all but a couple of the busiest intersections, and I’m sure it didn’t take drivers long to figure that out either.  So a car that mirrored the speed of the train could be assured of hitting most signals during a green light.  The few lights it didn’t seem to control were major arteries running perpendicular to the rail and I assumed must be timed signals for traffic flow.  How is that for more then you ever wanted to know about downtown Phoenix traffic!

Flowers along Highway 60 near Superior, Arizona.

I have linked here to Carol Leigh California Wildflower Hotsheet a number of times over the years and have always found the hot-sheet and her forum to be an extremely valuable resource.  Yesterday it was brought to my attention that Carol stopped maintaining the hot sheet, a decision that may become permanent.   She writes:

Right now I cannot in good conscience continue to distribute “where-to-go” wildflower information. Private property is being destroyed. Flowers are being trampled. Rude and inconsiderate behavior abounds.

I don’t know Carol, but it is clear she has a real love and passion for wildflowers.  Although I will miss her updates, I respect her decision to put the wildflowers first.  But it does raise a larger question;  how much should we share, and as photographers, are we helping to destroy  special places by publicizing them?

I have had this discussion with many photographers over the years, and have some photographer friends who keep everything close to the proverbial  (photo) vest, and others who share most anything.  I personally tend to share far more then most, and I think it is a big reason why my photo blog has become popular.  Not just locations, but techniques and most anything I know.  There are topics in which I have drawn a distinct line, the main one that comes to mind is the location of winter animal sightings for animals like lynx – because I know a trappers love of animals directly competes with my own.

But in recent years I have decided to keep some physical locations private.  This amazing spot in Valley of the Fire is one that immediately comes to mind.  I would like to say I have some noble motivation to keep the location secret to help protect it, but frankly, often motivation is largely selfish.  I like the idea of having an amazing location all to myself.  To have a spot like that crawling with people, muting the colors with their footsteps would “ruin” it a bit for me, and could ruin it for generations to come.

But there is more to my motivation.  I like to think of myself as a photographer, and tend to avoid the label businessman, but truth be told I am in business and this is our sole source of income, and frankly the fewer people who have photographs of an area I have found,  the better it is for me.  Certainly Ford would never share a discovery with Chevy, and no one would expect them to, but the same expectation isn’t always applied to photographers.  I have been surprised at the questions other photographers have asked me over the years, and disappointed in how few take the time to email a quick “thanks” in response – more often then not I end up asking myself why did I just share that information?

I know there isn’t a right or wrong answer, and my opinion will likely continue to ebb and flow over the years, but I’m interested in how much others are willing to share and why?

Bartlett Lake, Tonto National Forest near Phoenix, Arizona.

Bartlett Lake has some of the best wildflowers of any place we have visited so far this spring.