On one of our first nights visiting Organ Pipe National Monument in Arizona some clouds rolled in. It was quite unusual! So Ray and I drove into the park and found an area with lots of Saguaros to photograph. There are actually more Saguaros here than in Saguaro National Park!
The light was grey, but I could see a strip of open sky near the horizon where the sun would set, so I knew that when the sun was low enough, it would light up the mountains if only for a few seconds.
In my post earlier this week, I made it sound like finding a good Saguaro was easy. Sometimes it is – it will be right there in your campsite. Other times you have to look a little harder to find a good specimen – one that you can isolate from the others and doesn’t have a bunch of scrubby brush around it.
On this night Ray and I went hiking out into a field only to find that all the Saguaros were in little gullies making it difficult to capture both the Saguaro and the mountains. Ray found a hill to scamper up on for a higher perspective.
I decided to put my butt in gear and hike off on a mission to find a good Saguaro to put in front of those mountains. Once I found one, I had to wait for awhile hoping the light would come, and it did, literally for just a few seconds.
This is a 2.5 second exposure made with my Sony NEX6. Please click the image to view a larger version.
Afterwards the problem became how far did I hike? I wasn’t paying attention. And how close are those coyotes anyway? I decided to head the road and walk back that way so at least I knew where I was. I was kind of hoping I would get picked up by a border guard and delivered to my truck, but alas, no, I had to walk all the way back.
Great shot Anne. I know what you mean, I recently hiked in to get a cool sunset shot and had to walk out in the dark. It was fun though. Again, great shot!
Thank you very much photohiker!!
Sunsets in the desert are amazing and you have captured this beautifully. We have a winter home in southern Utah and Utah, Arizona, Nevada and other southwestern areas are our ‘stomping’ grounds. As I browsed through your blog I recognized many places I have been and you might find some of the scenes on my blog familiar as well. If you ever find your way to my neck of the woods, I’ll tell you about some of my favorite photo ops.
Thank you very much for your visit and comments Karen. I love the southwest too, but I do miss the ocean by the time the end of the snowbird season comes. Thanks for offering to share your photo ops, I appreciate that. I might take you up on that next time we are down here.
This photos is amazing. What an interesting, yet beautiful cactus! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!