I have so many photos for you today! Two very different sets.
We went to Chihuly After Dark at the Desert Botanical Garden. If ever you’re in Phoenix, the DBG is how I fell in love with the wonder of desert plants. It’s a fascinating place.
There’s a traveling Chihuly exhibit there now, and once a month, they open up after sunset and light the glass. Stunning!
I realized at some point that because I had the big lens on the Nikon, most of the shots I took were not of complete pieces, like the one above. They were more like this one, which is the same piece, just a smaller bit.
One section was all neon tubes. It was interesting. Not as captivating as the regular glass, but a pleasant and surprising change.
This is a snippet of a piece called Paintbrushes, but in this photo, it looks more like fire.
The photo above and the two galleries (four photos) below don’t show up well on a dark screen, so if your brightness is turned down, adjusting that will help for these few.
The moon was beautiful when we were there. Catching it together with silhouetted plants often makes for interesting photos. Again, if your brightness is down or the ambient light is too bright, these will look like a white dot in a black rectangle.
And then I went to South Mountain. Running one morning, I saw a giant rattlesnake and was very excited because I’d never seen one there, though I knew they existed. I went back the next day and of course didn’t see one but … so many cactus skeletons! (If you’ve been around for a while, you know these are my favorite…)
Also, cactus not decomposing
This setup looked like a snail to me. I was tickled.
I couldn’t decide which frame I liked better here—with the cactus standing guard, or with just one, centered. Use the slider in the center to see the whole shots.
I liked how the branch followed the line of the clouds here.
There’s a spot not too far from the trailhead that I think would be great for a couples or family shoot.
And finally, it’s spring. In addition to the snakes, the flowers are showing up.
Great pictures! So fun to see.
And yes, for others, if you come to Phoenix, check out the Desert Botanical Garden where you can learn about so many of our desert plants.