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by Lonnie Brock

The Sonoran Desert is a young desert, geologically, estimated at only about 10,000 years old. It does, however, have the greatest diversity of species and geology found in the deserts of the United States. The lush plant life supports an abundance of animal life and results in a desert that in no way resembles the vast solitudes we tend to associate with deserts.

The Sonoran Desert of Arizona and Mexico is the only home of the Giant Saguaro cactus, a behemoth that can reach two hundred years in age and up to two tons in weight. The Saguaro mystifies photographers with its mellow green shades, long tentacle-like arms, and majestic height. The Saguaro bloom, the state flower of Arizona, has a surprisingly short time to pollinate and attempt to continue its species. Most blooms open shortly after sunset and close again permanently after about twenty-four hours. Blooms are cross-pollinated during the day by birds and bees, and at night, even more effectively, by bats. An average adult cactus will grow about six blossoms per day for thirty days. Roughly five weeks after beginning to bloom, the cacti will start to produce a ripened bright scarlet fruit. The normal blossoming time for the Saguaro is May and early June, with the fruit generally available in June. However, that time frame can vary by weeks from year to year, depending on temperatures and moisture, and can change significantly by location (altitude, latitude, foothills, and seashore).

Along with the giant cactus, both the blossoms and the ripened fruit literally beg to be photographed. The body of the Saguaro varies very little in color from plant to plant and generally requires no adjustment to your in-camera meter reading for proper exposure. The blossoms are a creamy white color and normally require an adjustment. The creamy white color can actually approach a slight yellow, and, depending on the plant, may need only one-half stop of light added or may need one full stop of light added to properly expose the mellow hues. As always, I would bracket by one-half stop on each side of my adjusted starting point to see which rendition I prefer. The inside of the bloom is a pastel yellow and combines with the creamy white petals to warm nicely in the low light of sunrise and sunset. It's best to capture images of the cacti and their blooms early in the season. As the blossoms close, they remain on the cactus for a period of time and turn dark brown to black, deterioration that can significantly detract from the beauty of fresh blooms.

As the fruit ripens, it becomes softer and a favorite meal for birds. Some birds will nearly bury their heads in the flowers and come out with their faces covered in pollen, offering new opportunities for unique image making. As the fruit drops from the cactus, it disappears almost immediately, since most of the desert animals will feed on it. The scarlet color makes it a wonderful subject, especially when it's combined with feeding birds.

There are many other interesting compositions for Saguaro. In some areas, the desert giants grow as close together as deciduous trees do in the Midwest. A vantage point that envelopes hundreds of plants in a single image can produce impressive results. Many of the plants grow erratically, and their mere shape will spur your creativity. At times, you will even find other plants, such as prickly pear cactus, growing in the folds of the skin of the Saguaro. A multitude of birds use the desert sentries as nesting places. And, of course, there's the most prized of Saguaro images in which they're covered with snow. No matter how you find them, they'll be at their best at sunrise and sunset when they can glow gold or a deep burgundy in the warm light. However, in the desert of the Southwest, the sunrise or sunset light is generally of a shorter duration than in places to the north, and the midday light is often extremely harsh and results in washed-out images. Planning is an important part of any photography trips into the desert.

One of my favorite spots to visit is the enticing Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, an offering of dramatic mountains-and-plains vistas and a desert wilderness that covers more than 500 square miles on the U.S.-Mexican border in Southwest Arizona. Organ Pipe sports two scenic unpaved roads (generally easily passable in passenger cars), the twenty-one mile Ajo Mountain Drive and the fifty-one mile Puerto Blanco Drive. The scenic loops are brimming with photographic challenges.

The Ajo Mountain Drive winds its one-way road through the desert, up into the mountains, along the mountainside, and back through the bajada, a transition area at the base of the foothills. “Nurse trees” are prevalent along the early part of the trail through the desert and along the bajada. Saguaro produce thousands of seeds, but only a few survive. The young plants' chances for survival are dramatically increased if they grow in the shade of a tree or bush. Thus, Saguaro cacti are often seen interlaced with trees (palo verde, mesquite, and ironwood, commonly) that were nurse trees to them when they were young. The trees supply enriched soil, shade, and protection from cold. However, as the cactus grows and becomes stronger, it may eventually kill the tree. The palo verde and mesquite trees bloom in yellow, and the ironwood blooms in pink, creating colorful and inviting compositions during their blooming season (generally in late March and early April with the mesquite lasting somewhat longer).

In the United States, the Organ Pipe cactus grows almost exclusively in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Unlike the Saguaro, the arms (as many as fifteen to twenty growing to twenty feet high) grow from a base at the ground, hence the resemblance to an organ pipe. Spectacular white flowers with pink edges open at night, generally in June and July, but, unfortunately, close again in the morning to avoid the heat. As you progress along the Ajo Mountain Drive, the numbers of Organ Pipe Cacti increase until it soon becomes apparent that the Monument deserves its name.

About six miles into the trail is a picnic area with a thatched roof. Across the road and desert are cliffs of the Ajo Mountains. This site is excellent for sunset. In the last few minutes of daylight, the desert vegetation and the cliffs will light up magnificently. Because of the uniformity of color (rich golds, oranges, and maroons) in the cliffs, I would meter the rock in the cliffs and bracket my exposures by one-half stops around those meter readings. You need to be prepared because, when the lighting peaks, it doesn't last very long. Be sure you have plenty of exposures left on your roll of film and that all of your camera settings are where you expect them to be. Many times participants in my workshops have waited and waited for the right moment to make an image, and when the moment arrived, they only had one exposure left in the camera. By the time they changed film, the opportunity was lost.

Farther along the road, many more outstanding sunset locations appear. Additionally, poppies and lupine are likely to grow in the washes and other drainage areas and when in full bloom, offer excellent late afternoon subjects. It's important to try to keep your compositions clean in the desert. There are so many cacti, it's difficult to keep them from sneaking into the edges of the frame. Small pieces of cacti or trees poking into the frame can distract the viewer and take away from the emotions you're trying to convey. Many of today's cameras don't show one hundred percent of the image in the viewfinder. If you're using a zoom lens, zoom out a little to check the edges and corners. If you're using a fixed lens, you may need to move it around a little before firing to determine what might be encroaching on your image.

There are often numerous photographers in Organ Pipe's desert at night shooting under the pristine moon and starlight. With no glow from city lights, the desert is extremely dark and conducive to creating images including star trails or painting cacti with flashlights (or possibly car headlights). Darkness offers new ways for you to become creative with long exposures of stars or shorter exposures of the landscape using the full moon for the natural lighting source.

Puerto Blanco Drive is also one-way for much of its fifty-one miles and offers its own plethora of opportunities to make stunning desert images. Almost as if planned as the perfect complement to the Ajo Mountain Drive, Puerto Blanco is at its most inspiring at sunrise. Many of the mountains face east and light magnificently in deep golds and oranges looming above the green cacti or beds of spring flowers. My personal favorite spots on this drive are at signposts numbered eight and nine and at the Aquitobaquito oasis.

The first has some rugged red rock formations along the side of the fields of lush vegetation with a large wash running just a few yards from the base of the rocks. Hiking along the edge of the rocks and down the wash about a quarter mile will bring you to some fertile meadows intertwined with giant cacti. The cacti make the images of any buds even more impressive as they grow tall in the middle of a patch. The second post, the Little Continental Divide area, provides dramatic images of jagged rocks looming above Saguaro and Organ Pipe cacti, decorated in springtime with unimaginable beds of wildflowers.

Aquitobaquito is a natural oasis located in one of the most rugged areas of the local desert. Spring-fed water supplies a rich habitat for the wildlife of the area, and animals that seem to be out of place in this remote site. Orioles and hummingbirds are common in the oasis, and it's not unusual to see large groups of egrets sitting in a tree in the middle of the pond. Mountain lions, coyotes, deer, javelina, bighorn sheep, and bobcats are only a few of the other visitors common to the watering hole. If you stay reasonably quiet, you should have an incredibly enjoyable time in the area.

The weather is very pleasant in the Sonoran Desert during the winter months. So, if you need a place to get away from winter doldrums and you want to try some new techniques, this may be the place for you. Additionally, spring generally comes earlier in the desert than in the rest of the country, and this paradise in the Southwest might be the perfect spot for you to start your photographic New Year.

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All photos are Copyright © Lonnie Brock. They have been digitally watermarked and may be used for your on-line viewing pleasure only. No other uses are allowed without expressed written permission from Lonnie Brock

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