The Sonoran Desert Gallery

Organ Pipe Cactus, Organ Pipe Cactus Nat'l Monument	Fishhook Barrel Cactus Spines, Saguaro Nat'l Park
Hedgehog Cactus Blossoms, Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument	Organ Pipes, Organ Pipe Cactus Nat'l Monument
Ocotillo Bark, Senita Basin, Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument	Sunrise and Saguaro, Organ Pipe Nat'l Monument

The Sonoran Desert of Arizona

The Sonoran Desert of the American southwest is part of an extensive desert ecosystem ranging through large portions of Arizona and south into Mexico. In a very harsh and demanding environment, life has responded by evolving into many bizarre and unique forms. With highly specialized adaptations and survival mechanisms, life here struggles for an existence that is in harmony with the environment, yet a delicate balance exists. Valuable resources needed for survival, especially water, are scarce, and life here exists on a knife's edge. If one link in the chain of life collapses, entire ecosystems may suffer. Ecologically unsound urban expansion, unsustainable water management plans, pollution, and poaching are but few of the many man-made hazards that also threaten the sensitive balance maintained by this and other spectacular desert environments.

A challenge to life, the deserts are also a challenge to photograph. Finding colors that stand out from the generally khaki-colored landscape is largely a matter of really good timing, persistence, and luck. Desert wildflower blooms are notoriously unpredictable, although the cacti themselves are a bit more reliable. Wildlife tends to be generally aloof. Harsh, flat lighting, which is typical for most of the day, washes out the landscape. The 'magical' warm light of sunrise and sunset does not last very long at all, with conditions that literally change from one second to the next. In addition, safety and health hazards constantly loom. It seems as if every living thing possesses a defense mechanism of some sort that will bite, cut, or puncture humans! The infamous "Jumping Cholla" are very aptly named, painfully imbedding their barbed, needle sharp spines into their hapless victims seemingly without ever coming into contact with them. At the same time, birds dance harmlessly among those same spines. It is humorously ironic that they are also called "Teddy Bear Cholla" because of their fuzzy appearance. Dehydration and sunburn are also hazards to be avoided.

Nonetheless, the deserts of the American southwest are one of my favorite places to photograph. I find myself weirdly attracted to the desolate and eerie deserts. It seems as if the ghosts and spirits of the long-departed possess and animate the living, and I can hear them whispering in the wind with ancient voices. I hear them beckoning to the future, and to me along with it, to join them.

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Copyright © 1996 Optiques Classic Photographic Imagery
Last modified: June 23, 1997