Sonoran Desert Photo Workshop
I am just returning from a week in Arizona leading a photo workshop in and around the Sonoran Desert. In fact I’m sitting in the Denver airport as I type this, since I have a few hours to kill. I had a great group for the week and was very pleased with the images they produced throughout the week. For this workshop, I decided to bring my Fujifilm GFX50s along with the GF43-64mm, GF100-200 and GF120mm Macro lenses.
I spent a couple of days in the area before the workshop scouting both the Phoenix and Tucson areas, finding the best locations for desert wildflowers. The workshop officially started Thursday morning with a sunrise shoot at Bartlett Lake which is Northeast of Phoenix. We had OK conditions for the sunrise and since it was the first day, everyone had some dust to blow off and needed to warm up their creative muscles. Bartlett lake can be an amazing location for wildflowers, however, this year the flowers were about one week away from being in this location in abundance. We still had a great time with the flowers we found, plus the cacti and lush green surrounding desert.
From there we headed to Cave Creek Regional Park. This park is a little bit lower down in elevation which meant that there were a lot more flowers. This is a fantastic park that is well maintained and staffed with knowledgeable and courteous folks.
After a Mexican food lunch at a fantastic spot in Cave Creek (plus some ice cream) we headed West across town to White Tank Regional Park. This is another gem nestled on the flanks of the mountains to the west of Phoenix. Lots of brittle bush and lupine flowers along with some poppies.
The weather was unseasonably warm (mid-80’s) and some folks had had enough of the heat and headed back to the hotel to re-hydrate and relax after a long day in the sun. Let me tell ya, if you’re not used to this much sun and dry air, this can really take it out of you. Do not under-estimate the desert climate if you are not used to it! Many of us waited for sunset and things were looking good, but then we ended up not getting much color and just nothing compelling. Even though we didn’t get dramatic shots, we got some we liked and as they say “you won’t know if you don’t go”.
Day 2
The next morning we were up early and on the road to the central part of the Phoenix area to visit the Desert Botanical Garden. If you are in the area, this is a MUST VISIT and they are very friendly towards photographers. I planned on giving folks around 3 hours to spend in the garden and they used every last minute of the allotted time. There is so much to shoot, every where you turn…shapes, patterns, textures, colors, etc….it is an amazing place to photograph. We did have bright sunlight overhead which as the morning wore on started creating some harsh shadows so we all sought out shady areas to shoot as much as we could.
South of Phoenix
Reluctantly we had to leave the garden and the Phoenix area and head south towards Tucson. I had found a quaint little Mexican restaurant in the tiny town of Eloy. We enjoyed a huge lunch of well made local foods and with full bellies, we drove the remaining 15 miles to our next stop at Picacho Peak Park.
Picacho Peak is a very prominent craggy peak that can be seen for miles around and it happens to also contain one of the best parks for wildflowers. Temps had risen to around 89 degrees which was super hot for most of us. We had to slow down and meter out the time we spent in the sun, then retreat to the air conditioned cars.
The plan had been to travel another 45 minutes south to Tucson Mountain Park for sunset, however when I saw the vast landscape and cool clouds starting to form in the sky (and how tired everyone was) I decided to stay at Picacho Peak for sunset. Thankfully there was a Dairy Queen nearby so a few of the folks took a break and retreated to DQ for ice cream. A few of us hung around in the park at the end of the road and took advantage of the softening light to shoot some close-ups of flowers and cactuses.
As the sun started to dip lower towards the horizon, the quality of light really changed and became magical. Soft warm light bathing the landscape!
Everyone returned to the park in time to find some good compositions for the sunset. We did some instruction on the use of graduated neutral density filters, how to shoot sunsets, etc….whatever folks needed….lots of great learning happened this night! And sunset didn’t disappoint either!
Tired and worn out, we drove the remaining 40 miles to our hotel in Tucson to re-hydrate and shower and fall exhausted in to bed.
Mission San Xavier del Bac
The next morning we switched gears from landscape to a vastly different subject. We headed to the Mission San Xavier del Bac, which is a Spanish mission built around the mid-1800’s. We had to make a big mental shift from vast landscapes to focusing on details, shapes, patterns of light, etc. Folks LOVED shooting here, there is so much to do!
Barrios
We then headed to another interesting place that I felt might challenge the folks and to my delight, everyone rose to the challenge and did great shooting in unfamiliar territory and with subjects most don’t shoot. We headed to one of the famous Barrios in Tucson to photograph colors and details. The Barrios are Spanish style neighborhoods and some of them date back to the early 1800’s in the area. These days, they are on the cultural list and are maintained very well for folks to enjoy. Lots of colorful houses and doors and window trim, with cacti out front. Plus, lots of interesting metal work all round the neighborhood. The thing to remember here is that these are peoples homes and at all times we need to be respectful of private property.
The Barrio we visited on this day is called El Presidio and we ended up spending 1 1/2 hours here just focused on details. We broke for lunch and agreed to meet back at hotel at 2pm for an image review. This is often times the most valuable part of a photo workshop and the time when folks learn the most. Everyone gathered in my room and handed over a thumb drive with 5-7 of their images from the week and we began the review. During these times I provide technical and creative feedback on images, no criticisms, just helpful advice for improving their photography. Others can chime in as well as long as all comments are respectful and constructive. The thing about a lot of the images from the church and barrio…these are essentially abstract images and many of the standard “rules” don’t apply and as long as the photographer likes it, that’s all that matters!!!! After a 4 hours (long!) session, we broke for dinner and a good nights sleep.
The last day of the workshop we headed to a different barrio which is bigger and perhaps even more target rich. We had overcast skies which created outstanding diffuse lighting conditions…just perfect for what we were doing!!!! It even rained on us briefly which was sort of nice after the heat of the previous days. Everyone scattered across the neighborhood and got to work. As I wandered around working with each person, I saw what they were shooting and was so happy to see so many amazing images.
After a couple of hours it was time for me to say goodbye and head towards the airport. Some folks were staying in the area longer and continued working while others headed back to the other barrio.
Conclusion
Photographing in the desert, for many, is a slightly foreign landscape that can challenge the senses, the creative muscle and the body with the heat. To see the desert bathed in hundreds of shades of green, speckled with yellow, orange, red and purple flowers is an amazing experience that only happens for a few short weeks every year.
If you’ve ever wanted to shoot the desert flowers and landscape, plus southwestern architecture, check out our workshop.
About me:
I am a full time photographer, workshop leader and creative educator based in Portland Oregon. For information about my work and workshops, please visit johnpedersenphoto.com
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