Tucson - Winter color

For those of you that reside in places where the temperatures are best for polar bears and ice cubes, perhaps this blog will brighten your day.  Maybe warm you up just a bit.  There is hope for spring.

I've noticed that last few evenings are staying just a bit lighter, just a bit later.  And after a trip to the Tucson Botanicals Gardens on Friday, I noticed that spring is about to be upon us!
The early bloomers are just getting ready with a few blossoms. The tulips have about 2 weeks to go, and the cactus, are just starting to show some buds.

I have been watching the desert cactus for signs of blossoms, but it's still 6 or more weeks for that show.
The local botanists say that all the conditions are right for lots of desert color this year.  Rain in abundance, and bits of it here and there, and several cold snaps should all be a factor in a nice spring bloom.

The photo club at Desert Trails RV park, was doing a field trip to the gardens.  We headed out early in the morning to catch the early light, and since it's been quite cold for Tucson, maybe get there in time to get a bit of frost on plants.  I take my camera pack with me, all 28 pounds of it.  I know that if I only take one lens, for sure I'll want the one or two I left behind.  As it turned out I kept alternating between my old manual focus 55mm macro lens, and my 400 mm.  The macro allows me to get really close and is super sharp.  The 400mm allows me to isolate the subject from the back ground.

We did get there just as the doors were opening and the pansies and few cactus still had a bit of frost. As the sun reached the pansy petals the frost became wonderful little balls of liquid all over the petals.

I'm trying out a couple of different editing programs and will be doing some comparisons later.  Now that I have more time, I have several ideas for working with my photos.  I'll share them with you as they become available.

Some of these might be used for the photo clubs 'artistry in nature' category.  And to shake it up a bit, I decided to do some of these in black and white, even though I would love to have a garden with deep purple flowers!

Pansy with water drop as oil painting

I've also been experimenting with turning my photos into paintings.  I'm not patient enough to do the real thing, but this seems to be working for me now.

Poppy in sun as an oil painting

Poppy in sun as a photograph

If you think any of these images should be in our competition, let me know. I'll have more edited in a few days.