Yesterday's sunrise, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was our final sunrise in Anza-Borrego – we made the long drive to Arizona.  So, I thought I would offer one final update on the desert wildflower conditions.

The wildflowers are definitely running late this year – experts in the local newspaper are saying they are at least two weeks late, and cold weather this week won’t help.  In 2005, there were poppies all over the hills near Lake Elsinore, and wildflowers throughout Anza-Borrego and the Southern end of Joshua Tree by the last week of February.  Even in 2008, by the first week of March there were many flowers in Borrego, Southern Joshua Tree and thick poppies around Escondido.  This year I haven’t seen or heard of very many poppies yet, and there isn’t anything happening in the Sonora region of Joshua Tree.   Anza-Borrego is hit and miss, but there is plenty of potential and many photo opportunities.  I read somewhere that 50 different species are blooming right now in Hellhole Canyon, a dream for macro photographers and pedal peepers, but I will stick to the big bold wildflowers favored by landscape photographers.  Here are those hits and misses:

Hits

Without a doubt this is the year for the beautiful  Desert Lily – Far better then even 2005!  I’m usually excited to find a few – this year I have found fields of hundreds.  And the plants have more blooms then I’m used to seeing as well.  These should get better in the week or two to come.

In many areas, Lupine and Hummingbird Bush (Chuparosa) are also looking as good as they did in 2005.  The Chuparosa are particularly vibrant- rich red leaves with bright red blooms.

Barrel cactus also seems to be blooming early and looking as good as I can remember.

Misses

Brittlebush.  You can usually count on this bright wildflower and it is starting to appear, but not in big numbers.  This could still change.

Sand Verbena and Evening Dune Primrose.  There were a few nice patches of these popular wildflowers early on, but they are starting to show some wear and tear and recent winds won’t help.  The mustard has over taken much of their habituate, but even some of my favorite, more remote dunes that aren’t effected by the mustard are lacking blooms.

Desert Gold.  It was starting to emerge amongst the mustard along the famous Henderson Canyon Road, but the mustard is getting so tall, I think it may be a losing battle.

The weather forecast was for much warmer weather next week – that could be the boast the area needed – as long as it doesn’t get too hot!

Hopefully tomorrow I can share my observations for Arizona.

Rainbow, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California.

The 40 plus mile per hour winds were blowing sand and water this morning, but the reward was this brief rainbow!

This was at 1/6 of a second @ f/16 and ISO 320.  I used a Canon 1Ds III and 24-105 at 28 with a two stop hard edge graduated neutral density filter at the sun-line.

This is the second photo workshop group.  I suppose the warm jackets, rain shells and umbrellas give you some insight on our weather.  In a word, it was terrible!  Lots of dark gray weather in which we never saw the sun.  Sunday was even worse, it rained non-stop from sunrise to the end of the tour – that hardly ever happens out here in the desert!

This weather could have been a disaster, but fortunately, I was accompanied by a wonderful group of passionate photographers who never let the weather effect them.  I never heard a single complaint!   They got wet, dirty and muddy but everyone just kept going – they were awesome!   We spent some time inside working with Photoshop, but spent most of the time outside as we talked and worked on compositions, exposure and a whole bunch of other stuff.

Dealing with weather is just part of being an outdoor photographer, but this was such a great group that I felt like they “deserved” some great light, even if it was just a sunrise.  But, I know it doesn’t work that way.  Fortunately, they brought their own light thanks to their great attitudes, and I sure enjoyed spending time with everyone.

Barrel Cactus, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This over-achieving Barrel Cactus was ringed with over 30 blooms and buds!  It will be one of many stops on today’s photo workshop / tour.

Wildflowers, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

After yesterday’s gloomy post, I thought I would post something a little brighter!  In 2005 I arrived here near the end of February and missed the peak wildflowers.  This year, they are just now getting good.  The yellow flowers (Brittlebush) you see here are just now starting to come into bloom in a few places.  On the other hand, it has been a great year for Chuparosa (aka hummingbird-bush) – the red plant you see here.   Together, the two make a great combination!

2008 along Henderson Canyon Road, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Today along Henderson Canyon Road, Anza Borrego State Park, California.

Sadly, I believe the thick fields of wildflowers that made this area famous are a thing of the past, as this area has been taken over by the invasive species Sahara Mustard.  Two weeks ago, these fields looked so promising, they were  lush and green with new plant life thanks to a rainy winter – historically a perfect combination.  But as I have now learned, the Sahara Mustard grows in sooner and faster then native plants, stealing moisture and blocking sunlight – effectively choking out the beautiful native plants.  You can see in the bottom photo that a couple of Desert Golds managed to fight their way through the thick vegetation, but it is nothing like past years where there would be millions of such blooms.

This isn’t just a problem along Henderson Canyon Road, or Anza-Borrego – the Sahara Mustard has taken over large parts on the lower elevations of Southern California and continues to expand very rapidly.  It seems inevitable that this plant will take over other amazing places like Death Valley – it is really sad.  You can learn more about this invasive species here:  Sahara Mustard.

Stanton Lanier December Peace Cover

Sticking with a music theme, we just received a bundle of our mail and in it was this CD by Stanton Lanier.  As I sit here in the desert in shorts and sandals, I gotta admit seeing my snowshoe tracks in winter is a little hard to relate to, but a fun reminder of our wonderful home!

For the many new followers to the blog – don’t worry, I won’t post every time we make an image sale – that would be boring.  But, I do like sharing covers because, well, I think they are fun.  So I post them from time to time under the category Shameless Self Promotion.

To Stanton – we weren’t able to get through to you on email for some reason, so just in case you see this – the cover looks great – thanks a lot, and thanks for the autographed copy.  We look forward to listening to it soon!

To learn more about Stanton, check out his website:  Stanton Lanier.

Jacqui Foreman

At the end of our fall trip we briefly stopped in Borrego Springs where we cleaned and winterized our trailer before flying home.  Turns out in the campsite next to us was Ron and Jacqui Foreman.  Ron and Jacqui were also from Alaska (Juneau), and were helping to manage the campground while Jacqui, who was a singer / songwriter performed on evenings and weekends at nearby venues such as the wineries in Temecula.  As Alaskans working hard to pursue a dream with an emphasis on lifestyle over financial security – we had a lot in common.

It was good to see them again when we returned to Borrego Springs this winter and to hear about their pursuits.  But it wasn’t until just a couple of weeks ago that Janine and I actually heard Jacqui perform that we really became huge fans – in short, we were blown away!  She is a wonderful guitar player, with an amazing voice and a great collection of original songs.  We have heard her perform a couple of times now and can’t get enough.  I believe one day she will be very successful.

I offered to do some photography for Jacqui in exchange for permission to play her music during future slide shows – that is if I ever put some together.    Turns out she needed photos, so yesterday we spent a few hours photographing Jacqui.  I gotta admit this was a little outside my normal photography, but I really had fun.  I captured a very wide variety of images, I’m only posting a small sample here.  Go past the jump for two more photos.

By the way, to learn more about Jacqui, check out her website:  Jacqui Foreman.

Jacqui Foreman

Jacqui Foreman

A great group! This is at the entrance to an interesting slot canyon. From Left to right is myself, next to me is Greg, in front of him is Bryant, then Bret, Bob and Ramone.

As you may know, last weekend was the first of two sold out photo workshops I’m leading in Anza-Borrego desert State Park.  I gotta admit, when Saturday morning delivered hard wind and heavy rain, I was in a bit of a panic!  Well fortunately the group was a hardy bunch of passionate photographers who never once complained about the cold, wind or rain, and you know what, we were rewarded with some of the most unique conditions I have seen here.  We had god beams, rainbows, fascinating clouds and wonderful defused light, it could hardly have been better!  Then Sunday we had calm wind and sun, the best of both worlds.

We spent a long time in my favorite trail-less mountain canyons where the blooming barrel cactus might have been the highlight of numerous cool subjects.  We also spent time in some small fields of desert wildflowers, visited a dry lake bed with killer mud pattens, visited a dramatic badlands viewpoint and hiked a slot canyon – I can’t believe we covered that much ground in one afternoon and morning.

Anyway, I couldn’t have asked for 5 nicer guys and if they had as much fun as I did then the workshop was a success – I had a blast and wasn’t even photographing!  Thanks guys!

Greg Lato

I did grab a couple of shots of the guys in the field.  Here is one of Greg Lato.  We didn’t see the full moon I was anticipating, but sure had some dramatic skies!

Fishhook Cactus, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Easy to see why these are called Fishhook Cactus!

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I captured this a couple of hours ago at sunrise.  It was another beautiful morning – the sounds of coyotes and quail a short distance away only enhanced the experience!

Desert Lily, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was from sunrise this morning – these are the coolest desert flowers around!

I think recent cold weather has delayed the bloom a bit, it is warmer this week and I hope that spurs more blooming by the weekend.  Brittlebush for example is almost always in bloom by now, but not this year.  But, like fall colors, thing can seemingly change overnight.

Unfortunately, some of the famous roadside fields like the ones along Henderson Canyon Road have been taken over with mustard.  I’m doing a lot of scouting this week and have found some nice little areas, but the windshield drive by flower viewer might be disappointed by this years show despite all the rain – we will know soon!

By the way, I received a nice mention by being included on this list of 50 amazing nature photography blogs.

Desert Agave also known as Century Plant, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I found and photographed a couple of these beautiful blooming plants this morning – this is a real treat as it takes some 20 to 40 years, if not more, before this plant blooms and then dies.  A new plant then begins to grow from the periphery and the process begins all over.  So as you can imagine, there are very few of these plants in bloom in any given spring – so it is a real treat to find one!  I have located a couple – this one is in Yaqui Pass, the other in San Felipe Canyon.

It was pretty stormy this morning – I like to think of this weather as a high variance photo opportunity, this is especially true in the desert.  What I mean by that is stormy weather greatly increases the chance for amazing light and unique atmospheric conditions, the kind of conditions that can lead to wonderful photo opportunities.  But, bad weather also greatly increases the chance of coming away with nothing!

I was reminded of that today.  At my first stop, the agave in San Felipe Canyon, I was greeted by hard wind and rain and came away with nothing.  On my second stop, I found calm wind and the beautiful defused light you see here.   At one point I even had a brief rainbow!

Golf course at the Springs at Borrego, Borrego Springs, California.

It rained a little last night, but this morning was beautiful!  Great light, and a rare, at least for this area, rainbow!

Farmer's Market, Borrego Springs, California.

With the weekend just about upon us, I know lots of people are looking for an update to the desert wildflower bloom.  Posting a photo of the wonderful Friday Farmer’s Market probably speaks volumes. 

There is a vary wide variety of small wildflowers blooming in this area right now, and “pedal peepers” who are on the hunt for unique and pretty desert wildflowers won’t be disappointed.  The large carpets of wildflowers that have made this area famous, and that are preferred by most photographers haven’t developed yet.   This, coupled with foretasted winds is why I really can’t recommend visiting this weekend.  I found some wonderful fields of Purplemat this morning, so there are opportunities, but I really think next weekend and the following will be far better.  Stayed tuned here for more updates.

Hey speaking of the next two weekends, I have just one spot remaining for the first weekend of my Anza-Borrego desert photo tour / workshop.  The second one is full.

Lindsey Vonn at the 2004 U.S. Alpine Championships at Alyeska Resort, Girdwood, Alaska.

I obtained a press pass and photographed the U.S. Alpine Championships 6 years ago in Girdwood.  It was a great experience.   During the week there was only a hand full of spectators along with these amazing athletes.  At the time the mens’ team was stacked with famous skiers like Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves, but on the womens’ side were a bunch of young, outgoing, energetic ladies that were relatively unknown including Lindsey Vonn (Kildow at the time) and Julia Mancuso.  Today both those ladies are Olympic gold medalist, and Lindsey Vonn is considered the best U.S. Skier ever!  I was rooting hard for them yesterday as they won gold and silver at the Olympic downhill.

I gotta admit I have always been an Olympic junkie, but this year seems extra special, probably for a few reasons.  Having photographed some of the Alpine team brings some extra attachment as did our trip to Vancouver last winter to photograph the Olympic facilities – for once the Olympic venue sights are all very familiar.  Having a huge Alaska contingency also helps – including two ladies who run in the Seward Mt. Marathon race every summer.  Finally, we found that the residents of Vancouver and Whistler to be the nicest people we have encountered in our travels, and for this reason I find myself pulling for the Canadians and want to see them host a successful Olympics.

Shorebirds, Copper River Delta, Alaska

This flock of shorebirds nearly formed the shape of  a heart.  I captured this last spring and saved it thinking it would be a perfect post for Valentines day – not realizing it would fall on a holiday weekend.  So I thought I would post it today.  It wouldn’t take too much PhotoShop work to make it into a perfectly shaped heart, but I prefer leaving items as seen.

Actually, this tight formation of fast flying birds making constant direction changes was the result of an attacking predator.

Peninsular Desert Bighorn Sheep, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

We spotted and photographed these guys yesterday afternoon in Borrego Palm Canyon.  I have read some estimates that place the population of the subspecies of Desert Bighorn at only 280 animals.  I look forward to photographing these guys amongst the desert wildflowers.

Sand Verbena, yesterday in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

These are the first wildflower blooms of the season  in a year that should soon have a bountiful display of flowers!  Don’t rush down here yet, they are still a couple of weeks out – I found this little spot a few years ago, and it is always the first area to bloom around here, and this year is no exception.

This is looking like it will be a great year for wildflowers as this region has seen lots of rain!  The nearby Ocotillo Wells State Vehicular Recreation Area had the wettest month in recorded history this past January.  The local wildflower experts were saying the final ingredient for an excellent wildflower year would be February rains – well we received a fair amount of rain Tuesday night – the second such storm this month.  So in short, it is safe to say this  will be an excellent year for desert wildflowers!  The only thing that could get in the way now would be the over growth of an invasive species like mustard.

Despite the rain and the predictions, I had to see for myself – and of course do a little photography.    Well things are very green!  Lots of shoots just starting to rise in many places – thick patches of Lupine and Desert Gold were the most obvious, but there is a wide variety of plant-life that just further confirms my anticipation.

I believe the desert wildflower bloom won’t be limited to Anza-Borrego, the hills  North of Palm Springs are also very green.  I went for a run in the back-country East of Joshua Tree and had to deal with a number of small stream crossings – in places I have never seen water flowing before.  It is pretty exciting.

We will be based in Borrego Springs for the next month or so, but I hope to chase the bloom around the area as it progresses, and will provide updates here on the photo blog.  The California Wildflower Hotsheet, along with its corresponding Yahoo forum is another great resource for wildflower updates during a good year like this one.

Finally, this might be a good time to mention that I only have two spots left for my two Anza-Borrego photography workshops.

This photo:  Canon 1Ds III, 100 macro lens with 25mm extension tube, f/25 at 1/25 a second.

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I scheduled this in advance as right now we are in the middle of flying and driving between Alaska and Anza-Borrego, our base for the first month of this trip.  After Anza-Borrego we have a few options, but most of them involve Arizona.  I’m hoping it will be a good wildflower year.  It sounds promising!  I will report on the conditions once we are there.