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| Our friend Larry, tying a fly at the pond |
Or “The Fishwife,” because I don’t fish. My husband has launched full speed into
flyfishing. Fortunately, both nature
photography and angling tend to take place in beautiful locations so our
obsessions are compatible.
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| ICM Iris |
Last weekend we returned to the beautiful X-diamond
Ranch near Eager, AZ. I discovered
this place when I had the pleasure of a cowboy
photography workshop with Scott
Baxter and returned for a girls’ weekend shooting
hummingbirds with Kim Gray and Lisa
Langell there. I highly recommend it;
we’ve already booked another trip in June 2022.
Shooting time was limited, as I was “parenting” Gypsy and
she’s a bit young to be patient with the pace of nature photography. We hiked and played in the water, though.
When I did get away, there were fun wabi sabi details in the
old ranch buildings,
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| Rocky Mountain Iris |
And flowers blooming; spring comes late at 7500’ elevation. The Rocky Mountain Iris, delicate and smaller
than our garden varieties, were striking. At least, once the high winds died
down on Sunday.
There are active archeologic sites on the ranch. We were excited to stumble on some petroglyphs
nearby.
Our friend spotted a Great Blue Heron nest from the home’s
porch. Because of the topography, the
nest was about eye-level for us. The
images are not great, but you can see one of the fuzzy-headed chicks here if
you squint. Thank goodness my Canon R5
has high enough resolution for a vigorous crop.
