Closer to Home

Harquahala Mountains, AZ at Sunrise

Here I am again, writing about a pivot in my plans which turned out for the best.  I’d expected to do the unpack-pack thing after a drive home from visiting family in California.  I wanted to have another crack at flowers in the Mojave Desert.  Belatedly it dawned on me that the temperatures where I wanted to be would top out around 95. That’s not ideal in the black van without air conditioning. Plus, crowds.

So, I decided to enjoy some spring beauty close to home.  I did the scouting (looking for compositions before the good light hit) on my Vespa, for a bonus thrill.

Yarnell Hill AZ

The brittlebush on the Yarnell Hill section of State Highway 89, literally five minutes from my front door, were having their once-in-a-decade bloom.  The terrain is rugged there, which made this a perfect project to tackle with the drone.  I shot at sunrise and sunset on the hill, being mindful to keep it legal and avoid flying over moving vehicles.  That means carefully timing highway crossings, which is fun.

 

Yarnell Hill AZ

Recently I had a conversation with a friend who isn’t a big fan of drone images.  He insists that they’re impersonal because there’s no foreground – that the aircraft flies too high.  I countered that there’s no reason that (with care) drone images can’t be taken from just a few feet above ground level.  Here’s an example of a drone image with foreground.  I rest my case.

Owl's Clover near Congress AZ

Another little trip was to highway 71 outside Congress.  I appreciated the Owl’s Clover.

Total Lunar Eclipse March 3, 2026

I did get up at 4:00AM to see the lunar eclipse.  There’s nothing at all original about this image, but it does bring back the feeling of standing in a cold wind, focusing on the moon.  I was reminded that I’m merely a tiny being, pasted by gravity to this planet while it temporarily cast a shadow on it’s moon. 

Harquahala Mountains, AZ at Sunrise

Finally, I had a quick overnighter to the Harquahala Mountains, which is a favorite spot with reliable solitude.  Unfortunately, the annual flowers (mostly poppies, lupines, and scorpionweed) had finished blooming, and there had not been many of them.  There were a few brittlebush still blooming.  I managed to have a great time with sunrise shots there regardless, and I had a lovely mental reset from the solitude.

All this while spending the nights at home.  There’s more on the website.