Storm & Sand 1 – Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
- nwriversphotograph
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Great photos are created by vision, solid preparation, being in the right location at the right time, and patience. After that -- you sit back and wait, and hope, for the magic to begin!
A magic that is most associated with light, especially if you can capture those golden hours just before and after sunset, or the shorter, more serene blue hours. Great photos can be taken anytime, but early and late is almost always guaranteed to provide that extra beauty and drama, and an ethereal quality that can just make your image so special – to actualize that original vision and inspiration to grab your camera and head out the door in the early darkness.
Add in contrast, mood and the special lighting that comes with stormy weather, and you have all the makings for some really incredible images.
That light, and those storms, are what made our recent trip through the Southwest so impressive. We were continually being chased along our journey by rainstorms, windstorms, sandstorms, and even unexpected snowstorms. Each changed the dynamic of where we were and formed that still lingering, not-to-be-forgotten experience. The light, soft blur of snow in front and all around you; sheets of rain floating towards you across a landscape of cactus; sand and dust creating soft yet dynamic golds and whites glimmering and dancing on the approaching winds. Then, just when it cannot possibly get any better, the storms abate. The skies clear, light explodes, the air sparkles with clarity, and the scent and taste of clean, fresh rain dazes and stuns your senses.
And here is the real magic: in that storm, in that desert, you can sometimes capture all of those sights, smells, taste, and that otherworldly beauty – all in one snapshot! And the real value of any image is that you can share it, revisit it, and, at any time, open it and rejoin the desert. Even, like today, when I am sitting in my living room and remembering the southwest deserts.
On our trip, we visited a number of wonderful and magical places. Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, in the Sonoran Desert of far southwestern Arizona, was one of these. Established in 1937, the monument protects some 330,000 acres just south of Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (the third largest refuge in the lower forty-eight states) and north of the US border with Mexico. So far south, that when we visited the small natural Quitobaquito lake, we were literally staring at the border wall. Beauty (Quitobaquito) and the Beast in one frame!
Unlike many other deserts, the Sonoran Desert has two distinct rainy seasons, and the continuing winter storms (usually from December and January) that followed us painted a surrealistic feel over the surrounding mountains, sand, and skies. Storm shadows over landscapes flowing with barrel, ocotillo, organ pipe, saguaro, prickly pear, and other cactus, throwing dark light over burrowing owls and javelina, and even a lunar eclipse added to the light show in the desert. Approaching clouds, dark and angry, marched across the sky, their power blotting out the bright, warm, but usually harsh desert. And, right on that imminent edge between darkness and light, special moments were etched within us that will be forever what we remember of this National Monument.
On our final afternoon, as we visited friends living near the monument, we were hit with an amazingly wild storm. The first rain since October). Visibility ended in mere minutes, rain came in torrents, lashed by high winds mixed with sand and dust. Golden sand and white cloud turned purple and charcoal. Hail pounded off the roof and windows. But we were inside, no worries about flash floods, or sand roads emulsifying into an undrivable quagmire, of the need to hike in an unrelenting deluge back to safety and civilization.
No, we were with good friends, and so able to appreciate the wild abandon of the storm, of the restorative life–giving impact of rain in the desert, of the beauty. And then, just as quickly as it came, the storm was gone. Evaporated into nothingness. Leaving us mesmerized by the unpredictability of the past fifteen minutes, peeking into the new light and a new world, the fresh color and light surrounding us.
Definitely the right place at the right time for that magic to begin!
