Posted on August 30, 2012, 11:47 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
I saw a few cactus blooms from the trail in Guadalupe National Park. Although they were less than a hundred yards away, it took me more than 15 minutes to reach them, because of thorny plants covering the slope. Returning with plenty of scratches, I decided that I’d put more effort into photographing desert plants […]
Posted on August 9, 2012, 11:00 am, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
On the day I photographed the solar eclipse, I hiked for more than six hours (considering the morning scouting session) and did not return to the car until 11pm. My initial plan was therefore to take a rest day, photographing the desert plants near the visitor center, and in particular the cactus which were starting […]
The saguaro cactus, with its multiple arms, is an icon of the American West. Although Western Films place them all over the place, they actually grow natively only in the Sonoran Desert, whose US portion is all included in southern Arizona. Around Tucson, the higher rate of precipitation causes the saguaro to grow twice as […]
Guadalupe Mountains National Park offers in a compact size a great variety of scenery and juxtapositions, including the highest mountains in Texas, canyons, desert, and sand dunes. The vegetation range from desert plants, to woodland trees whose color in autumn rival New England. Being among the least visited of the parks in the continental US, […]
Remoteness makes Big Basin National Park one of the least visited National Parks. The park lies 325 miles from El Paso, the closest major city. The three roads that lead to the park end there. They do not pass through to another location. A diverse topography, flora, and fauna surprise the visitor who takes the […]
Joshua Tree National Park lies at the convergence of two deserts, the Mojave and the Colorado. Joshua trees and granite boulders characterize the windy high Mojave Desert, while at the Colorado Desert’s lower elevations, cactus and native California palm trees thrive among sandy washes occasionally flooded by unpredictable torrents. The Cholla Cactus garden lies right […]
Posted on January 30, 2010, 3:50 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
I’ve posted new images of Saguaro National Park, taken during a trip in May 2009. This was my third trip to Saguaro National Park, made expressly to capture the Saguaro cactus flowers. Those blooms may be the ultimate desert flowers. Their short life is unique: they open at night, and will close permanently during the […]
Posted on January 19, 2010, 3:09 pm, by QT Luong, under
Locations.
Over the course of the next month and half, I will continue posting new images of Western National Parks. Those are of course already well covered on this site, so each update will be rather small, covering either areas for which I had not published images before, or picturing areas with existing images in new […]
Zabriskie Point gives you a good introduction to Death Valley. From there, fantastically eroded and colored badlands surround you, with Telescope Peak (the highest point in Death Valley, at 11,000 feet) and the salt pan in a distance. During the winter, temperatures in the Valley are mild, the air more clear, and Telescope Peak snow-capped, […]
