Southwest Desert Gardening Photos

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of taking a field trip to Albuquerque’s BioPark with a class instructor, Barak Naggan, outdoor and adventure photographer, and amazing instructor. Flowers are not really Barak’s thing, but he taught me a lot about seeing with this particular daffodil.

Some of the bulbs had just begun to bloom in and around Albuquerque. Most of the ones at the BioPark that particular morning looked a little droopy because it has gotten well below freezing the night before. So I was not even looking for flowers to photograph.

Near the end of the excursion, I came across a wonderful old stump in front of the barn, and was working on a variety of photographs of it. Barak casually asked, “Have you looked at the other side?” Good question. And, no, I had not walked around the stump before taking photos of one side.

Inside the stump, where it really was protected to a great degree, was this daffodil that had not been affected by the cold night nor the accompanying wind. It was a hard photo to take, because there was such bright light on the outside of the stump, and no light on the inside dark part of the stump. Barak suggested how I might do it.

This is not the greatest photo of a daffodil, but it is one of my favorites for a variety of reasons:

It taught me to look at things more thoroughly

It taught me about resilience of plants in the desert

And, because it cannot be said too much, it taught me to look at things more thoroughly.

Thanks for a great class, Barak.