Globemallow is a perennial wildflower in Arizona and is full of blooms this year. The most common variety is the desert globemallow which has orange blooms. Globemallow can be a variety of colors from white, shades of pink, lavender, orange and even red. This spring it has become one of my favorite wildflowers to photograph. On several outings I have been fortunate to photograph a variety of colors.
While waiting for sunset at Picacho Peak State Park a few weeks ago, there was lavender globemallow near the Sunset Trailhead where I had planned a sunset shoot. Working with beautiful late afternoon sidelight and my reflector to pop light into the shadows, I sat alongside the road and shot away until it was time to set up for sunset.
Backlight makes the petals translucent and creates a very dark background, one of my favorite techniques. Pale peach globemallow was blooming at Silly Mountain in Apache Junction a couple of weeks ago and I was able to make a few images with strong backlight.
Last week I drove along Highway 79 between U.S. 60 and Florence as the highway is lined with a variety of colors of globemallow. Although there are several places to safely pullover, traffic goes by at 65 mph creating challenging wind. Even with my Wimberly plamp, it was difficult for macro photography. When this happens, sometimes it’s fun to make friends with the wind and make impressionistic images as I did with the pink and white globemallow image in the gallery below (click on any photo to see a larger view).
Globemallow, a perennial wildflower, blooms in a variety of colors and is fun to photograph whether it’s a cloudy day, somewhat overcast or a bright sunny day in Arizona.
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