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.
There had been reports of dense fog in the area and as I was driving south on I-10 I could see the fog. While driving I was envisioning photographing wildflowers in the fog and thought they would be so unique. Unfortunately the fog had all lifted by the time I arrived. However, there were beautiful white puffy clouds and my plan was to stay until sunset. At the entrance the park attendant informed me the poppies were so wet from the rain and fog that they weren’t open. Wet poppies? My mind immediately was focused on dew drops on the wildflowers! Not only were the poppies wet, they were bent over from the added weight. A few unopened poppies still had on their rain hats and were soaked!
As I was on the ground a couple was hiking the trail and I immediately apologized for being in their way. They said I wasn’t and wanted to know what I was shooting. I told them there were dew drops on the bottom of a poppy and I could see a reflection and my hope was to find some open poppies. They continued on their way and I continued on making images. While processing this image I noticed the dew drops are almost running down the poppy they were so large and heavy.
After searching for a couple of hours I finally found a few open poppies alongside the park road. As I was shooting a truck drove by and then backed up. I looked over and it was the couple that had been on the trail earlier when I was shooting the above photo. The gentleman asked if I was the person they had seen earlier, I replied “yes” and he replied “I’m glad you found some open poppies”.
I spent about 5 hours searching for open poppies yesterday and was able to make a few images. It was then time to think about sunset and the possibility of some beautiful color in the sky. As I was getting set up for a sunset shoot a couple pulled up and the gentleman got out and brought a small portable table with two cup holds. He then brought out two camp chairs and his wife brought two wine glasses and a bottle of wine! I said “You two know how to do it right!” The lady replied they just had different toys than me. We chuckled and settled in to watch sunset, them with their glasses of wine and me with my camera, tripod and a 3-stop graduated split neutral density filter. Disappointed the sky didn’t have more color, I packed up to leave.. 
The lady who had been drinking wine came over to me and mentioned that the moon was coming up just over the mountain behind us. The moon was almost full. I couldn’t resist grabbing a quick shot. Once again I packed up my gear and proceeded to leave the park. I had been shooting on the west side of the park and the entrance is on the east side. Part of me thought I should have checked the moonrise before leaving home as I probably could have made a much better image. However, I wouldn’t have met such a nice couple!
Different Isn't Wrong, It's Just Different 