398 - Cholla Cactus Garden
I had a lot of things in mind for the Cholla Cactus Garden, and almost none of that came into fruition. I was hoping for a silhoutte shot perhaps, or a beautiful foreground/background shot of a cacti. Hahahaha, mother nature said no.
Here's the first shot I took from my camera:
“Jumping Cholla”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm
ISO 200 ~ 63mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/2500s
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
And that was the best shot of the whole shoot. Honestly I didn't expect it at the time. When I took the shot, I was mentally commenting on the busyness of the landscape. I wanted a snap that would symbolize just how frantic all the cacti were, so that's what that was.
For context, the Cholla Cactus Garden is a massive field of cholla cacti, with one every couple feet. They're extremely sharp, so you have to watch your step if you want to make it through untouched. There's even a box of Band-Aids before you enter the trail, because they KNOW you're gonna touch one.
The thing about shooting cacti is that's very similar to shooting a forest, except it's even more difficult in my opinion. In forests, there's so much going on, it's hard to isolate a subject.
Cacti fields are similar in that there's a lot going on, but there's also NOT a lot going on. There's tall objects jutting out EVERYWHERE, but that's it. So unlike a forest where you can blend leaves with leaves, plants, and textures together, cacti fields require complete isolation of a subject.
Does that make any sense? Basically what I'm trying to say is there's shit jutting out everywhere., and it was hard as fuck for me to isolate a single good cholla. Hence the strange shot I got full of cacti/foreground.
Someone will probably comment on the foreground cactus to the left of my picture being jarring and taking up too much space, but I think it fits perfectly. The whole place is jarring.
I missed a solid sunset as well, due to my novice cacti ability. There were moody orange colors and everything! Sigh, that's the worst. Best skies ever and you can't find a composition to save your life. Oh well. I least I got to enjoy it mentally.
I seriously need to practice more cacti fields, because the last time I was at Saguaro National Park I struggled to get a shot as well.
I think the thing I learned from this shoot is to embrace the frantic nature of a place, instead of trying so hard to isolate something the entire time.
On the plus side, my new camera bag is fucking dope. If you read my post at Griffith Park, I broke the zipper and carried my camera bag down a (LA) mountain. This new one is a goddamn dream. I can switch lenses without having to put it down, due to this side zipper. It's insane.
Yeah, that's not sponsored either. I don't have enough people reading this shit for sponsors. So enjoy your free shoutout Mindshift.
Bye see you next time toddles.
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