I’ve just returned from a wonderful trip to Arizona. I attended a photograph workshop run by Alain and Natalie Briot focusing on Route 66. While in Arizona, I also spent some time at the Grand Canyon with Bill, and managed to fit in a quick visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix on my first day of the trip. I”ll be posting photos from the trip over the next few weeks – I used a Graflex Crown Graphic and Fuji Instant Film for many of my photos along Route 66 so it may be a while before I get them scanned and posted.

In the meantime, here are some photos I took at the Desert Botanical Garden. I’d had the chance to visit the garden in August and had really enjoyed photographing there. So I was really glad to get a chance to visit again earlier this month.

First are closeups of two different cactuses.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I did photograph one member of the aster family – a Chocolate Flower (Berlandiera lyrata). I really like the center of this blossom – very different from other members of the aster family I’ve photographed.

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

And finally several members of the aloe family were in bloom. When I visited the Desert Botanical Garden in August, one of the staff mentioned that the aloe would be blooming in December, so I made a point of spending some time photographing them. One of the things I enjoyed the most about photographing the aloe were all the hummingbirds who were flying around and visiting the aloe plants. They were so much fun to watch!

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

(c) 2010 Patty Hankins

I’m not sure when I’ll next get back to Phoenix – but I do know that I will be sure to visit the Desert Botanical Garden while I”m there. If you are in Phoenix, I really recommend visiting there – it’s a wonderful garden to visit and very photographer friendly 🙂