Early One Morning in Phoenix

In August I spent a week at a conference in Phoenix, Arizona. I didn’t get much photography time while I was there – conference ran all day into the evening most days – and it was ridiculously hot.

But I did head out early one morning to see what I could find – and I found some wonderful desert plants to photography.

First was a night blooming cereus cactus – cereus peruvianus. Native to South America, these cactuses can grow to 10 feet tall. The flowers bloom only for one night.

I also photographed some Red Bird of Paradise – caesalpinia pulcherrima – flowers. A member of the pea family, these beautiful red, yellow and orange flowering plants can be found throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the western hemisphere.

I’ve always loved the patterns created by the needles of the barrel cactus. I had fun photographing this one from above.

And finally – the fruit of a prickly pear cactus.

I think it was definitely worth getting up and heading out to photograph that morning! What do you think?