This epic scene never gets old.
I had taken my 99 Isuzu Rodeo into this area east of Florence, Arizona for a late night astrophotography attempt trying to get into some old coke ovens that have been there since the 1890s I guess - 4 of them all in a row, very cool. But couldn't make it past one bad spot in the road - need about a foot more clearance I think. So ... turn around and shoot something else. Which is how this shot happened. Came across this cool stand of Saguaros against an excellent rugged AZ desert mountain skyline and the Milky Way positioned just right. So I stopped and framed it up with the tripod just behind the Isuzu, opened the shutter (25 second exposures) and ran up the road a bit to light the cactus systematically with a little LED flashlight. Little tricky because I can't turn my lights on to run up the road - have to do that in complete darkness. Also near impossible to get all the cactus lit just right in a single shot so I combined about 4 shots in order to get all the cactus lit the same for the final image.
Totem Pole, (left of frame) a popular 150 foot climb above Devil's Canyon near Superior Arizona. Not an easy place to get to (but that didn't stop me last night). Decided I need a local climber perched on top of this thing for scale the next time I shoot it ... I'll stay on the ground floor. Arizona is the-Beeest (Nacho Libre accent)
