January 2025

Me and Your Shadow
Ajo, Arizona
2025

The shadow from the closer palm tree fills in nicely for the obscured base of the palm tree behind the wall. I was just sitting on the plaza drinking tea when I happened to notice this conjunction. It was very specific to that exact time and the exact position I was sitting in. A few minutes earlier or later or a foot or two away from where I was sitting, I would not have seen this.

Orion and Company
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2024

Another night view of the sky taken from west of Tucson, in the same spot about the same time as the one I posted two days ago. What accounts for the color difference in the sky is that two different cameras were used. This one was using my cell phone while I used a “real” camera for the previous one. I did not alter the color of either of the photos, what you see is basically what the camera produced. So if someone tells you they did not manipulate a photo from their camera so it is hence is a true representation of what they took a photo of, you should not necessarily believe them. Cameras (and any associated software used to get an image out there on the internet) do their own often unique manipulation by default, even when no human tweaking is applied.

I like the blue color of this one and that I can easily make out the constellation Orion, one of the quite small number of constellations I can quickly recognize in the night sky. Interestingly I find it a bit harder to pick out Orion in this photo than I did just looking up at it in the sky. That’s because the photo brought out many more faint stars than what my eye sees, thus hiding Orion behind or among a much larger collection of stars than I’m used to seeing with my naked eye.

Locomotive Rock
Ajo, Arizona
2025

Like last year we are again spending time in Ajo, Arizona. And also like last year I’m spending quite a bit of time riding my bike around on the various desert trails. So already I’m finding myself photographing some of the same things I photographed last year. Locomotive Rock is a good example. Hopefully I am photographing these repeat subjects in enough of a different way this year to justify posting the new images. I’m not quite sure I achieved that in this case though. Compare the photo above to last year’s photo of Locomotive Rock below. The new photo was taken from farther away than the one from last year, but at almost the same angle. There is haze in the sky in both photos, more this year than last year. But overall, it’s much the impression of the two images is much the same.

City Lights
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2024

The glow from the city of Tucson light the night sky on New Year’s Eve 2024. Not the best for star-gazing but rather cheerful that night nonetheless.

Ocotillo Abstract
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2025

Tube Man
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2024

A tube man, also known as a skydancer, air dancer, inflatable man and originally called the Tall Boy, is an inflatable stick figure comprising sections of fabric tubing attached to a fan. As the fan blows air through it, the tubing moves in a dynamic dancing or flailing motion. (Wikipedia.)

Splayed Out
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2025

Some catastrophe knocked over this large prickly pear cactus but I was impressed by how carefully it appeared to be spread out along the ground.

Pluto’s Nose
Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona
2024

This angle on the new little saguaro “bud” had me thinking of Pluto (Disney’s, not the dwarf planet), or maybe Goofy. But speaking of the dwarf planet, I’ve never been happy about it’s demotion. That it used to be a full-fledged planet but is now a dwarf planet even though it hasn’t changed at all comes across as some oddball form of astronomical inverse shrinkflation.

Chain Fruit Sprout
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2024

A new offshoot from a chain fruit cholla cactus, a.k.a. jumping cholla or hanging chain cholla.

In the Thick of It
Tucson Mountains, Arizona
2024

Wandering around in a crowd of saguaro cacti.