tears of the desert
July 20, 2012 * * * * * Posted by: Robin 
My mornings here in the Sonoran desert have started early…a few minutes after the start of civil twilight when there's just enough light to ensure I don't step on a rattle snake while traipsing through the desert…ahhh…that magic time for photographing... just when the sage brush appears on fire and the tree bark turns golden as the sun begins to rise...
Ever since I was a little girl, certain trees have always fascinated me. It started with the weeping willow. We had several on the farm and I can remember playing under them and trying to swing from the branches like something out of Tarzan. There was a beauty when they'd sway in the breeze, with almost a gothic look about them... Then on family vacations to Florida, we visited Cypress Gardens and the ominous banyan tree mesmerized me, as well as the Spanish moss cascading from the tree tops. Now fast forward and the desert ironwood has since cast its spell…
I don't know what it is…but it's the dead ones that touch my heart…that butterfly in the stomach feeling when I see the perfect one during twilight, morning or evening. I'm clueless as to what all of this means, but I'm sure my mom is thinking about now….well you did love Dark Shadows and your bedroom was painted black. Hmm…wonder what all of this does say about me?
Reader Comments (14)
What a gorgeous landscape! There's something about the desert that distinguishes itself as different from all else. There's a certain grace to the bare branches of a tree. I can see exactly what draws you to it.
As for the bedroom painted black??? Well - that tells a whole other story! :-)
I can hear you now, Robin: "Me Jane, you Tarzan." HA! You must have been my sister because I remember those same weeping willows...which I now see all over the Netherlands and feel like I've come home.
Yes, I understand this attraction to the "dead" ones. Maybe it's the same attraction as to the winter trees who take off all their clothes and bare their souls to us, fearing not the cold. It's the skeleton of the thing, getting to the inner core. And when the golden light shines on it, you've won the Blue Ribbon!
No wonder you love your desert...in between your NYC enchantments.
Beautiful landscape, so nicely photographed at the 'golden hour.' But, ugh...you said 'rattlesnake.!' HATE that part of the picture!!! ;)
Barren trees -- for me it is a 'graceful line' thing. So many artists are drawn to their simple and exquisite beauty.
No matter what all of it says about you...it's You. And this photo is simply stunning! I love all the colors, the textures, and those majestic mountains in the background.
That early morning light certainly shows in this image, goegeous! It seems all of us here have that love & appreciation of trees, all kinds. It's wonderful that you have special ones to enjoy in the desert.
What I love most about your image is the contrast between the trees and brush, and the mountains rising behind. I'm curious about that little speck of white in the photo. It might be a bit of paper caught in the brush, but I like to imagine it as a dwelling of some sort, set down between two worlds.
This is a stunning image. Whatever makes you love it makes us love it, too.
Oh Robin!! The Sonoran Desert is a landscape I carry in my heart. Your photo made me yearn for that area - I haven't been there too long. What a stunning image!
I, too, loved (and still do) weeping willows, especially on the banks of rivers and lakes. Here in the States I came upon the cottonwood that I fell in love with. Bristlecones. And dead trees over and over again.
Your photo is absolutely stunning, it must be wonderful to walk there with your camera in hand. You are the opposite of me, shadows at night make me jump and I don't like to be alone in the dark.
First of all, my mother would never let me paint my room black;) I think - in my own opinion of course - that perhaps you feel for the dead ones because they weren't nurtured enough? Because they didn't have what they needed to thrive and live and reach for the sky...
That's what I think:)
Ah, another Dark Shadows fan... I loved that show. And I also love trees and all the stages of life that they go through. They strengthen me when I feel weak. I do hope I get to AZ yet this year to visit my 88 year old birth mother. I'll make an effort to get out early and capture the sunrise now that I've seen it through your eyes.
Sonoran is new to me, looks like a magical place. I like your taste, weeping willow; banyan tree; black bedroom, I like it too
What a wonderful image with all those layers of depth ranging through the background. A golden hour image for sure!
Just gorgeous... I am always drawn to fading flowers, and I think old, dead trees have a story to tell.
Oh my, Dark Shadows, I haven't thought of that show in years...
Gorgeous light in your photo... there is a gorgeous weeping willow in my neighbor's yard that I have fallen in love with.