We messed up, yet again, but then managed a last minute recovery. We planned a day trip to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to view and photograph desert wildflowers. How did we manage to ignore the first rule for desert viewing and photography? You know it: go early in the morning or late afternoon for the best light.
We started the morning snapping photos on a guided wildflower walk.
A quick review of the photos taken through mid-day was disheartening. All our efforts in the hot sun and bright light had produced only a few good photos. Lesson learned: don’t photograph flowers in bright sun. But now what to do?
We hiked up the Borrego Palm Canyon trail, and, despite the intense sun and glare, continued to snap (mostly unusable) photos.
With better light later in the afternoon, our time had come for seeing everything at its best.
As the sun dropped lower, we had to hurry to get down the trail and back to our car before darkness obscured the way, yet, we still heard birds calling. We felt compelled to look for what was calling us.

It’s probably not surprising that we saw rock wrens hopping around, occasionally singing from atop the boulders.
The light gave out before we were finished seeing all there was to see … and photograph.
Lesson to selves: Take into consideration the lighting conditions BEFORE setting off on future travel photography outings. (But, really, we think we have now learned that lesson!)
February 2015
Your last photo is beautiful, with that amazing colour in the sky. It was worth the effort.
Thx. I made Joe stop the car so I could take that one. Although, he claims that he pulled over and made me take the photo. Whichever, it seems to have worked.
Ha ha, at least you got a great photo!
You may mourn the lost photo opportunities, but boy those ones you did get are wonderful. It’s so interesting to look closely at those desert inhabitants, isn’t it?
Yes, we have been surprised by the diversity of living things in this desert. While we walked, Joe commented on the sounds of bees at work that we heard along the way. Birds, lizards, insects, little mammals, cacti of many kinds, and sometimes a “carpet” of shrubs, plus all those California Fan Palms wherever water seeped up through the ground. All this desert life surprised us.
Love to hear your adventures!
Happy to share our adventures with you. Our travel experiences have exceeded our expectations.