Cactus-scape

Cactus-scape
Close-up view of beavertail cactus, Death Valley National Park.

Cactus-scape. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Close-up view of beavertail cactus, Death Valley National Park.

Many of the photographs that I brought back from Death Valley last week feature the grand, immense scale of the landscape — which is only nature given the, well, grand, immense scale of the landscape of the place. Today I’ll take a break from those images and look share something on much smaller scale — a cactus-scape, if you will. This is a very close view of a small portion of a beavertail cactus. As I worked on landscape photography in this location I realized that these cacti were everywhere, so I soon switched to a different camera with a macro lens.

This subject may bring up the question: will this be a “super-bloom” year? I don’t have a definitive answer to that, but I’ll share a few observations. I have heard that above-average rainfall in about the November time frame supports those extraordinary spring blooms. That did not happen this year. But there was rain — quite heave and even damaging rain — much earlier in the season, and there was some additional rainfall during the December-January period. I did see some very young shoots of new plants already starting to pop up in a few promising areas. My bet? No super-bloom, but more of a good to better-than-average year for wildflowers.


G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

Blog | About | Twitter | Flickr | FacebookEmail

Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

Scroll down to leave a comment or question. (Click this post’s title first if you are viewing on the home page.)


All media © Copyright G Dan Mitchell and others as indicated. Any use requires advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

Join the discussion — leave a comment or question. (Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately.)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.