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Photography Location: Tucson, Arizona
by Chris Nicholson
| Directions: |
Southern Arizona, at the junction of I-10 and I-19 |
| Places to photograph; best time
of day/year to shoot; tips about shooting there: |
1) Saguaro National Park, home of acres
of giant cacti, at the east side of the city. Making a really
strong photo can be challenging there, but you'll have lots to
work with. Avoid getting caught up in the large number of cacti,
which will make you want to shoot wide landscapes; that won't
work well because everything is spread out too much to provide
a strong center of interest. Instead, focus on making strong compositions
with few subjects. Best to shoot late in the day -- at sunrise,
neighboring mountains block the light.
2) Catalina Highway (also known as the Sky Island Scenic Byway).
It's a road about 25 miles long that runs from northeast Tucson
to the top of Mt. Lemmon. You can get some good scenics of the
Santa Catalina mountains, and good views of the desert below.
The road brings you through several temperate zones, so there's
a good variety of photographic subjects on the drive. At this
time of year, there's surely snow toward the top, so you may
want or need to turn around before the end of the drive. Shooting
at beginning or end of day will usually give you the best light
(of course), but depending on which side of the mountains you're
on at the time (the road winds around both sides), half of what
you drive through will be in shadow. In other words, half the
drive is better for shooting in the morning, the other half
toward the end of day.
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| Area labs, camera stores, etc.: |
Photographic Works, 3516 E. Grant Rd.,
(520) 327-7291 |
| Other notes: |
Other noteworthy places in the Tucson area:
· Sabino Canyon, just north of the city (requires a walk);
· Mission San Xavier del Bac, beautiful white mission
in the desert, southwest of the city.
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© 2002 - 2008 Chris Nicholson
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