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Cowboy Sunset


Cowboy Sunset
Photo Information
Copyright: David Sidwell (dsidwell) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 175 W: 6 N: 181] (680)
Genre: Landscapes
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2004-11
Categories: Desert
Camera: Sony DSC-F828, Wide Angle Attach, Hoya UV
Exposure: f/8, 1/60 seconds
Photo Version: Original Version
Date Submitted: 2004-12-20 0:01
Viewed: 3203
Points: 22
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Touristdidi mentioned that my last shot was like a "cowboy sunset", but this is the image for that, actually. This is again the saguaro cactus (pronounced "sahuaro", the state flower of Arizona. You can see my last shot for more details about the saguaro.

There is a fun urban legend about the saguaro cactus. It seems that someone's brother's friend's cousin dug up and stole a saguaro from Arizona, and brought it to his home in Chicago (or some other big city near you). It was a baby saguaro, and only half a metre tall. One day soon after his arrival, it began shaking. The shaking got to be so bad and so disturbing for a plant to move, that the man finally called his botanist friend and confessed and asked what could be done. His friend said, "Get out of the apartment, NOW!" The man had only enough time to ask "What? Why?" when hundreds of tarantula spiders broke free of their desert prison and crawled all over his apartment. The man escaped, but just barely!

Is the story true? Who knows? I asked my own botanist friends, and they claim that tarantulas spiders do not live in saguaro cactus, so the story is probably not true, but it's fun to tell.

Back to the shot: the clouds above made a barrier, but here, the sun is almost to the space open between land and clouds. It will spend about 8 minutes moving through this tiny strip of space.

You can also see other species of plants in this shot (sillhouettes, at least). On the right, closer to the ground, you can see the outlines of cholla cactus, quite smaller and a bit more spiny. I hope to put of a shot of one of these closer up. This is all the heart of the Sonoran desert environment. Amazingly, it is a place full of life, even in the very hot summer months.
touristdidi, milloup, Callie, mogens-j, rlortie, JeanMichel, saguzar has marked this note useful
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Critiques [Translate]

The desert has beauty..... I just hate the summer heat! This is indeed a cowboy picture! Maybe the Lone Ranger and Tonto? This is beautiful vivid color, and nice shapes! (As for the story, who knows? My daughter put a black widow nest in a jar once, thousands hatched. Tarantalas are much bigger!)

Those are truly amazing sunset colours, and I like this landscape mode photo better than the portrait mode one shown earlier. Great silhuettes and with the low hills in the distance adding depth to the photo.

Composition: ****
Sharpness: ****
Color: ****
DOF: ***
POV: ****
Note: **

Great shot, very nice colors.
Well done.

Another nice post for the series, very nice red colours again, I still remember your first one. In this one you should have posted in LargeFormat to have a better detail. It is too small to get all the beauty contained here. Thanks.

  • Great 
  • livios Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2306 W: 324 N: 4306] (16856)
  • [2004-12-20 22:30]

David, another one of the colorful sunset.

Another beautiful composition here.

P.S.: to me, the park has a funny name.

Best regards.

Lívio

Hi David
This is another very nice shot. Beautiful reds
Have you ever had the misfortune to meet a cholla thorn to your flesh? Must be on of the most visious thorns in the world! I hate them, but they are still beautiful.

Excellent sunset David. The colours are just amazing and the cowboy-cactus are wonderful sculptural plants. Very pleasing picture and composition to look at.

I love this picture. When I was a child many of my drawings had cowboy cactus in it. I wanted to be a cowboy. And now I love country music. This picture is just awesome. Good colors, good feeling, and the composition is just perfect.

Hi David. I found this one by chance, browsing in the F-828 section! It's very good. If you wouldn't have had the chance to find such a good color and space combination, a painter would have imaginate it...and proposed as a record jacket illustration for Joe Walsh, the Eagles or America. It'really good, very well framed and it conveys a lot of atmosphere. I like the slight upward horizon slope on the left and the right ends. Beautiful image.

  • Great 
  • CTP Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 774 W: 6 N: 1107] (3183)
  • [2005-07-01 14:49]

Great Sunset photo David.I like the Black&Red color tones you captured in this frame.Looks lovely.Nice pov and nice story.TFS
CT of Chicago

hello David,
This is a lovely photo for me,I like the red tones and shadows. I think image could be more greater, but maybe you have reasons for sending at that size.
Regards
Hernán

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