Tucson & Saguaro National Park Trip report for Tom Bol Photo Workshops

April in Tucson

We cover a wide range of photo subjects on our Tucson Workshop. This year we photographed the Sonoran Desert, desert wildlife, Old West Portraits, night skies and even some architecture.

The Sonoran Desert is a dynamic place. It changes with the seasons and slight variations in moisture bring different blooms each year. We time our workshop to capture blossoms in spring, hoping for nourishing winter rains.

This year there was an abundance of moisture, resulting in a spectacular flower superbloom. Brittlebush, Parry's Penstemon, Ocotillo and Hedgehog Cactus painted the desert in hues of pink, yellow and orange.

Saguaro National Park - East

This area of the cactus forest was covered in brittle bush. We arrived before sunrise and photographed cactus in a sea of yellow.

Desert Wildlife

We photographed desert birds and small mammals at the Desert Photo Retreat and the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. On many of our shoots we could hear cooing White-winged Doves and chattering Cactus Wrens.

Evening Front Light

With sunny skies every evening and morning, we used the warm sun tones to capture the rich green of the Saguaros. We photographed a dense forest of saguaros at the Red Hills Visitor Center, with blooming Ocotillo in the foreground.

Night Photography

For our final night of the workshop, we stayed past civil twilight to capture the stars and galaxy over ancient saguaros. We used the time in between to work on light painting.

San Xavier Mission

We spent our final morning at a historic mission photographing the Old Spanish architecture and watching the morning light scroll into their gardens. We rounded out our desert cactus species with blooming white saguaro flowers and early blooming chollas.