{"id":3259,"date":"2015-07-22T10:27:01","date_gmt":"2015-07-22T15:27:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/?p=3259"},"modified":"2015-07-22T17:02:22","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T22:02:22","slug":"big-bend-in-bloom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/2015\/07\/22\/big-bend-in-bloom\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Bend In Bloom"},"content":{"rendered":"

My\u00a0annual Instructional Photo Tour to the Big Bend National Park during late March and\u00a0early April this year\u00a0was the best ever.\u00a0\u00a0Because of exceptional rainfall\u00a0winter rains, the park was abloom and flush with color.\u00a0 Many who have visited or worked in the park agree that this spring bloom was a once-in-10-years event.<\/p>\n

Take a look at the photos which follow and note the color explosion which we haven’t seen in\u00a0past trips.\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t forget to click on the right edge of a photograph to increase the size and sharpness for better viewing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Claret<\/a>
Claret Cup Cactus above the Pecos River, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The scene above greeted us as we prepared to cross the Pecos River at the upper end of Amistad Reservoir.\u00a0\u00a0After\u00a0stopping at the overlook for a leg stretch,\u00a0I spotted red cactus blooms along the cliff\u00a0below.\u00a0 One hour later, after thoroughly photographing the landscape, we were back in the car and headed west.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>
Big Bend National Park in bloom; bluebonnets and prickly pear cactus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I decided to add a touch of “canvas” to the background on this image.\u00a0 The Photoshop filters offer some exciting options to get the most from a print.\u00a0 This image was a little north of Castolon Store in Big Bend Natl. Park.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Prickly<\/a>
Prickly pear cactus in bloom with “mule ears” formation in the background at Big Bend National Park, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

I think I was sitting in some dead dog cactus while shooting this photo at nearly ground level.\u00a0 Sometimes I get caught up in the moment and forget to inspect the ground closely before getting in close to the subject.<\/p>\n

\"Wildflowers<\/a>
Wildflowers on Dog Canyon Trail, Big Bend National Park, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s a 5 mile round trip from the highway to Dog Canyon in the northern part of the park.\u00a0 The photography group loved the hike, the wildflowers and the cliffs.<\/p>\n

\"Tourist<\/a>
Tourist watching the sun set through “the window” in the Chisos Mts. in Big Bend National Park<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Chisos Basin “window” is always our first planned photo stop in the park.\u00a0 When clouds are present, the window is always exceptional during sunset.<\/p>\n

\"Big<\/a>Bluebonnets\u00a0added a lot of nice color\u00a0this view of ruins near Cottonwood Campground looking north to the Chisos Mountains.<\/p>\n

\"Rio<\/a>
Rio Grande near Boquillas Canyon in Big Bend National Park, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of my favorite views of the Rio Grande as it turns toward the Boquillas rim at sunset.<\/p>\n

\"Hot<\/a>
Stars and light painting on the hot springs bath house\u00a0by the Rio Grande at Big Bend National Park, Texas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Big<\/a>
Big Bend National Park at sunrise in Santa Elena Canyon.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Historic<\/a>
Historic Terlingua Cemetery, Terlingua, Texas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Grave<\/a>
Grave marker in the Terlingua Cemetery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"One<\/a>
One of the big favorites on every Big Bend photo trip is trying to capture a “starburst” at sunrise or sunset.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Wildflowers<\/a>
Wildflowers and Chisos Mountains at Big Bend National Park.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We just had to stop for one (or was it 50) more wildflower photo\u00a0 before exiting the park after 4 fantastic days.\u00a0 The sun was just coming up as we unlimbered the tripods\u00a0near Panther Junction and\u00a0the Chisos Mountains.<\/p>\n

Larry<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My\u00a0annual Instructional Photo Tour to the Big Bend National Park during late March and\u00a0early April this year\u00a0was the best ever.\u00a0\u00a0Because of exceptional rainfall\u00a0winter rains, the park was abloom and flush with color.\u00a0 Many who have visited or worked in the park agree that this spring bloom was a once-in-10-years event. Take a look at the … Continue reading Big Bend In Bloom<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3259"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3284,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions\/3284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryditto.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}