Century Plant, Big Bend, Texas

[SHANEA]

http://gordonmcgregor.blogspot.com/2006/10/century-plant-big-bend-texas.html

This is the first image I'm entering in the TPS member's only show for 2006. It is an agave cactus, shot in Big Bend National Park, far out in West Texas. I'd spent the week out there at a workshop and we were shooting towards the Window in the Chisos Mountain Basin. I'd set up on another cactus and waited as the light changed. Plenty of planning and careful composition went into that first picture. I adjusted, fretted and played with a reflector to fill in the darker shadows on the cactus. Tweaked bits of dirt out of the way. It was all set up. The light got right, I shot it. Then what ? Well, I shot it again, just stood there. Moved a bit, tweaked a setting, shot it again.

Then I realised - if this was all I'd shoot, that was the best shot I'd take all day. I had to start moving. The light was going - fast. I'd scouted out this one option and I'd shot it - so what next ? Well, frantic action, running around the desert trying to find the next shot. Set it up - quickly! Shoot it, move on - and so on. I eventually (after running around and shooting probably another 20 different compositions) ended up in front of this agave cactus. It was a subtly different colour to all the others - a deeper blue and the falling light made it almost glow.

The Chisos mountains by that point were really starting to catch the last rays of the sun, glowing a bright, deep red. Perfect! The sky had been clear, blue and photographically boring all week - but I had it in most of the other compositions. I'd been trying to get a rhythmic relationship between the mountain ranges and the shapes around the tops of the cactus. Playing off each other, trying to create movement in the image. For this one, I got in tighter, cropped the distinctive tops off of the mountain ranges and shot the image above. There's still space around the sides to move through the image and the lighter patch of rocks above the cactus acts like a path through to the background. The warmer colours there tend to move me in that direction too.

It turned out to be one of my favourite images from the whole trip - summing up how I see much of far West Texas, but not really being tied to any particular area - the mountains become generic, colour contrast to the cactus. The colours of the cactus cause it to pop and really jump out of the page, helped along by the depth of field I chose.

Not a whole lot of post processing to this - bit of local contrast enhancement to help the cactus pop a bit more, some dodging & burning and I removed a few rocks in the scrub grass around the cactus to keep the flow moving around the cactus in the grass.

[curt9988]

I saw a bunch of those in Guadalupe Mountains NP. I was afraid I'd trip and fall on one. It'd kill you dead. Things are hard as wood.

[okiehiker]

Each of us has an irrational fear when out in the wilderness and mine is the agave.  I have this idea that some day I will fall and impale myself on one, or lose an eye.  

My cousin Marion was thrown from a horse in the Guadalupes back in about 1950.  A piece of one of the needles, about an inch and a half long,  broke off in his arm.  It is still there, floating about, under his skin.  

They are one of the most beautiful BIBE plants, however.  And that is a really nice pic.  Thanks for posting.

[jeffblaylock]

I've fallen into one of these and miraculously didn't get stuck. It was as if the plant caught me, preventing me from further fall and injury. Since I expect that was a once-in-a-lifetime event, I make sure to have good balance around them nowadays.

[Burn Ban]

Each of us has an irrational fear when out in the wilderness and mine is the agave.

i know i have one.  mine is- and always has been- falling off of a cliff.  it is so irrational that i was afraid to climb to one of the kivas at bandelier national monument for fear of falling off of the ladder.  it is ridiculous; but, ever-present.

[Casa Grande]

Each of us has an irrational fear when out in the wilderness and mine is the agave.

i know i have one.  mine is- and always has been- falling off of a cliff.  it is so irrational that i was afraid to climb to one of the kivas at bandelier national monument for fear of falling off of the ladder.  it is ridiculous; but, ever-present.

what'll you get to the edge of the South Rim.....

[Burn Ban]

Each of us has an irrational fear when out in the wilderness and mine is the agave.

i know i have one.  mine is- and always has been- falling off of a cliff.  it is so irrational that i was afraid to climb to one of the kivas at bandelier national monument for fear of falling off of the ladder.  it is ridiculous; but, ever-present.

what'll you get to the edge of the South Rim.....

probably pee in my pants like i usually do.

[presidio]

probably pee in my pants like i usually do.

TMI TMi Tmi tmi tmI tMI ......

[jim2]

awesome photo. agaves are not cactus . through out his article he refers to cactus when he means agave. once he calls it an agave cactus . the photogragher is obviously talented , but if you are going to photogragh plants and display them then you should take the time to properly identify them. right now i hear my father saying if its worth doing, do it right the first time . the world if succulents is confusing . one easy phrase is , all cactus are succulents but not all succulents are cactus . the mature cactus of big bend don't have leaves . yuccas ,agaves and ocotillo are not  cactus . he also states that he removed rocks and  organic matter from around the agave . the rocks he removed served that agave by keeping the soil under them cooler , thus reducing the evaporation rate . rocks also hold what little soil there is in place . the organic matter he removed was that agaves next meal . the the soil in the chisos is mostly devoid of organic matter and organic matter should be left in place .  nature is not neat . jim2

[Bobcat]

My first impression of that photo was that the agave had been superimposed onto the landscape. That was also my second impression.  It simply doesn't look real to me. Sorry

[01ACRViper]

too much PP for my tastes  :oops:

[SHANEA]

PP

 :?:  :?: http://www.bigbendchat.com/portal/forum/index.php?topic=2151.0 :?:  :?:

[01ACRViper]

Post Processing  8)

[BigBendHiker]

Post Processing  8)

Thanks...that helps...When I re-read the article his last paragraph stated:

The colours of the cactus cause it to pop and really jump out of the page, helped along by the depth of field I chose....bit of local contrast enhancement to help the cactus pop a bit more, some dodging & burning and I removed a few rocks in the scrub grass around the cactus to keep the flow moving around the cactus in the grass.

[Casa Grande]

It's obviously a fake or a really bad use of sponge, dodge and burn technique, or both. Very surreal picture.