Becky and I met up with Amber and John at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum for engagement photos. They are getting married next year! Amber and John went on one of their first dates at the Arboretum, and so they wanted to do their engagement photos here. And we are so glad they did, because Boyce Thompson is amazing. I wish I could live there. It's an arboretum that was started in 1923. It's on Highway 60 on the way to Superior (in Arizona), at the base of a 4,400 foot high mountain called Picketpost Mountain. There are over 3200 different kinds of plants there from all over the world. Since they are desert plants that had to adapt to arid conditions, some of them are sooo amazing and unusual looking. But it's at a high enough elevation that it gets a lot more rain than Phoenix, so it has lots of tall trees.
So as usual, we took about a kazillion photos and I want to post most of them here, but here are a few because it's possible that if I don't publish this soon I will keep adding photos until the end of time.
The leaves were changing colors, some trees looked like they were on fire!
I love making photographs in greenhouses--the light is always so perfect. And the greenhouses at Boyce Thompson have cactus plants from all over the world and some of them look out-of-this-world!
I was taking lots of photos with the tilt shift 45 mm lens. I like the dreamy, fairy-tale look I can get from it.It doesn't auto-focus, though, so you have to focus it yourself. Reminds me of when I was in high school and college taking photo classes and using my dad's old film camera.
Two images might give you a better idea of how massive this tree is in volume, height, etc. It's a Red Gum Eucalyptus, planted in 1926 and is more than 140 feet tall. It's registered as the biggest tree of its kind in the United States. info via I bet you owls sleep in its branches.
Thanks Amber and John for a fun afternoon! We can't wait for your wedding in the Spring!
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