Backyard wildlife

Anyone who has lived in Tucson for a while is familiar with back yard lizards. Apparently, the Desert Spiny Lizard is the most common of the bunch. I've always called them "alligators" due to their relatively large size and fearlessness. They're also "push-up lizards" to me because they do a defensive pumping posture that looks just like a human doing push-ups. This one was on a friend's back wall and let me get very close. Would have been a great time for a macro lens, but one can't be choosy when a photo op presents itself.

4th Avenue Street Fair

One of our assignments in photography class was to put together a series of panoramic images. The images had to have a minimum of 6 source photos, and there was no maximum. While at the 4th Avenue street fair this past spring, I snapped a series of shots of the Chocolate Iguana while waiting for my friend and her kids to wrap up inside. It turned out to be one of my favorite panoramas ever.



My friend's son is in the red shirt on the left. Then you see the tents of the street fair marching down 4th Ave. My friend and her daughter are in the door of the cafe, and then, on the right side of the building, there's a dove I happened to catch in mid-flight. It's a great little slice of life photo from a very fun outing.