Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Photography

Buckhorn Cholla Flower Season

Not exactly an Easter Lily, but . . .

This is one of the many flowers or flower buds on the various buckhorn cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa) cacti around the yard. Some are open like this one and some are still in the bud stage waiting for their turn.

I was finishing filling the bird feeders today and stopped to snap this shot with my Samsung S23. (I know, I have better cameras, but this one turned out OK, didn’t it?) Click on the image to enlarge.

We have been a little slow on getting blogs to post, and there is a good, but, undisclosed for now, reason. We’ll try to do better over the next several weeks as the disturbances are abating somewhat.

With the season of Easter upon us, may we wish you and yours a very Happy Easter!! HE IS RISEN!!

04 Apr 2026 by Arizona Environment Flowers Home & Garden Photography Religion

Camera Comparison

On a whim and a notion or two, I added this Canon EOS R-10 Mirrorless Camera to my small collection of cameras, lenses and and accessories. I wanted to try it out and see if I might be able to get better pictures and performance above my Canon EOS SL3 DSLR, with which I am still very much pleased.

It’s purely a hobby thing for me, with a side interest in support of blogging and posting on social media. We also post photos taken during our vacations and other travels. We have a full complement of lenses for the DSLRs, and now, an adapter to fit the older lenses to the new camera, so there is still a lot of experimentation and futzing around to be done, so the jury is still out on making any judgement of one camera to the other.

The one most noticeable aspect is the weight of the new camera and lenses are considerably lighter than the DSLR and it’s assortment of lenses. Comparing similar capabilities, we have this:

  • Canon SL3 equipped with an EF 55-250mm – 2lb 5oz
  • Canon R-10 equipped with an RF 55-210mm – 1lb 12oz

Since birds are the most prevalent photogenic life form in the area, we will use a couple of those photos (both are candid snapshots) to show off each camera’s stuff. Click on either photo to view enlarged.

First, this is a photo of a Curve Billed Thrasher atop the big Saguaro by the garage:

I took the above photo with the SL3 during my morning walk. The bird is sort of back/side lit by the sun, but there is still enough ambient reflected light available to render the feathers, beak and eyes without any real difficulty. The cactus spines are sharp (both photographically and otherwise) and the blue sky serves as a nice backdrop to the bird.

And then there is this one I took with the R-10 this morning of a Cactus Wren perched on the tip of one of the Ocotillos out back:

I am very satisfied with this photo. It was good fortune that the bird perched on the top of one of the canes on the ocotillo. It was further good fortune that as I encountered this shot, the bird wasn’t too far away from where I was shooting. The wren is in very good focus and the background bokeh serves as a very pleasant backdrop nicely framing the main subject.

To be honest, the R-10 may have some weight and operational advantages over the SL3, but both cameras exhibit one very important set of characteristics when it comes to amateur photography: luck, providence, good fortune and subject matter. A little bit of good judgement is also rewarded.

Bottom line: I’m not going to stop using either camera as I pursue some more interesting photo topics – astro, action, macro, panoramic, and a host of others.

21 Mar 2026 by Blogosphere Cyberspace Entertainment Notions Photography Wanderlust

La Bella Luna

I post this photo of “The Good Moon” that I took earlier this evening as I was out with Damsel looking at all the several planets visible after sunset. This included Venus (seen for the first time this year), Jupiter, Saturn and Mercury. It was indeed a spectacle.

However, the moon led the show tonight, with Tycho crater along with the Lunar “Seas” in the image I captured while trying to “fine tune” the camera settings on my Canon SL3 to render the image above. (Click to enlarge.)

My camera settings were 1/250sec shutter, ISO 400, aperture f-13, Focal Length 250mm. I am still experimenting with the SL3 and lenses, but as of next week I will have a new mirrorless Canon R-10 to continue experimenting with my camera settings.

27 Feb 2026 by Arizona Astronomy Notions Photography

Car Show and Fly-In

We attended the annual Wickenburg Fly-in and Car Show this morning on a beautiful January day here at the local airport. Among the sights to see (and hear) was this magnificent PB4Y Privateer which did a 150 foot elevation pass along the runway centerline before circling to land and taxi to its display position. What a sound!

We also saw literally hundreds of cars and dozens of different aircraft.

There were rows and rows of classic cars and hot rods. (Look at the weather – clear sky and 70°.)

Damsel took this photo of a gyroplane on the aircraft line:

One of the more unusual entries in the car category was “El Grinch,” this odd-colored Jeep:

It was a fun and interesting event and a nice way to spend a couple of hours this morning. Click on any image to view enlarged.

17 Jan 2026 by Arizona Aviation Classics Entertainment Nostalgia Photography

Rosemary Orchids

All of these tiny blue flowers that appear several times a year on our rosemary bushes attract bees and other pollinators. Today, they attracted me and my new Macro lens, to wit; an EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens. The image above is of one of our several rosemary bushes behind the retention wall north of the RV Drive. The image below is one of the tiny flowers up close using the new Macro lens.

I was not in optimum lighting for the above shot since the sun was getting low in the sky, but I managed to get a pretty good look up close at one of the flowers on the bush. Additionally, the wind was a factor and the image may have a slight blur due to motion of the subject. Nonetheless, I am pretty satisfied with the new lens and its close up performance. I am still learning to use the correct camera settings, and as time and experimentation go on, I’m sure that I can improve with it.

I can’t get over the little flowers resemblance to some orchids we see in other photos of flowers. Click on either image to view enlarged.

08 Jan 2026 by Arizona Home & Garden Notions Photography

Lemon Tree — Fruit and Flowers

For the many years we have had this tree, we thought it was a “Lisbon Lemon,” but now, we discover it is actually an Improved Meyer Lemon (Citrus × meyeri). We made the discovery when we uploaded some photos to AI asking why we were simultaneously having new blossoms and ripening fruit on the tree. It turns out that this is normal behavior for this species.

While most citrus trees follow a seasonal cycle, Meyer lemons are unique for their “everbearing” nature. It is very common to see fruit in various stages of maturity (green, yellow, and ripe) alongside fragrant white blossoms all on the same branch at the same time.

Here are some close-ups of the blossoms and fruit:

The last two photos were taken using a newly-acquired Canon EF-S 60mm 1/2.8 Macro lens. We bought the lens specifically for close-ups of our desert flora and fauna. These two photos turned out to our satisfaction and we are pleased with the new-to-us (very slightly used) lens.

As for the lemon tree, we anticipate harvesting the fruit within a month.

07 Jan 2026 by Home & Garden Photography

2025 Cops Who Care
 Classic Car Run

Today, we attended the annual Cops Who Care Car Show and Toy Drive. The weather was great and the show was well attended by both cars and visitors. The toy table wasn’t doing too bad either — gonna be a lot of happy kids this Christmas.

When I was a kid in the late 1940s, my folks had one of these Ford Coupes modified with a bench seat for their three little boys to sit behind the driver/passenger seat. It’s a 1933 Year Model, same as Dad and Mom’s.

Also, when I was a kid, there were a lot of these Studebakers on the road as I recall. This Convertible is a member of the local Studebaker Club in the Hassayampa Valley.

We enjoyed the time spent at the Wickenburg Community Center today and look forward to attending again next year.

07 Dec 2025 by Arizona Charity Classics Nostalgia Notions Photography Something Shiny

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