A Serious Talk About My Desert Photography and Why I My Need to Stop Taking Them

It’s been a while since I posted photographs I took in the Arizona desert. For many years, these photographs have always been a part of my blog. Even though I still enjoy taking photographs of the desert, things have changed a lot and there is a likelihood I will no longer be able to take photographs of the desert the way I used to. And it’s due to the area where I like to take photographs in.

Ever since I started this blog, I took photographs in a certain area in the Arizonan desert. This area is where one of my relatives lives. For many years, running around this portion of the desert and taking photographs of it was never a problem. I was usually by myself and could take photographs wherever and whenever I wanted. I just needed to be careful about the temperature and wildlife in the area (Specifically snakes and other dangerous wildlife) and I was fine.

People have moved into the area and lived there for many years, but the recession of the late 2000’s slowed this down to a crawl. It wasn’t until about 2017/2018 or so when things began to pick up again. Then the pandemic happened in 2020. That’s when the changes in the are really began to pick up.

Today, there are more homes than ever in the area. This isn’t bad for everyone, but for me and my photography hobby, it was bad. There are now too many houses in the area that it ruins the background of nearly all my favorite photography areas. I seriously considered using photoshop to help me edit the homes out of the photographs, but I don’t know if it will completely fix the photographs. Especially if the homes are in the way of sunrise and sunset photographs with clouds.

This problem is common around Arizona as more people move into the area. It also me reconsider posting so many photographs of the desert anymore. Despite my attempts to photograph areas with cleverly angled shots to avoid anything abnormal to the desert, I still worry if taking these photographs could become a problem with privacy for the residents in the area.

As the publishing of this post, there are still areas where I take photographs of the desert that are not invading the privacy of the residents in the area, but I’m worried that this could end by the end of summer. This would mean I would need avoid the area and photograph other desert areas that are open to the public, or just completely stop taking photographs of the desert anymore.

Right now, I’m not sure how fast things are moving, but I know this is inevitable. The area would eventually become a residential area and the desert would disappear forever. That’s why I started taking photographs of it. Still, if I want to continue posting photographs online, I need to take photographs of something else to post online. That’s frustrating for me because I don’t go anywhere right now (Blame it on the pandemic, vehicle problems, and high gas prices) so I don’t know when I can go take photographs or where. Thankfully, I still have some desert photographs that I can post. I’ll be getting around to posting them soon.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!