The photo collages and photos offered for sale here have gradually evolved over the last six or seven years. The idea that led to the creation of the first of our photo collage prints, "What Color is the Desert," came to me while reviewing transparencies from one of our trips to our second home in Tucson, Arizona. Although my wife and I have photographed the American Southwest for years, one day upon our return from a photo trip, when I spread slides out on my light box, it suddenly struck me what rich, vibrant, and varied color the desert reveals. Since my wife and I have introduced a number of friends and family to the Sonoran Desert around Tucson over the years, we were aware of the common preconception that the desert is dry, dull and drab. It is not, as these collages and images attest.
As a result of this revelation, we decided to try to find a medium to convey our perception of the desert to more people. The very first idea was a photo book directed at children, which led us to the title, "What Color is the Desert?" From there, while pondering the message that we wished to convey and the audience that we wished to reach, I came up with the idea of creating one large printed image -- a photo collage made from the wide variety of colorful images that we had collected throughout Arizona and in the vicinity of the four corners, where Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico meet.
Our first collage, "What Color is the Desert?", shown directly below, was created over a period of about a year from 79 photographs taken by my wife and me in Arizona or southeastern Utah in the area around Monument Valley. (Click on collage to view larger image, available sizes, papers, and pricing.) Because of the large number of images, this one collage is available as a high quality print in sizes up to 36" x 54." and is best appreciated in sizes 20" x 30" or larger, although it may be ordered as a 12" x 18" print, if you prefer.

Individual prints of most of the images in the collages are available on a variety of papers in sizes of either 8" x 12" or 12" x 18", as specified on each individual print page (Click on individual print link within collage to view larger image, available paper, sizes and pricing.) Maximum available print sizes have been set in order to assure high quality print resolution; we do not choose to offer prints that fail to meet our own aesthetic standards.

Since perfecting the technical and artistic skills necessary to create the photo collages, we have created and are offering prints of a number of new collages, assembled from fewer images, in order to accommodate smaller print sizes and more specific subject matter, such as flowers, saguaro cactus, hummingbirds, and predatory birds. These four collages are available in print sizes up to 24" x 36"; 20" x 30" prints of these collages may prove the ideal size. We also have a unique collage of images of a seventeenth century Spanish mission at Tumacacori; this collage is available in sizes up to 20" x 30". Collage prints of wildlife of Montana and Wyoming, including one solely of images of American Bison, are in the process of being completed and will be offered soon.

The Sonoran desert is surprisingly vibrant and is inhabited by an incredible variety of birds, animals, reptiles, butterflies, bees, moths, and other insects, as well as desert plants such as aloe, mesquite, palo verde, and jojoba. In spite of its dry climate, Arizona contains many riparian areas, with Nature Conservancy sites, and bird populations unmatched in their diversity anywhere in the United States. There are raptors of all kinds, barn owls, great-horned owls, elf, pygmy, screech, and ferruginous owls, hawks, the ubiquitous red-tail, harris' hawks, and kestrels, known by some, especially those in the east, as sparrow hawks. Eagles and falcons are regular inhabitants as well. Avid birdwatchers from all over the country and the world travel to the sycamore canyons of southeast Arizona, including Cave Creek Canyon, Ramsey, Miller and Carr Canyons, as well as Madera Canyon to see birds not seen anywhere else in the United States, such as the elegant trogan, also sometimes known as the copper-tailed trogon. There are warblers, cardinals, and hummingbirds of all kinds, the tiny calliope, costa's, broadbilled, Anna's, rufous, and the magnificent hummingbird. And of course, there is that thoroughly intriguing desert dweller, the roadrunner. The first time I saw one in the wild I immediately appreciated what an accurate caricature the cartoonists had done in capturing the roadrunner in his humorous duels outwitting the wily coyote. Scarcely able to fly, the roadrunner sprints around the desert in search of its prey. Roadrunners are carnivores and with great efficiency kill all kinds of desert creatures, including small animals, lizards, snakes of all varieties, including rattlesnakes, supposedly one of its favorite treats. The roadrunner is a unique desert character - fittingly, a member of the cuckoo family. One spring Cheryl was fortunate enough to find and photograph the complete mating ritual of a roadrunner pair.

Cheryl has become fascinated with the many lizards that can be seen, with a little training and a lot of looking. From big, fat chuckwallas, to geckos, spiny lizards, such as the Yarrow's, and Clark's, desert iguanas, spiny-tailed lizards, collared lizards, tree lizards, and the Baja rock lizard. These primitive creatures are fascinating to observe. Although cautious, they are obviously interested in people. They are highly alert, and love to show off. To intimidate their enemies and impress the opposite sex, they puff themselves up and start doing "pushups." They make fascinating subjects to photograph. We spent a considerable period of time one afternoon in Cochise Stronghold watching and photographing a Yarrow's spiny lizard, also known as a mountain spiny lizard, catching and then devouring whole a grasshopper that was probably a third of its own body length. As for me, in addition to landscapes and wildlife, I do most of the close-up or macro photography, finding the detail of the small world all around us fascinating. We hope you enjoy our efforts.

- Gene Struckhoff

All images and artwork © Gene & Cheryl Struckhoff
Any reproduction without written consent by the artists is prohibited!