Claret Cup

[MattBurt]

I found this on a mountain bike ride over the weekend and took a quick snap in noon-time light while I was there. I see a lot of this type of cactus around but never anywhere near this big (like a beach ball). This is also at about 8000' so it seemed like something special. I returned last night after dinner in the truck with a bigger camera and tripod to see what I could get.
Nice evening until the mosquitoes showed up uninvited.

[langier]

That's a nice clump of claret cup cactus, Matt!

The pix really puts it in context, giving a sense of place, rather than simply a pix of a color cactus.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

That's a nice clump of claret cup cactus, Matt!

The pix really puts it in context, giving a sense of place, rather than simply a pix of a color cactus.

+1.

[MattBurt]

That's a nice clump of claret cup cactus, Matt!

The pix really puts it in context, giving a sense of place, rather than simply a pix of a color cactus.

Thanks! I like images with context more often than not. It can bring a deeper meaning to what might otherwise be purely eye candy.
Speaking of which, that's the foothills and West Elk Mountains in the distance there.

[Bryan Conner]

Very nice image.  The cactus is so well represented in the image that I would say that you have captured a wonderful portrait of that cactus.

Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Frans Waterlander]

Finally we know where the Covid-19 originated!

[MattBurt]

Finally we know where the Covid-19 originated!

Right? I guess if we had tried to call it the Gunnison Flu we wouldn't be so overrun with new people here lately. Hmmm...

[Paulo Bizarro]

Very nice shot, like a portrait of Nature.

[francois]

Those reds are out of this world!
Bravo…

[MattBurt]

Very nice shot, like a portrait of Nature.

Those reds are out of this world!
Bravo…

Thank you both! After the HDR process I had to desaturate the red channel a little to make it look believable.
The intense red is what made me see it in the first place, so it really is very intense naturally.