Prickly, Indeed! by auntietk
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No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
This is a prickly pear cactus, and it's certainly easy to see how it got its name!
When we got back from our let's-go-take-pictures-of-some-cactus hike, I spent a good half hour with pliers and tweezers pulling several different species of spines out of the bottom of our shoes.
This place is not for the faint of heart or the thin of skin!
Do take care if you zoom. It's very sharp!

Comments (28)
A very sharp image indeed - I see your point Great shot
Great capture Tara and it looks nice in B&W. If you only had to pull them out of the bottom of your shoes you got off easy. I pulled them out of my skin, and that is not only time consuming but painful! Have you gone to the Desert Southwest Museum. Its a little west of Tucson?
lovely
Beautifull B/W work.
Beautiful in B/W. I just got back from a trip to Southern Arizona. Lots and lots of cactus. I saw lots of wild life as well. The desert is full of beauty and danger.
El Nopal. I'm told they are quite tasty. A fitting revenge for anyone who has suffered from their needles. Black and white was a great choice. Love the lighting.
A thorny proposition you have here, Tara! I suppose they really need those extra-long needles to protect themselves - the fruit is quite delicious, and the paddles are great in salads if you can get past their defenses! A great shot, my dear friend!
Prickly for sure!
They would make a great fence!
Thank you for the warning and I got your 'point of points'!
I like Andrea's idea, making a fence of them. What a deterrent!
The B&W really gets the point across. :) Thanks for sharing your sharp photographic skills
Superb capture Tara. God bless.
This is great and the black and white works well! :-)
Ouch...wouldn't want to run into those...nice capture indeed,,,,
Excellent B&W shot. Rick
cool in b/w! the light brings out the danger! ;o)
Oh my, puns are everywhere, it's a sticky situation.
Outstanding in B&W!! Great light and shadows!
Pricky indeed, but also very beautifully captured :)
The choice of B&W is better for the shadows
Ouch, I'll say! Glad you took the hit for the rest of us, Tara...it's a beautiful shot, and really spectacular zoomed. Well done!
Some prickly pears/pairs - no arguments with them, please ... and they do look so far away and somehow very harmless here, but ... I have got similar specimens in my garden growing - you rarely see me anywhere near them ! ;P you were very brave Tara, which paid off in the end with a fine B&W dividends, BB
Superb lighting effects. Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Prickly Pear spines out of the bottom of his boots.
perfect clear, superb with light and shadow! i think thats the cactus where de cochenilles live..
must be a opuntia..
What large pins, Tara! I bet you were a lot longer, when you walked on this high pins by coming home. You now have two colanders, instead of shoes, and they are as leaky as a sieve, right? btw, in our country Sinterklaas is not instead of Christmas, dear one; We have Christmas on 25, and 26 December, just like you.
Great idea to do this in B&W - it gives it a kind of timeless quality, like it could have been taken 50 or 100 years ago with a film camera...
Ah this one I've heard of.. lol Do not sit on.. Looking great in black and white, well taken Rob