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Wildman Phil
Are your kids, grandkids, nephews or nieces enthralled when comical little lizards skitter across the block wall – or do macho “pushups” to impress other lizards in your yard?
Sonoran Desert outdoor educator Phil Rakoci is a grownup – but he remains just as fascinated by lizards and snakes as when he was a youth – he has spent the decades in between studying reptiles – and shares his love of Sonoran Desert biota as a tourguide at Boyce Thompson Arboretum, just 30 minutes drive from Apache Junction. Meet Phil at the Arboretum’s next Lizard Walk April 30; it begins at 10 a.m. and is included with daily admission of $10 for adults, $5 for ages 5-12 (and Phil returns May 14, on that Saturday the tour start time is 8 a.m.). This entertaining guided tour around the gardens is not just for kids – they’re popular with all who enjoy Arizona’s most common, colorful and charismatic little reptiles.
BTA’s summer schedule resumes May 1 and hours will be daily from May-through-September from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.; visitors are not admitted after 2 p.m. so the day’s final guests have one full hour to enjoy the gardens and trails. Explore the website cals.arizona.edu/bta; click the EVENTS page and you can follow links to obtain a coupon for Friday free admission valid on May 6, National Public Garden Day.
Mothers’ Day Camera Classes
Looking for a truly thoughtful, unique gift for mother’s day? Enroll your mom (or wife, aunt, daughter, sister) in either of three camera classes that popular instructor Lisa Langell will offer on May 7-8 at Boyce Thompson Arboretum. Abbreviated descriptions are below; enroll online and read more complete class itineraries at
http://www.langellphotography.com/Events-1/
* Saturday (May 7) Lisa hosts a workshop: Cellphone photography – portraits and nature, from 2-5 p.m. Expect fun, easy tips, tricks, and crucial techniques that will help you capture more beautiful images of both nature and portraits using your phone. Tips on post-processing your images in-camera to enhance them further will also be provided.
* Sunday May 8 brings two workshops, starting with Camera Basics #1 in the morning, a three-hour class in manual exposure settings such as aperture, shutter speed & ISO. Intimidating? No! Lisa employs a warm, friendly, supportive approach during an indoor class that introduces you to the most basic three settings that help control exceptional photography. Learn these settings and artistic effects they can create such as depth-of-field, ‘bokeh,’ motion-blur, stopping action & more. Most time will be spent in the lecture room, but class will end with a short in-the-field exercise to strengthen and apply your skills – before the day heats up too much.
* Beyond Camera Basics: Level 2 from 1-4 p.m.. Building on the skills learned in level 1 (see above), this class covers proper use of ISO and manual settings (shutter speed, aperture and ISO combined). Learn to take complete control of your camera and photography from an artistic perspective. This class will combine in-class instruction (lecture room) and in-the-field exercises to strengthen and apply your skills. Enrollees should have completed Lisa’s ‘Camera Basics #1 or a comparable class prior to this – or be confident as intermediate photographers who know the basics covered in the class listed above.
Enroll online via Lisa’s website. Connect with Lisa on Facebook for info here.
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