Arizona Cotton Field Portrait Session

Ask any elementary school student in Arizona to name you the “Five C’s” and they will proudly sound them off: copper, cattle, citrus, climate and COTTON!  I was surprised when I learned that there were cotton fields in my area, but didn’t think much of it until my Instagram feed started filling up with photo sessions in cotton fields.  There’s something so ethereal and soft about cotton field portraits and I wanted in.  Unfortunately, you can’t just Google “Cotton fields near me.”  (Well, you can.  It will likely lead you to a map of all the cotton fields in Australia.  Very helpful.  For Australians.)  In late January I went with my son on a field trip and as we were riding on the bus we passed a cotton field.  I nearly did backflips!  It was white and beautiful and ready for someone to take its picture.  I immediately scheduled a photo shoot.  Then I went to check out the field.  It looked like this.

Oh! the disappointment!  There was still a row of cotton around the edge of the crop, so I pulled out my 50mm lens and hoped magic would happen.

Ta-da!  That’s the magic of a good lens.  Let that be a lesson to us all.  By the time we finally had our photo shoot in early February, the crop had been plowed TO THE GROUND.  It was tragic.  So, it turns out cotton fields are available from September to January.  If this is something you’re interested in, plan accordingly.

This is Diana Irving of Diana Irving Photography.  We got together to try out some new equipment and techniques.  It’s always such a great learning experience to shoot with another photographer and share tips and with each other.  We both had a great time photographing this lovely young woman as well as our beautiful mother and daughter models.  I can’t wait until the cotton comes back!