Joshua Tree's Chollah Cactus

The Teddybear Cholla earns its name from a distance and loses it up close. In morning backlight, the barbed spines that line each stem turn nearly transparent — the plant glows rather than stands, illuminated from the inside out by a low sun finding each individual spine. This is a defense mechanism rendered as light show: the same geometry that makes the cholla dangerous to approach makes it extraordinary to photograph, provided the photographer stays on the path. Made in the Cholla Cactus Garden in the Pinto Basin section of Joshua Tree National Park, where the park transitions from Mojave into Colorado Desert and the Joshua Trees give way to something older and stranger.