Photo Travel Writing Prompts

Southwest Arizona United States

By Chris Dunmire

Traveling to new destinations in the world that are quantifiably different from where you live is a great privilege that will expose you to new ways of life, culture, and history. These are all wonderful ingredients to as Julia Cameron (The Artists Way) would say "fill one's well", "stock one's pond", and inspire a rich, dynamic life of art, writing, and creativity.

As a life-long Midwest resident, I've experienced my share of "knee high by the fourth of July" cornfields and mountain-less flatlands surrounding Great Lake Michigan. So when I had an adventure-filled opportunity to spend 5 weeks in the southwest Arizona desert (the "dry heat" one) between 2006 and 2007, I chronicled my travels to Bisbee, the Chiricahua National Monument, Tucson's Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, the Grand Canyon, Sedona, a ghost town named Fairbank, and the historical Old West town "too tough to die" Tombstone (including the famous haunted Bird Cage Theatre) with my journal, camera, and over a dozen postcards home.

The following series of Southwest Arizona photo writing prompts not only echo and reflect my travel memories, but are intended to inspire you for any number of creative projects including art, writing, blogging, crafting, performing, and inventing. I hope my words and pictures touch your creative soul in more ways than one; and if you've yet to experience the beauty of the southwest desert and grand monuments of nature in the state of Arizona, consider this a virtual travel tour you can keep coming back to for free in the cool comfort of your home.

Southwest Destinations

Travel to Tombstone Arizona
Tombstone is famous for Wyatt Earp, the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the Bird Cage Theater, Boot Hill, and its notorious tagline: "The Town Too Tough to Die."

Inside Tombstone's Haunted Bird Cage Theatre
"Tombstone's only historic landmark in its original state, preserved from its beginning in 1881, maintaining its lighting fixtures, chandeliers, drapes and gambling tables on the casino floor."

Updated 1/14/14