Sunset on the ol’ railroad tracks
I’ve taken quite a few photographs from this spot over the last 6 months. It’s amazing to think it’s only about 2 miles from my house (for now, until we move). I rarely try to dip from the same well more than once, but this place is fond to me. And I do try to go there for different reasons when I do. And as far as I know, they are rarely, if ever, used because I’ve stood there for a long time and never have seen a train. Last night we had some rainy-ish looking clouds roll through and [...]
The Flatiron cliffs in black and white
Nothing but Flatiron all week, although I hope you enjoyed the interlude with the alleyway yesterday. There is a slight chance there will be nothing but Flatiron and the Lost Dutchman area next week as I may go hike it again on Saturday *grin* I loved all the color at Flatiron last week, as you can see from all the photos I’ve posted about it. The flowers were incredible, the yellow tones and hues were rich and everywhere. But I also went out there because the sky had some cool clouds going on from a cold front moving through and [...]
Revisiting the downtown Phoenix alleyway
The shot above was taken in downtown Phoenix and is just an alleyway I found whilst doing a little urban exploration. I first posted a version of this back a few weeks ago. I processed it using a tilt-shift style to create a blurred or bokeh effect on the sides of the photo. A friend of mine who shall remain nameless (BRYAN!) said he wasn’t a fan of the blur and wanted to see the details instead. I thought about it and went back for a second look. While I still like the blurred effect myself, I also really do [...]
More from the Flatiron Cliffs
Hopefully no one is getting bored with photos from the Flatiron Cliffs in the Lost Dutchman State Park. I for one can’t get enough of looking at the mountains and the color of the flowers flooding the desert floor. It’s up there with some of the most favorite things I’ve photographed in my young little career. Yesterday I posted a shot that was sort of a square, which made up the shot above and a pan to the left. But from the start I’ve always loved this single shot, with the stairs on the right, the little valley leading up [...]
More wildflowers from Flatiron at Lost Dutchman
On Friday I posted an HDR version of what I saw out at Flatiron on Thursday late afternoon. The HDR is cool, brings out a lot of textures and gives it a really deep feel, but I also love standard photography as well. The colors were so amazing, you really didn’t need to try hard to get a good shot. If you live in the Phoenix area or close to the Lost Dutchman State Park, I highly suggest you head out there sometime soon before the flowers are gone. They are stunning…simply stunning. I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I’ve [...]
The Flatiron cliffs of Lost Dutchman
I almost wanted to title this, “Hey Dutchman, I found the gold!” A somewhat stormy day here in Arizona, awesome clouds everywhere, so I grabbed up my daughter from the babysitter and headed out to the Superstition Mountains and Lost Dutchman state park to take some photos. I’ve been around there a few times, but never have gotten a shot that I really liked. And then I saw Flatiron and the fields of gold wildflowers surrounding the base of the cliffs. They were everywhere. It was amazing to see. Contrast it with sunlight breaking through stormy cumulus clouds and it [...]
Some fluffy clouds over the Arizona desert
I took this last week at the same time as Glorious Morning and this one with the dead tree. The morning was just so grand…lazy floating clouds, stormy clouds, awesome color and light from the sun…perfection. This side of the scene presented something relaxing and serene. The clouds stretch out to the horizon, the road goes on forever…the mountains in the background are lit off and on with shadows…it just felt quiet and blissful. A nice little morning.
Arc of Glory – Another epic Arizona sunset
(please click on the photo for a larger view) I always hear from people that Arizona seems to have the best sunsets. I actually like a lot of the ones I see shot in Florida by a few photogs I know (example). But I tend to agree about Arizona. Of course, I’m biased and also haven’t lived anywhere else *grin* Last night was another one of those. I hadn’t been out in awhile to shoot the sunset, and that was mostly because we just haven’t had much in the way of clouds and weather lately. But this week a giant [...]
The Herberger Theater in downtown Phoenix
This is probably the last shot from my recent walk of downtown Phoenix. The Herberger Theatre is not a historic building, having only been constructed in 1989, but it was part of the revitalization/redevelopment of downtown Phoenix and responsible for helping to foster the growth of performance art in that area. I’ve only seen one show there, a friend of mine was in Fiddler on the Roof back a very long time ago (at least 12 years) and I just remember it being a fun little play and an awesome venue. Technical gibberish about this photos: 6-7 bracket HDR ranging [...]
Storms and Stones
Today’s photo is one I’ve been waiting to take for awhile, but I had been waiting for some cool skies to show up to add to the composition. I’m a sucker for cool clouds and storms, so if I am ever outdoors taking landscape shots, or random sights such as the one above, getting a sweet sky is a bonus. This is a graveyard/cemetery at St. Anne’s Mission down on the Gila River Indian Reservation. It’s right off the road on Highway 87. I will be posting a shot of the church itself later this week. But I love these [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.