Fire ahead
Man I had a tough time last night. I had never been up to Lake Pleasant northwest of Phoenix, but that kind of where this storm was headed, so I thought it would be pretty awesome to capture the sunset glowing over a lake. But I didn’t know the area very well, so by the time the sunset was arriving, I was still trying to find out how to get down to the water. Plus the gas light started coming on intermittently, and with a 1994 4Runner, you aren’t going to have a ton of miles left to find a [...]
Old Man Sunset
(Click to watch the storm as God intended…larger, with a dark border) Scenes like these are the reason why I love chasing and photographing the monsoons here in Arizona. This was the day before the big haboob arrived in Phoenix. As you can see, dust storms in this state are a normal occurrence during the summer (just nothing so bad as the July 5th one). I was headed south from Phoenix and saw a big wall of dust headed our way, along with a pretty epic looking stormcell. On radar, it was actually headed perfectly towards town. So I had [...]
Independence Day
(click to view a tad larger with a black border) Yup, it’s the middle of the week and that means Movie Title Wednesday! Independence Day. Awesome film. Total summer movie popcorn fun. Will Smith taking down aliens. Jeff Goldblum mumbling and uttering cool phrases like “Forget the fat lady! You are obsessed with fat ladies!” Harry Connick Jr., Randy Quaid with his “Up yours!”…and just all kinds of good stuff. Perhaps the biggest, cheesiest part of the movie is Bill Pullman standing up in front of the men giving his Independence Day speech right before we figure out how to [...]
A final visit to the seventh floor
(click to see the big puddle in a lightbox) This evening of February 20th, 2011 was pretty awesome. Those that have followed me for awhile may remember some of the other shots (here and here) from the top of this downtown Phoenix parking garage right next to Chase Field. Seven stories. An absolutely amazing sunset with the most gorgeous clouds you ever saw. And a previous rain left puddles everywhere. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love clouds and sunsets like this. They are incredibly rare. This will likely be the last image I post from [...]
Jennifer + Haseeb
Haseeb and Jennifer have had a number of weddings this year and I was lucky enough to shoot the final one! If that didn’t make sense, read on. Haseeb is from Pakistan. Jennifer went to the same high school I did, but we don’t believe we ever met. However, her maid of honor, Audra, was a great friend of mine back in those days so it was just AWESOME to get to see her again after all these many years. Jennifer and Haseeb were married in a small religion ceremony here in the States earlier this year, and then traveled [...]
Bucket List: Downtown Phoenix Lightning
(click to view in lightbox, a much better experience!) Late last year, after moving to downtown Phoenix, I stumbled upon this special little parking garage when I was trying to capture a beautiful sunset one night. It’s where I shot the haboob video. I’ve been up there a bunch. But when I first stood there, I knew I wanted to capture lightning over downtown from that very spot. It was a bucket list kind of photo that I just figured would be hard to get. Turns out it only took a few weeks of monsoon season to make it happen! [...]
OneQuestion: Brian Matiash
I’m so sad, the first week of OneQuestion is at its conclusion! But what a way to finish. Last, but definitely not least…well, maybe kind of least, or more in the middle, or whatever, my good friend Brian Matiash (who knows I kid, it’s our thing) was kind of enough to drop this friggin’ awesome road shot on us today and answer the question I posed to everyone. Brian is an amazing guy, an amazing photographer and I owe him a lot for where I am right now. And before we get to Brian’s answer, I just want to thank [...]
From Within
(click to view in lightbox…the border really adds a lot) As I said at the start of the week, I had been planning on not really blogging since I have this awesome guest series going on right now. And on a side note, thank you to EVERYONE who participated and made it a success. Been so much fun. Can’t wait for tomorrow’s conclusion. But anyways, I couldn’t help myself. Had to post today. So Tucson, Arizona, is where it’s at. Those of us in Phoenix tend to just wait around, maybe drive to Casa Grande on some nights to get [...]
OneQuestion: Jesse Pafundi
We’ve arrived at Thursday and Jesse Pafundi for my OneQuestion guest blog series. Jesse is a kindred spirit to me and we’ve had tons of conversations about how we change as photographers. Both he and I have been on a similar journey since the beginning of the year (or around there). Realizing what we love, who we are and being comfortable with our own styles and passions. Jesse’s photography has changed so much this year and it’s been inspiring and beautiful to watch. Visit his newly updated website (and name), check out his Rome pictures (or anything really) and follow [...]
Steampunk wedding cake topper
I just had to post these little teaser images from a wedding I shot this past weekend. The theme was “steampunk” and if I were to ever re-do my own wedding, I’d want this little iron man and woman atop the cake. Of course, Jina would likely have an issue with that, so I’m sure I’d lose the battle, but still, I’d push for it huge. Regardless…best.wedding.topper.ever.
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.