Storms over Picacho Peak
(please click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 70-200 2.8 is l, 105mm, iso 100, f/8.0, 1/800 sec // buy print) Picacho Peak is an iconic mountain between Phoenix and Tucson. People love to hike it. I never have, but to me it’s sort of a midway marker…when I see it, I know half my journey is over. Despite it being such a popular mountain, I’ve only taken 1-2 images of it and never anything worth keeping. But last week I finally came upon it with boiling thunderstorms building up overhead. What I didn’t realize until [...]
Chris & Gretchen | Photobooth | Wedding
Chris and Gretchen had a ton of friends flying in town for their wedding…people they’ve known all their lives from Michigan, Iowa and other places. And they wanted to make sure they got a lot of fun pictures of everyone they possibly could. So they decided they wanted a photobooth. This was my first time doing this at a wedding and I have to say, it’s something I’d love clients to start doing more. People LOVE photobooths. They get all kinds of crazy in front of them. It takes pressure off the photographers to make sure they get candid photos [...]
Chris & Gretchen | First Look | Wedding
Here’s a first look at Chris and Gretchen’s wedding. Thanks to Jeff Ambrose for helping me out on this one! And to my beautiful wife who ran the photobooth!
One frame | Wedding
Here’s one from Chris and Gretchen’s wedding yesterday. Congrats you guys, such an amazing day! (click the pic to fit your monitor or see full size!)
Sanchez Family | Lifestyle
I first met the Sanchez clan back last fall when we got together for some family photos. I’ve photographed some way cute kids and these guys are at the top of the list. Little Adrian, quiet Lili and the eldest, Jayden. All of them…super adorable. I was shocked seeing the little man with his crazy head of hair. He had a fauxhawk back last fall and I almost didn’t recognize him! Not to mention how much he’s grown. Dude makes you laugh all the time. The two girls were pretty much the same. Lili has this quiet stubbornness about her. [...]
Tower of Dust
This was definitely one of the craziest sights I’ve witnessed stormchasing in Arizona. This was shot on May 9th, 2012, along Queen Creek road just east of Interstate 10. The wall of dust had hit me and was moving by for about 10 minutes when I looked out the window and saw this bit of clearing and an insane view straight up to some epic clouds. It didn’t last too long, another wave of thick dust was a few minutes away, but for a second the sky appeared to show a giant dust tower reaching for clouds. Without the color, [...]
An early spring dust storm – May 9th, 2012
I got hit by and outraced this dust storm three times. First time I saw it and got hit was down by Eloy. I sped ahead of it on I-10, pulled over on highway 387 and shot it while looking west. I loved the juxtaposition of the cloud moving west while the dust storm moved north-northwest. That’s the first half of the timelapse. Then I raced up I-10 again and pull over on Queen Creek Road as it rolled into Phoenix. When you watch, notice the little “gust-nadoes” spinning along the front of the dust wall! Hope you enjoy! This [...]
Happy Birthday | Lifestyle
Jayden turns six in two days…an early happy birthday to her! From a family shoot on Sunday.
Eric and Eileen | Couple
Eric and Eileen have been together for a long time now and really wanted some pictures taken. I met them over a year ago at a downtown Phoenix photowalk, but we had around 30 people for that thing and I barely got to talk to them. We met up in downtown Phoenix, along with their two doggies, Abby (bigger mutt) and Carlos (smaller Beagle). They got a little stir crazy with all the grass and people around, so we didn’t get them to sit still too long. They calmed down later and helped us explore some railroad tracks. Oh and [...]
Rachel + Scott | Wedding
I’ve known Rachel for over a year now. I first met her at a First Friday gallery showing at my churches’ studio downtown. She was being featured and I helped her hang some beautiful images of children from her travels with Food for the Hungry. It took me all of five minutes to realize she was OCD about how perfectly aligned her frames were and I made fun of her about it for the rest of the night. Ah good times. Last fall she decided I was going to shoot her wedding and I couldn’t wait. She’s a budding photographer [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.