The Calm
(please click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 17-40 f4 l, b+w ND 10-stop, 19mm, f/22, iso 100, 124sec // buy print) I’m dedicating this photo to my buddy Chris DeAngelis, who let me borrow his 10-stop B+W filter and made all of this possible. He loaned it to me a few times at Bombay Beach, while Rick Young loaned me his over on the west side of the Salton Sea. Thank you guys. Yes, I’m getting my own. Soon. Normally if you are by water and pull out a 10-stop, you are hoping to pull [...]
The Edge of the World
(click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 17-40 f/4 l, 17mm, iso 100, f/16, 0.6 sec // buy print) This past Friday and Saturday I was part of a whirlwind trip that took me through Joshua Tree National Park and ended at the shores of the mysterious and disturbing Salton Sea. My good friend Heath O’Free was visiting Palm Springs from Canada, and had invited me to meet up with him on Friday. Also along for the journey was some other buddies…Rick Young and Chris Frailey from Phoenix, and Chris DeAngelis and Doug Wise from California. [...]
Behind all the cute
I love to photograph my daughter, even though I’ve been doing less of it lately. I need to get back into that habit though, because usually I can find something worth treasuring forever. Like this shot. Lyla is a cutie pie for sure. Whenever I post pictures of her on Facebook or the blog, I almost always hear about how adorable she is. In fact, my good friend Jesse has told me his wife demands that he tell her anytime I post a new photo of Lyla. Wonder if she still will? (heh) So today I thought I’d show the [...]
Roman | Newborn
This was a first for me. I shot Dee and Iuliana’s wedding back on January 1st, 2011. Almost a year later, little man Roman was born and I got to meet him last Sunday. Stuff like this makes me love what I do. Being able to tell stories through photos over time. So awesome. Now Roman was born back on December 11th and usually when you photograph a newborn, it’s best in the first 10 days because they sleep all the time and pretty much will just lay there for you. But Roman was born three weeks early, so I [...]
The Three Watchmen
(please click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 35mm 1.4 l, f/22, iso 200, 1/4 sec // buy print) There is something majestic about the Saguaro cactus. When they stand by themselves, or even in a group of three…they make me think of something ancient…guardians of the world. Almost like Ents from Lord of the Rings. Ooops, there’s my nerdy side. I was driving down this road chasing a gorgeous storm coming in over the Bradshaw Mountains when I spotted these guys. I just loved, loved, loved the composition with the storm in the background, so [...]
Meet Roman | Newborn
One year and eight days ago I photographed the wedding of Dee and Iulia. Yesterday I took some pictures of their brand new baby boy Roman. He literally slept the entire time. More to come.
Streets of New York
. (click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 35 mm 1.4 l, f/2 iso 100 1/160 // buy print) When we were in New York back in October, my wife and I took a day to wander the city. We started off in the West Village by grabbing a quiet little breakfast and then wandering down random streets, taking pictures of anything we thought was interesting. There is something quite beautiful about an empty road. I loved the slight sprinkling of leaves, the bike, the shadows and the trees. I focused on the manhole cover at [...]
A sunset on the Superstitions
. (please click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, canon 17-40 f/4 l, 17mm, f/16, iso 100, 1/4 sec // buy print) The weather predictions for winter out here in Arizona called for a La Nina pattern…meaning not much rain and not very cold temperatures. So it was kind of a surprise when December rolled in with quite a few cold fronts that dropped snow on the mountains outside of Phoenix and also an inch of rain in town. Now, of course, we’re well into our predicted La Nina winter, with temps hovering around 75-80 and no [...]
Moon
. (click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, tamron 17-35mm 2.8, 17mm, f/5.0, iso 4000, 20 sec // buy print) It’s Movie Title Wednesday, a series that has been going on so long that I’m surprised I haven’t run out of films to use yet. Moon is one of those hidden gems that you may not have heard of before. It came out several years ago and stars Sam Rockwell as a guy who is on a 3-year stint managing a mining operation on the Moon that helps replenish Earth’s resources. If you love pure, classic science [...]
Looking ahead
. Last year on January 3rd, I wrote a blog post that talked about some things I was excited about for 2011. Appears as though that might end up being an annual tradition around these parts. I shot this little self-portrait of me and Lyla back on September 15th, the last day we went stormchasing in 2011 (if you bought my book, you’ve seen this already). At the time, I believe I was actually standing there thinking about what an amazing summer it had been and how sad I was to see it end. But then the fall was also [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.