Yet another Phoenix dust storm – September 11, 2011
We’ve lost track of the number of large dust storms (or HABOOBS) that have rolled into Phoenix this monsoon season. Some people think it’s more than normal. I kind of think that the big one from July 5th put everyone on alert for these things and now anytime we get one it’s a big deal…and more noticeable. Dust storms are very commonplace out here and we get them every summer. Granted, we may have had some pretty dry deserts, so the dust could just be a bit more plentiful than normal. Another thing that also may be a difference is [...]
Speed Limit 55
What a day of stormchasing on Friday! All the way south almost to Tucson, when crazy lightning starts happening, but also a lot of rain and tough shooting conditions. We ended up heading back to Phoenix because newer storms were building west of it and we figured that was easier to intercept than chasing them south of Tucson. Almost looked like this amazing night would turn out to be a bust because I hadn’t gotten a single lightning photo. Then we got to Phoenix and it was still looking grim. But I noticed a darkness growing over South Mountain and [...]
Lay down your burdens
(please click to view this nasty ol’ couch on black) (title from the Battlestar Galactica soundtrack) When I’m stormchasing, I can get very tunnel-visioned. I have a goal of where I want to get to and sometimes I’m unable to relax and just enjoy the stuff I see along the way. Of course, that usually depends on the situation, because other times I can be completely mellow and just go where the wind takes me. This shot was from Labor Day and I believe my buddy Ken is the one who pulled the vehicle over. I was too busy being [...]
The Dark Knight
(please click to view on black and so it fits your screen) The holiday on Monday totally threw me off, so you’re getting the lesser known Movie Title Thursday this week! Boom. The Dark Knight. Probably my favorite superhero movie of all-time. Watching Heath Ledger play the Joker is something I never get tired of seeing. The guy was amazing. Anytime I’ve turned this movie on, I’m automatically sucked in the second I see him on the screen. Coupled with Batman Begins, these have to be two of the best comic book movies ever. One can only hope the third [...]
The Arizona Twister
(please click to enjoy a view on black!) If dust devils were tornadoes, Arizona would be the capital of the world. During these hot summer days, you can drive down the long interstates through the desert and see these towering twisters of dust almost anywhere. They can be tiny things, barely 10 feet tall and they sputter out after minutes. Or they can be long-lasting, tornado-like vortices that sometimes make you do a double-take to just make sure it’s not an actual twister. While out stormchasing on Labor Day, my buddy Ken and I spotted this elephant trunk-like dust devil [...]
The stormy skies of Arizona
(Click to see larger on a black background) There is no doubt that Arizona has some of the best skies anywhere in the country, especially during the monsoon season. The desert landscapes, mountains, terrain…they all work together with the clouds to create amazing views. Certainly we don’t get the awesome supercells that the midwest sees, but they get stuck with a lot of the same farmlands and wheat fields most of the time. The diversity of Arizona is incredible. This monsoon season has been completely opposite of last year for me. I have just a sick amount of lightning shots, [...]
The dust bowl known as Phoenix
(click to view on black!) I realized tonight that this image somehow never made it to the blog. I posted it on Flickr and Facebook, but I skipped it here because it took place during my OneQuestion series that I ran for the week of July 18th. So that very same day, the 18th of July, we had our second big dust storm of the monsoon season. As it would turn out, it was just one of the first few in a line of five or six that have taken place this summer. I’ve heard a lot of people comment [...]
Vortex of Electricity
We return to last Thursday night just above Casa Grande on highway 387 north of the city. A great spot for an elevated position over the city, the second I arrived and got setup, the light show went nuts. I think I have at least 3-4 keepers just from a 20 minute span here and that didn’t count a couple I got early on the south edges of Phoenix. These first few shots I got here were kind of special though. Yes, the Chaos of Light I posted last week was pretty dang intense and probably the best of the [...]
Chaos of Light
(please click to view on black, it’s just that much better) I was in Vegas for two pretty busy days Wednesday and Thursday. Landed back home around 5pm last night. Ate dinner, spent some time with the family, saw some weather on the radar and since it had been almost week since I did any kind of stormchasing, I decided to head out. Glad I did. I captured a few strikes early on from Queen Creek and I-10, but then I decided to head south. I stopped for a bit, hoping more lightning would flare up and soon enough, further [...]
A gnarled old hand
(click the image to see it fit your screen, or even larger, with a nice, dark background) I took this shot on one of the very first stormchasing days of the year, which didn’t amount to much. There was some puffy clouds, maybe some spotty rain, but it was really just the slow start to the monsoon season. This was the day I discovered this tree for the first time. I had my daughter with me and we just pulled off into the desert off Riggs and I-10, and ended up driving out a bit to find this little guy [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.