The orange moon
Click to view on black, I think it’s got a much better feel to it. I’m not much of an astral photographer…star trails, the Milky Way…the Moon…none of these are my strong suit at all. I just haven’t felt a strong desire to shoot these kinds of subjects. And honestly, the moon has been shot a bazillion times…what else can do you do with it? But despite all of that, I got up early on Saturday morning to check out the lunar eclipse that was going to turn the moon orange. I’ve never seen that before and the next eclipse [...]
A sliver of color
(click to view on black // canon 5d mark ii, tamron 17-35 f/2.8, 17mm, f/16, iso 100, 0.6 sec // buy print) This was one of the last shots I took during the 2011 summer monsoons. I was about as far away from Phoenix as I’d been all year…near a town called Joseph City that I don’t recall having known existed before. The sky at sunset was pretty epic, but I found myself in somewhat of a bad spot…houses, industrial stuff around, so I kind of missed out on some clouds to my south. But I drove north along a [...]
Lower Grand Falls
(Click to view larger with a nice, dark background) This will likely be the last image from this past April’s annual trip to Grand Falls, Arizona. I’ve held onto it long enough, figured it was time to just post the thing. I’m sure some of you photogs who post daily photos can relate to hoarding some of your favorites for a rainy day. If you follow my work at all, then you know about Grand Falls in the northern portions of this state located on Navajo land. It only flows from snow melt or flash floods due to massive monsoon [...]
The 505
(Please clickity-click to see the empty garage larger than life with a nice, dark background) Feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything of the urbex variety on the site, especially now that storm season has arrived. Feels good to change the pace up and throw out an image from waaaay back in April that I kept forgetting about. This was the inside of an old, abandoned gas station up at Two Guns, Arizona. I friggin’ love old, lost gas stations along well-traveled highways. Anything left for dead like that is cool, but you have to wonder [...]
The bridge at Two Guns
(click to make the photo bigger (you must have a pretty big monitor!) or so it fits your screen) I’m exhausted, I must say. Four hours of yardwork on Saturday resulted in a bit of a sun burn. Sunday I joined my buddy Rick Young in shooting a destination beach wedding in Los Angeles. More sunburn. Flew in at 7am, got home around 10:30pm. Last Thursday I was notified that I was needed in Vegas this week for my day job, so today I was up at 4:15am after hitting the sack around midnight. And here I sit in the [...]
Kamp Two Guns
This is another image from our April 2nd trip to northern Arizona when we hit up the ghost town of Two Guns in the morning, then Grand Falls in the afternoon. Two Guns was very close to this structure, but we’re confident it came well after that old town disappeared. “Kamp” used to be an old RV campground and you could still see the areas where those vehicles would park for the night. This building had restrooms in it and might have been the check-in office for the entire place. Now it’s a mess, with a lot of graffiti all [...]
A lamp post in Winslow, Arizona
(Click to view larger or fit to your screen depending on your resolution) This is set to be a crazy week for me. In Vegas for work until Wednesday night, then we’re off to Memphis for a family vacation on Thursday. Lots of plane rides, driving…but I can’t wait to see the rest of our fam in Tennessee. And who knows…maybe the failure to find storms last week will someone materialize while I’m in Memphis right? This is another photograph from our trip up north to Two Guns/Grand Falls back on April 2nd. The clouds were just stupendous that day [...]
Into the West
(to see the image larger or so it fits into your screen resolution, have a click-see) It’s been awhile since I posted any images from our trip up to the abandoned ghost town of Two Guns, Arizona. First off, you gotta love a name like that. If there was ever a contest to name an old west town in Arizona…that has to be up at the top. I will say, the structures left behind at Two Guns weren’t exactly what you’d picture seeing if you heard “ghost town”. Normally you’d think of old wooden saloons, stables, whatever. At least, that’s [...]
Seraphim Falls
(image can be viewed larger with a sweet black border if you click on it. you know you want to…) Coming up with a title for this image for Movie Title Wednesday was kind of difficult. Most of the movies that came to mind I either didn’t remember much about, or really didn’t think fit too well. My wife liked Legends of the Fall, but I think I’ll save that for when the leaves change down the road. There was The Grand, or The Majestic…or even one that seems to fit perfectly…A River Runs Through It. But again, I don’t [...]
We Are Here
(Looks even more abandoned by clicking to view in lightbox. It also may help finding the title of the image a bit easier) Saturday was awesome. I mean, yes, the agreed upon meeting time was 3:45AM…but it was still all kinds of fun. Pretty much all on time (except for me who needed some Tums after a harrowing night of America’s Tacos, Killians Red and ice cream), my buddies Ken Peterson, Rick Young and Chris Frailey met me up at Carefree Highway and I-17, ready and geared up for an all-day, epic adventure in northern Arizona. The plan was to hit [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.