Another scene from stormy northern Arizona
I continue to dig a little here and there into the pictures I took in the middle of May when I went up to northern Arizona on a work trip. I made a detour on the way home to visit Grand Falls and stopped to snap many photos along the way. The weather was gorgeous, storms were plentiful and something I had not expected. This was along Indian Route 6910. I loved the giant rock formation in the middle of the generally rocky terrain, but also the cool part of this shot is the San Francisco peaks that you can [...]
Stormy skies in northern Arizona
This photo is from a few weeks ago on my trip to see the Grand Falls in northern Arizona. The clouds were stormy, but not really dropping a ton of rain…like these in the shot. Mostly virga, but still awesome to see. The skies were amazing that day and I had to stop every few minutes to snap another photo. Helped that I was on a 10-mile dirt road going only 25 mph. This is panoramic made up of two, 3-bracket HDR photos stitched together in Photoshop. The clouds were so tall and spreading, I almost needed a third shot [...]
Storms over northern Arizona
Yet another shot from my trip up to Northern Arizona and the Grand Falls. This was along the dirt road leading to the Falls. The skies…such amazing sunlight streaming through the clouds, it was hard not to stop every 100 feet to snap another photo. Along the the clouds, I liked the bushes in the foreground that had some tall little reed-like brushes at the top. It may be hard to see in the photo, but they were kind of ablaze from the sunlight and a great contrast with the dark skies.
An old water trough
Just another random find along the way to Grand Falls. This appeared to be a makeshift water trough for cattle I believe, but it was awesomely rusted and decorated with some great graffiti. Loved the look of it against the stormy skies.
The mattress
This was another spectacle on my drive to Grand Falls that caused me to flip the car around and head back to the side of the road. Where did it come from? Did someone toss it to the side of the road whilst moving at 80 mph? Did it just blow in from the land to the left of the road, where nothing existed? How long has it been there and no one taken it down? You’d think a police officer or national forest ranger would make it a point to remove this unsightly obstruction. I’m glad they didn’t. I [...]
A blessed little tree
I’m not sure how to describe or talk about this photo. I was driving to Grand Falls and the sunlight was really streaming down through the clouds like some archangel was descending in a rage of glory. I saw only two trees on the 10 mile dirt road and this was one of them (if you can call that thing a tree…but it was the closest thing to one anywhere around). I was eying it from about a quarter mile away because it clearly visible sitting atop this little hill. As I got closer, it was just magic that somehow [...]
The big skies of northern Arizona
The way to Grand Falls goes through some of the more interesting and beautiful places I’ve seen in Arizona. This mountain is part of a large group of dormant volcanoes that reside in northern Arizona. The land is full of low bushes and trees are a rarity. It made for some astounding looking mountains and hills…treeless, smooth and golden…toss in an amazing looking sky with awesome clouds and I couldn’t resist pulling the car over to take this shot.
Mailboxes, etc
(click on the image for a larger view!) The way to Grand Falls goes through Luepp Road, which was picturesque and almost as interesting to me as the Falls themselves. There were quite a few of these little mailbox clusters along the way and this scene above spoke to me so much, I actually turned around and went back a few miles to make sure I captured it before returning to my trip to the Falls. There was just something about the way the mailboxes were all huddled together, the dirt road runs off for miles and in the far [...]
Sunset from below Grand Falls
(click on the photo for a larger view) I’ve seen pictures where Grand Falls is flowing with so much water it almost looks like a western version of Niagara Falls. In fact, the 184-drop of Grand Falls is higher than Niagara. March of this year was probably the best time to actually see the water roaring over the edge, so I missed it by a few months. However, if I’d been there back in March, this shot wouldn’t have been possible. I’d likely be standing in at least 2-4 feet of raging water, if not more. The shadows on the right side [...]
Welcome to Grand Falls, Arizona
One of my “bucket list” items if you will was to visit this amazing place called Grand Falls. It’s in northern Arizona about 30 miles or so northeast of Flagstaff. The falls are located on Indian land and the last leg is a 10 mile drive on a bumpy dirt road, which in my little Toyota Solara, took about 45 minutes to traverse. I have a ton more photos to post over the week, but this is the first one, it even may be my favorite of the bunch. So far. While not a ton of people know about this [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.