Stormchasing: A couple of more shots from Nebraska
One of my main goals when it comes to stormchasing, whether I take a big trip to Nebraska to do it or drive around finding the monsoons here in Arizona this summer, is to take photos that are as well composed as I can make them in whatever situation I find myself. I love looking at stormchasers’ photos from the midwest…tornadoes, lightning, wall clouds, scary stuff…but aside from a few guys that take their time when shooting (Dick McGowan, Mike Hollingshead), most of them are hurried shots without much thought of framing a nice scene. My stormchasing experience is very [...]
Stormchasing: Hail core dump
I had planned a 4-day stormchasing extravaganza this spring, but the way things worked out, it ended up being a one-day blitzkrieg on Saturday up to Nebraska to photograph whatever I could in a short amount of time. Part of me wishes I lived around this weather so I could photograph it more often…and the other side of me, after seeing the craziness of the clouds and weather…am just fine living in Arizona *grin* This is one of the shots from the day. A hail core being dumped north of Mullen, Nebraska. It had multiple tornadic signatures on it, but [...]
Sunset on the ol’ railroad tracks
I’ve taken quite a few photographs from this spot over the last 6 months. It’s amazing to think it’s only about 2 miles from my house (for now, until we move). I rarely try to dip from the same well more than once, but this place is fond to me. And I do try to go there for different reasons when I do. And as far as I know, they are rarely, if ever, used because I’ve stood there for a long time and never have seen a train. Last night we had some rainy-ish looking clouds roll through and [...]
Storms rolling across the Arizona desert
This morning I woke up, looked outside and saw fluffy clouds. The photographer switch inside of me was instantly ignited and I left the house after a few minutes. We just haven’t seen any weather in weeks and weeks…for a guy like me, that’s an eternity! It didn’t even look that spectacular out there, and in fact, the clouds you see above were the stormiest of anything and they didn’t even drop any rain. This picture almost didn’t happen. In fact, most of my best shots end up being unplanned. I had been shooting the clouds, the sky and some [...]
Foggy day in Corvallis, Oregon
Yesterday I picked up a roll of film I had lying around from a long time ago. Now it wasn’t a “photography” roll of film, I really have only been doing this hobby seriously for less than a year now, it was just some pictures my wife and I must have taken over 5 years ago. But I had no idea how long. Well, when I got them back, I found out it was almost 10 years old. A very long time ago, we looked like kids, lived in our apartment and most of them were just silly photos. But [...]
Storms and Clouds over the Arizona Skies
Monday was eventful in terms of capturing some cool shots of storms, clouds and falling rain around the Phoenix area. I drove out to Apache Junction and snapped some shots of the incoming storm, plus a few other cloud pictures. Mmmm, I love clouds. After the rain…the sunlight streams through a hole in the clouds. Impending storm heads to the east Valley. Shot from Idaho Road and Lost Dutchman looking West.
Storm Photos: Part 3
I found a few more photos from last week that I didn’t upload, plus a redux of the “Shrouded in Clouds” photo of the Superstitions that I posted on Monday. That last one…I think would make an awesome print, in either color or black and white. A shot of the Superstitions while it was raining…the clouds were hanging low around the cliffs and the scene was magnificent. Another shot of the Superstition cliffs. This was an amazing sight…mammatus clouds leading out from a thunderstorm dropping rain. You can see the rain on the horizon on the right, while these bubbly [...]
Storm damage photos
I didn’t get as many shots of storm damage as I would have liked, but here are the ones I DID get of some flooding, flowing washes and a downed tree.
Tuesday's Storms
This week is going to be wild and wacky in terms of weather. I’m hoping that we get enough rain so the Salt River is flowing and maybe some outlying washes become rivers because it sure would be fun to shoot a few photos of those thing! Tuesday night was the second wave of storms, Monday having been fairly week. Tonight though, tons and tons of rain…at last look we had almost an inch of rain at our house! (see my weather station). Before the storms came in though, there were some great clouds and falling rain that just HAD [...]
Lightning!
Last summer I realized I could photograph lightning with my little point and shoot camera. Downside was that it was a continuous shot mode, took 2-3 shots per second and you kind of had to be close for the camera to pick it up. But I was hooked. Big time. I LOVED chasing storms and getting lightning shots. So I knew I needed a better camera, one that could do lots of cool things. So I bought a Rebel DLSR. Most of you have seen how much I’ve used it since October or so. But as much fun as it [...]
Mike is a Phoenix Wedding Photographer based in Arizona and can be contacted via all the normal methods and then some.