My plan on Wednesday was to drive out and get some photos of the snow on the Four Peaks mountain range northeast of Phoenix. You can get a nice view by heading up the Beeline Highway and turning off on the appropriately named Four Peaks Road. I’ve always wanted to take a great picture of the Four Peaks covered in snow. It happens out here once a year if you’re lucky and the snow disappears quickly. On this day it was already stormy and rainy out. Jina told me it might be better to wait until Thursday for a clearer…

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…

On Saturday I had planned to photograph some of the snow on the Four Peaks. I knew all week that it was likely going to snow up there and I’ve been dying to shoot this once-a-year event. The downside was that the weather had been so bad, the Beeline Highway was closed at Bush Highway and I couldn’t get as close as I wanted, plus the stormy clouds pretty much covered the top of the peaks. However…it was a stunning day out, the clouds were puffy, stormy and gorgeous. The views were super-clear and the visibility was endless.  We drove…

What a week of weather. I don’t know if anyone else can understand how an event like we had can be as exciting as it was to me. The low pressure system that brought all the rain, wind, tornadoes and snow, was record-breaking. The aftermath of that storm demanded that I document it. Granted, I didn’t get to see everything I wanted, but that’s usually the case when it comes to my excursions. I head out with one idea in mind, but end up somewhere else entirely. I took Friday off from work just to drive around. The photos below…

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.

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…

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…

I took these awhile back, but never posted them on the blog. I noticed some awesome contrails over the desert and so I drove out at lunch to take some shots. Contrails usually don’t show up too well on bright, sunny skies, but the usage of HDR and a polarizer filter can really bring them out. These are all HDR, shot south of Hunt Highway.

The same park I took some other shots at in a previous blog post also provided some amazing sunsets the day before. The park is high, around three stories, so you get an amazing view. Some more cement pipes that have been turned into art. This is one that set up perfectly for a setting sun. I’ve gotten a lot of good feed back on this one. I call it “Ocotillo Sunset” because of the ocotillo cactus in the foreground. Got me an AC on Wunderground (Approver’s Choice)!

It’s all about me right? Here’s a self-portrait I did which is part of a little project I’m doing elsewhere.