Posted at 12:37h
in
Shoots
During my stay in Arizona, I spent time in both Flagstaff and Phoenix. I spent the first couple days catching-up with some distant family who live in Flagstaff. The McKone family were a big help for me, as I wanted to photograph some of the surrounding area, but aside from the Grand Canyon, I didn't have a clue on what was around, so I didn't know where to start. Luckily, Rod and Ann Marie, along with their two sons, Richie and Mike, knew plenty of locations to take me.
First thing was first, we wanted to make a new family portrait for the troupe. So, after shortly after pulling into flagstaff after a 21-hour drive, we were back in the car headed for Sedona. I travel a quite a bit for my work, but the bulk is done all in Washington, so my environmental equilibrium never gets too rattled. Extreme environment, weather, temperature, altitude changes, and even sunrise and sunset times were all way off from the norm for me. Predictability of the photographic outcome was kinda non-existent, and it being my first day in the place, taking a family portrait, I had no idea what kind of photos we were going to walk away with. I didn't even know what the final location for the photos would be, what the background was going to be composed of, if the sun was going to be in front or behind the subjects. We packed the car up with people and gear and hit the road
First day here in Phoenix, spending most of the day relaxing by the pool and trying to stay cool in the 100+ temps. How do you people handle these extreme temps for extended periods of time?! Did you get lost in the desert and just give up trying to find a way out? Anywho, it's nice for like... a week, max, and after that I'm done. So it's the fourth of July. If you could pick a couple locations where you can count on a nice, dry evening for a fireworks show, I bet Arizona would probably be on that list. Well, just so happens I'm in Arizona, Phoenix of all places, and we had an amazing lightning storm roll through. I couldn't imagine a fireworks show took place tonight, cause it was raining hardcore (think that's why they call it a monsoon). Restricted to the hotel room, all I could do was watch and listen as nature put on it's own fourth show. I tossed a camera on a tripod and attempted to capture some bolts of lightning off the back porch. It was a small window of the sky to capture, but I did get a couple captures. Nothing special, just something fun. 