Live engagement shoot with dogs!
Bobby called me up asking if I could do a live photoshoot of him proposing to his girlfriend. I said yes, I could, and I have actually done this very thing before back on a beach in Florida. Now there are a lot of variables that go into any outside, on location photoshoot, and even more for a live shoot. Luckily, with as much preparation and planning as we could do beforehand, everything worked well for the live shoot! I casually pretended to be photographing the mountains while Bobby put bowties on the dogs and got the ring out.
Read MoreDesert as alive as the jungle?
My rural land photography work often takes me out into the desert were very few signs of life exist. Sometimes I scare a jack rabbit from behind a bush. Sometimes black beetles back their way over the sand. Birds may soar overhead looking aimlessly for food or greener perches. Plants seem to be in abundance in some areas of the desert, like the one pictured above, but how much life is there? What does desert life mean? Is the desert as alive as the jungle?
Read MoreSlab City no longer like Easy Rider era
Slab City. It was a mysterious place floating in my mind for decades, ever since seeing Easy Rider. In my memory the movie showed Slab City as a place in California you can just setup and live, on empty slabs of concrete out in the desert. In preparing to go to Slab City recently, I read up some about it. It was supposedly still a lawless place where the police did not go, and were not wanted. I was actually concerned about safety issues trying to just drive through Slab City. I expected to be met with very unwelcome looks, as an outsider. Slab City, I thought, is not a place for casual visitors.
Read MoreABQ in long view
If are a subscriber to my business Facebook Page, then you see my regular Facebook Live videos from the many rural land real estate shoots I am on in remote northwest Rio Rancho and the unique views that area offers. Through the eye of my telephoto lens, you can see nearly all of Albuquerque and Rio Rancho sprawled out at the feet of the Sandia Mountains.
Read MoreSee a photo, stop and make the photo
It was a long day at this point when I was driving up a twisting and rising mountain road from Timberon, New Mexico back up to Cloudcroft, New Mexico. Earlier that morning I had made the 3.5 drive from Albuquerque to Cloudcroft. Checked in to the same B&B I stayed at last time I was in Cloudcroft (the excellent Crofting Inn). Made the hour drive down to TImberon and then spent 2.5 hours outside making photographs and flying my drone over a rural land real estate property.
Read MoreWhen a family is willing to have real fun in portraits
Earlier in my photography career, I regularly booked family portrait shoots specializing in my own signature candid style. Now I very rarely have family portrait shoots, and typically only for clients I have done other commercial photography work for, like Barb and Dr. Norm. When they asked me if I could do a Christmas Day shoot because that was the only time their entire family would be together, I said yes mostly because I really like them and knew it would be a fun time and I could push the envelope with getting some great candids. The photos in this collection are my own personal favorites from the shoot. The siblings in particular had fun with each other! We made very good use of Highland Park from top to bottom to climbing bars to the merry-go-round!
Read MoreNamed for trees, spectacular for rocks
For me, the phrase joshua tree has always been associated with the famous U2 album from 1987 and its iconic cover art. There is actually no joshua tree in the photo. I finally got a chance to visit Joshua Tree National Park and soon realized that the eponymous trees are not the stars of the park by a long shot. The real attraction are the rock formations. Some tower, some are piles, they are all sitting there challenging you to climb them. This photo story presents a set of black and white photos of a lone climber on a rock face and a series of color photos one of which is made up of silhouettes of me, Jessica, Kiki and Artie!
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