Earlier this year I drove through Phoenix and the amazing saguaro cactus desertscape and kept thinking, around the next corner I will stop and get some photos. The next corner turned into the next corner and then at the next corner, the saguaro cactus were all gone. I had missed my chance. On a recent return to Phoenix I made sure to be ready to stop on the approach to the city, find a dirt road, pull off, and both get still photos with my Nikon and 4K video with my DJI Mavic Prodrone.
I am not sure where pizza would rank in favorite foods in the U.S., but I would be surprised if it was not in the top 5. But, how is pizza to photograph? For menu shots like the photographs you see here which is what the client wanted, the trick is showing enough of the pizza to give an overall impression, without showing the entire pizza which can then end up just looking like a bumpy circle on a plate. There was no opportunity for a glory shot with a spatula lifting a gooey slice off the pan or anything like that, but nevertheless I always try to be as creative as possible, even if just making shots for a menu like I did at Brickyard Pizza in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
All my brief time in New Mexico I heard of something called, Shiprock. I heard many things about it. "It is a spiritual place." "It is very hard to drive to." "You have to go there." I can now say all of those statements are true. After several wrong turns, accompanied by Jessica, our dogs, and two friends visiting from Florida, I pointed my Jeep Renegade Trailhawk down the correct dirt road and rolled slowly toward this towering rock formation that the day before was visible from 30+ miles away in Arizona. Twilight was already arriving as we arrived. The rain held off and provided dramatic clouds for the background of the photographs I took from the surface with my Nikon, and the drone photos and video I took from the air.
I spent a bookend of twilight and dawn in Monument Valley in Utah. During the dawn, I met these wild horses, some of whom were just standing staring listlessly with their ribs and hip joints jutting out. Others equally as bony grazed on thorny brush. They seemed to not care about my presence, maybe too hungry? After the horse above had finished munching on that bush, I went and touched it and it hurt my hand even with a gentle touch. How that horse could chew on and eat it is beyond me. Even though it was sad to see them so skinny, it was still special to share the quiet dawn in Monument Valley with them, unexpected friends.
Back on a real estate photography assignment for Susan and Mark Ryerson in Bernalillo, New Mexico, I got to enjoy the Sandia Mountain view the next owner will get to on a daily basis! I can really appreciate a good view and a nice backyard as well. This was a nice straight forward real estate shoot, with the only obstacle being a sleeping cat on one bed, but I told Susan to just market that room as a good place to take a cat nap!
A very special photoshoot for We Rise & One Of Many
A recent Saturday was spent photographing ten women here at the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico for an upcoming social awareness fundraising event on October 5, 2018 at the KD Neeley Gallery. The organization is called We Rise and this particular photo shoot was for a photo exhibition called One Of Many. Find out more information on the Facebook event page. This is a sneak preview with one of the women from that day. Between now and the event I will be posting more sneak previews. The theme of the photo shoot was to focus tightly on the eyes, which were done by a make-up artist. I used my brand new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP lens to capture the emotion in the eye and the detail in the make-up along with a clamshell / beauty dish lighting setup.
While I was in Cloudcroft, New Mexico on a rural land photography assignment, I took notice of these very unusual flowers that I thought looked like rocket popsicles that a hummingbird was having breakfast at. I had my excellent new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 Macro SP lens on my Nikon D750. There was no way to track this fast moving bird through the air. How to get this shot then? Pre-focus on a flower you hope the hummingbird will land on, and wait. I studied the bird's flying patterns a bit, noticing it kept coming back to this particular flower. I approached slowly, very slowly, and then froze waiting for the hummingbird to return. The focus point is not perfect, and I wish the hummingbird had chosen a prettier flower to drink nectar from, but I like the bokeh enough to share this photo with you.
