Atlas Obscura is a great resource for finding odd places to stop when traveling between places. In this case, we were driving from Sedona, Arizona to Tucson and made a 40 minute detour to see the Domes of Casa Grande. Atlas Obscura describes these domes as being built around the late 1970s for computer manufacturing, but were never actually completed as you can see in the aerial drone photos below. What are the rumors for what happens in the domes and its tunnels now? Nothing less than maybe satanic worship. The area is totally fenced off with no trespassing signs as they have been slated for demolition, but still stood as of January 2020.
For regular readers of this blog, you may recognize both Kawtar and my M3. Kawtar is a networking friend who also was a headshot client 2 months ago. She has a custom of having themed photos of her made every New Year’s. This year she wanted to pose with a convertible, and it just so happened I have a convertible! We decided on a parking garage location for the shoot because it is an appropriate setting for using a car as prop. You would never know how cold and windy it actually was from the photos, but Kawtar was up for any ideas I had, and Jessica was a great assistant making sure all the lighting stayed up in the air as needed.
Many times when I am out on a rural land photography shoot, it is just me and a cactus passing the time waiting for the sun to set for me to get my final shots. Such was the case on a recent shoot in remote northwest Rio Rancho, New Mexico where this cactus kept me company and allowed me to make this photo featuring a sky full of floofy clouds.
Linda contacted me about making headshots for her here at the JCP Home Studio in Albuquerque, New Mexico that were not stuffy. I am always happy to make the kind of creative headshots clients want, and if they want ones that allow me to get more creative than usual, that’s even more exciting for me! To start with, we only used a black background for maximum impact. Then I used a variety of different lighting styles and poses to shape different looks for Linda, even though she remained seated in the same place. It helped she brought a few wardrobe changes and was an absolute natural in front of the camera. Thank you Linda for letting me be creative and for choosing so many photos from your headshot session!
Sedona, Arizona is famous for its red rock mesas. I wanted to see one that could not easily be seen just by driving down a paved roadway. Such are the conditions that were the catalyst for seeking out Submarine Rock. Only serious off road vehicles can make it out to this mesa, or you could go on a long hike on foot to reach it as well. The trusty Jeep Renegade Trailhawk made it, and allowed me to fly my drone and take out my camera to share this video and these photos with you of this majestic and mysterious landscape in Sedona.
I was contacted by GVI, a video production company based out of Washington, DC to make BTS (behind the scenes) still photos of a video interview they were doing here in Albuquerque. I have done a few shoots like this before, but not for a long time. It is an unusual thing to photograph essentially making a video. I was asked to put my cameras into silent shooting mode, which both my Sony a7R IV and Sony A7 III mirrorless cameras have. That was also odd to push the shutter and hear and feel nothing at all from the camera! This was a fun challenge to incorporate the equipment and also the interviewee in the frame.
When I first arrived at the Grand Canyon in northern Arizona, there was a bit of down time before I could actually go and see the canyon itself. Fortunately for me, a group of elk was foraging right across the street. This was my first time to photograph elk like this. It turns out these animals are real characters sticking out their tongues at me, laughing, and getting themselves covered in snow just to make a photo more interesting! Thank you Grand Canyon elk for being so photogenic and letting me get some great wildlife shots!
