Cactus Bloom and Idle Photo

Hey everyone. So I had quite a venture this past weekend. I made a trip down to Sierra Vista (way the heck out there) to observe the humming bird tagging along the San Pedro River. The trip had some hick-ups, Tucson road construction being one of the main culprits. Anyways, while on our trip, during lunch, I noticed a saguaro that was blooming. Now I've seen some here and there, but I never quite found the one I wanted to photograph. This guy was amazing though. The buds and flowers were arranged perfectly and I was even lucky enough to climb up on a rock to get a straight on shot rather than shoot looking up towards the cactus. Anywho, here is the shot that I got.

To keep this post from getting short and also that I am super excited about this photo, I've decided to start a little bit of what I will call "Idle Photo." Basically, I will always have photos that weren't posted as they might not quite fit the subject of the post, but are worthy of being posted. So after sitting idle, I will find ways to squeeze them into small posts or posts of their own. To start this off, there is no other photo than one of the first that I ever took. This photo was taken with my first camera (Canon Digital Rebel), literally a month after I got it. I was on a family vacation in Boston and while there we made a trip to Lexington. While there I took this photo which has hung out on my hard drive now for the last 5+ years. I brought it back to life this past week as I was looking for a colorful photo to fill an empty frame in my home. So without further ado....

Desert Botanical Gardens - Butterfly Pavilion

Hey there everyone. I should start off by saying that I'm real excited about this weeks post. This past weekend was my wife's and my anniversary. One of the things we did was to go to Phoenix's, Desert Botanical Gardens. While there we stopped by the butterfly pavilion and I went crazy with my camera. It was kinda nice to challenge myself by shooting the butterflies. Where the past several weeks I've felt that I've been doing a lot of flower photography with my macro lens, it was a nice change of pace to actually have to photograph something alive and moving.

It was a really crazy experience too. This was due to the fact that the number of photographers not only in the DBG, but specifically the butterfly pavilion was mind boggling. There were tripods, monopods, reflectors and everything else floating around. The funny thing is that where most were using telephoto lenses, I had my face in the bushes to make use of my macro lens. That's definitely the way to stand out from the crowd.

All in all it was a very exciting trip and I was extremely happy with the photos that I got.

Now I must throw out my teaser. While in Sedona for our anniversary, I came up with and partially started a new project. I'm excited to get working on it and see what I can do. For now you have to just wait and ponder. But I'm hoping to have enough soon so that I can give you a sample. It will most definitely be a long project, expect 1-2 years.

Gabe and Jessica Thiel Wedding

A couple months back, I had been asked to photograph a wedding for some family friends. I have to say, it was definitely a learning experience as it was my first wedding. It made it nice though knowing the bride (Jessica) and groom (Gabe). Wedding's are definitely fast paced and in a much different setting than I am used to. It was fun and I'm glad that I had the chance to do this job. I wanted to say thanks to both Jessica and Gabe for the opportunity. Here are a handful of photos from what I have.