Shooting Sedona
Here's a set of photos from lovely Sedona, AZ taken on 2 different trips...
Have you been to Sedona, AZ? It's really an interesting place.
We first visited Sedona a couple of years ago, after hearing so much about it from many people. It's a beautiful little spot that feels like you are millions of miles away from everything else. There is a sense of calm there and though I tend to prefer the look of mountain ranges, I can't deny there is a subtle beauty about the area too.
On my road trip this past summer, I passed through there once again, just to check it out and take a few photos of course. While the weather wasn't really agreeable for good shots, I sure enjoyed hiking around there and soaking up some of the beauty of nature. Today's picks are from both trips - 2015 and 2017. I had them sitting around and it just seems like they belong on the same blog entry. Enjoy!
Slide Rock
The stream running through the woods at Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, AZ...
I'm finally home from a gargantuan trip, and lots of catching up to do!
Our summer trip was pretty epic, so I will reserve a future post to detail it. I did however get a chance to edit this photo from Slide Rock State Park in Sedona, AZ. I went there to check it out and spent some time hiking in the woods upstream from the "slide rock" portion. It was quiet, peaceful and beautiful. I balanced myself on a large rock in the middle of the stream to get this shot.
The mountains of Sedona
A trio of shots overlooking the mountains outside of Sedona, Arizona...so beautiful there!
Sedona, Arizona is a really beautiful place.
I know that may not be a real newsflash for many of you, but when we visited Sedona a couple of years ago, I was really impressed with just how beautiful the place really is. I had heard that for years, but I didn't know what to expect. Well, I was pleasantly surprised to have these beautiful mountains and of course some moody clouds hanging around helped too. :-)
Chasing a storm in Sedona
While a storm was rolling into Sedona, I was standing in the road with my camera, grabbing frame after frame...
Is anyone good at shooting lightning storms?
When we were in Sedona, Arizona (which is almost 2 years ago now), we did some hiking and shooting one day at Castle Rock. It's a beautiful area and I captured a lot of shots that I like. When it got late and a storm was coming, we packed it up and headed back, but had to stop for these lovely colors.
I stood here and shot quite a few images, and basically missed the lightning every time. I've never been a stormchaser and still haven't spent any time on it. But, I still loved the colors of this image, taken shortly after sunset as blue hour was coming on strong. Good times.
Golden hour at Cathedral Rock
Despite the exorbitant heat of summer, Sedona really does seduce the senses. There are some incredible landscapes nearby that offer great photographic possibilities. Today I show you Cathedral Rock.
Sedona really has some amazing sights!
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about visiting Sedona. I knew it would be hot, and coming from Texas, that was about all I could think about. I had seen photos of the landscapes around the area and knew it was pretty, but since we were there in the summer, the heat was about all that I thought about.
Until I got there.
The town really did surprise me. Although a bit touristy, it does offer a wealth of outdoor activities (which can be challenging in the heat) and of course also offers a healthy dose of what I wanted to do: photograph the landscapes.
One of the first places we went was over to Cathedral Rock. It's a short drive from town and after hiking around the park and taking it all in, I set up here in this field to capture the golden light of the setting sun fall on Cathedral Rock. It's pretty fabulous to witness!
Stormy skies over Cathedral Rock
Here's a group of shots I captured late one afternoon in Sedona, AZ. After a (thankfully) short hike in the stifling heat, I found this view of the beautiful Cathedral Rock, and fired away. Luckily there were some nice clouds that day!
Have you been to Sedona, AZ? It's a beautiful place, even in the stifling heat.
Last summer, we packed up the car and headed out on an epic 2 month road trip across the western United States. You can read about that here. We passed through 10 states during the trip, giving us the opportunity to really see some of the most gorgeous scenery this country has to offer (and we also saw Las Vegas, LOL).
One of the first places we made it to was Sedona, AZ. I had always heard that Sedona is a beautiful town, but I'm not much of a "Southwest" kind of person - I tend to prefer the rocky, mountainous landscapes, forests and beaches of the Northwest. Add in the heat that I knew would be present there in Arizona and I didn't expect to like it too much.
Wrong! I have to say that I really did find Sedona to be quite beautiful!
Yes, it was incredibly hot there - there's no getting around that. Luckily, as you have likely heard before, it is a "dry heat", so the low humidity made it more bearable. Here in Texas where I live, we get really high humidity and high temps, so it's a double whammy (though our temps are not as high as those in AZ). You definitely need a lot of water when you are out hiking, or taking photos.
Anyways, the first place we visited when in Sedona was Cathedral Rock. I had seen photos of it online and knew that I wanted to shoot here - I just didn't know exactly how to get the best view. Thanks to some tips from locals, we made it to this park, and the ranger pointed me in the right direction - and I was off!
Lucky for me, there were storms a-brewin' that day, which let me capture these dramatic clouds in the sky. I love having dramatic clouds - I just find that it adds a lot more interest to a photo. We shot here until sunset and while driving home, we got caught in a crazy rain and wind storm. It was beautiful, with lightning firing everywhere. It was a great start to a few days in Sedona.
And one more thing - that top photo is the subject of my latest YouTube video in my "Making the photograph" series. It's a series where I take a photo and process it during the video, showing the various steps I take to create the shot. It's quite fun for me, and feedback has been good, so you will see more of this. Here's the video if you are interested:
Sedona seduces
We spent a few days in lovely and enticing Sedona recently, and it was fabulous. I can see why people are drawn there. Even with temps soaring into the 100's, I was able to get out and shoot (without melting!) and even got some great skies while doing so. Have a look at these 14 pics and enjoy!
Here's my first round of pics from my recent stop in Arizona!
If you read my last post, you know I am enjoying a family holiday in Oregon after a Clark Griswold-inspired road trip across the western US. Our first stop of any significance was Sedona, AZ and since it was my first time there, I was pretty busy with the camera.
And what a place!
I found so many beautiful and interesting landscapes, walked on fabulous trails, and although the temps were quite high (nearly 100 every day), I had some great clouds and thus interesting skies to include in my shots. It worked out well, in other words, and we already want to go back.
I have only ever been to Arizona once before (apart from passing through Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, which I have done many times), and that trip was a quick one for a couple of days in Phoenix, a few years ago. I did get out and took quite a few pics that time, but I have just realized that I never shared any of them, and they are sitting in my Lightroom library, unprocessed and ignored.
Kind of like a lot of my photos (which I am changing, one post at a time!).
So yeah, add those older Phoenix shots to the list of "get to it someday", because honestly these recent pics are better and I will process them first. I also added today's pics to my gallery site on SmugMug, and since these were the first from Arizona, I added that place to the growing list of galleries I have there (36 locations in all, plus 2 more which are for my iPhone images). I do like SmugMug - it's really a great place to host a portfolio. As I process more from Arizona they will all get added there too, so feel free to check back in at a later date if you are interested in seeing more. I have some real beauties coming, I promise!
Anyways, Sedona was great and today's pics are just some of the first ones I took there, and thus some of the first that I processed. I have plenty more to get to, including a bunch from Cathedral Rock which I took while standing alongside a stream, and some from another hike I took which was super beautiful. I think those came out pretty nice, so come back around here and I will get them shared. Oh yeah, and I shot the Grand Canyon too, so that's coming at some point as well! Wow, I have a lot to do. (Good problem to have, of course.)