Imperial Sand Dunes

We had a short shoot at the Imperial Sand Dunes outside Yuma, AZ over Thanksgiving holiday.  A little windy so the sand was an issue but other than that the weather was wonderful. 

The last one is an outtake but the shadow is too funny-

she looks like a cartoon character.

Saturday afternoon

We are finally seeing the signs of fall in southern Arizona.  Beautiful days- mid 70's and cool evenings!  Perfect for being outside!  Saturday afternoon I followed C and S around the property to try some off camera flash ideas.  We had fun and I realized I need to purchase stronger/sturdier shoot through umbrellas as a couple of topple overs and the one I was using bit the dust - literally- 
They both liked the following image~

Emerging

I had a couple of Desert Museum(http://www.desertmuseum.org/) passes to use by the end of the month so C & I decided to go check out the butterfly festival this past Sunday. 

Really interesting and an unbelievable amount of butterflies flying around the park. 

We wandered into an educational building just in time to see a butterfly emerge! 

 



Randomness

Light painting and flashing fun ~

Scott Kelby 3rd annual photowalk

C and I decided to participate in the 3rd annual Scott Kelby photowalk http://worldwidephotowalk.com/
We joined up with the Tucson Desert Museum group - http://worldwidephotowalk.com/walk/tucson-az-united-states-arizona-sonora-desert-museum-2/ and had a great evening wandering the park!  Check out the Desert Museums site - http://www.desertmuseum.org/ Saturday summer evenings at the park is a must do as it was really nice out, some of the animals were up and about and the sunset from there is gorgeous!

This guy really blends in!

Finding scorpions at night was alot of fun-there were kids and adults with hand held black lights looking around rocks and cracks for the scorpion "glow"

More from our whirlwind trip!

I caught this photo while we were driving...reminder to clean the coach windows more often.  Posting anyway as it was too funny to see the big Old English Sheepdog in the passenger seat of the convertible!  (I had one growing up- Sir Winchester of Little John Trail - what a great dog)

This was so cool.  If someone was around I know my husband or I would of had to ask to see inside it ~

We live in the desert, our daughter was born in the desert but we are water babies at heart!

The splash zone...really???  We will watch you- have fun!

We just got back from a whirlwind summer vacation!

Up to Disneyland then sightseeing down the 1 to San Diego and Sea World!

There is truth in the myth that when you walk through the gates at Disneyland you become a child again!  The three of us rode all the rides, had pictures with characters and truly left real life behind while we played with Mickey and friends!

Had my new Canon 7d with me the whole time so I have way too many photos~Disneyland pictures in this entry and beach/Sea World to come ~

Lost image

We were going back through old photos that C had taken and came across this one of me out in the sand dunes looking a little windblown. Since I am rarely on this side of the camera I thought I would go ahead and post it.

I know...go ahead and tell me - camera works better with lens cover off...maybe I just wasn't ready to shoot yet? or I saw a sand storm coming? or I was trying to get the word Tamron level without looking?

photo courtesy of C

Well another fair behind us.

 

Another year till funnel cake with powdered sugar and honey, root beer in the big mugs, dust (Iam sure I'll see dust again sooner than a year, but not fair dust), carnival games, carnival rides, corn dogs, candy apples, 

unusual concerts, crazy acts

and air brush tattoos (don't ask-oh well ask...C & S got them)!  

We had fun & honestly I am looking forward to next years fair!

In honor of the future shoot at Picacho Peak with fellow photog Tamra Oellig of http://www.seaofserendipity.com/ I am posting a free downloadable image from "poppies past"

Enjoy

With all this rain recently Picacho Peak should have beautiful poppies this year. http://www.pr.state.az.us/parks/PIPE/index.html
Tamra Oellig of http://www.seaofserendipity.com/ and I have decided to team up while there shooting the poppies and schedule a few portrait sessions. If you are interested email or leave a comment and I will let you know the details.

New Year

New years always brings around a time to start over, make new goals and push ahead with a fresh start. This blog entry will be the fresh new start for my blogging.
I thought it would be fitting to give credit to some bloggers that I follow and truly enjoy!
http://www.pifphoto.com/
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/
http://www.tofurious.com/
http://www.shootsacblog.com/index.cfm?catID=2
http://www.jasminestarblog.com/
http://thepioneerwoman.com/ (if you haven't read her and Marlboro Mans story you are missing out)
http://coffeeteaphotography.blogspot.com/2006/11/textures.html

There are more that I have come across but these always draw me back.

If you have a favorite blog site leave it in the comment below so we can all check it out!!