This gorgeous PDF eBook has 9 articles that will help photographers of all levels make stronger photographs. And yes, it’s free. Martin Bailey, Piet Van den Eynde, Nicole S. Young, Dave Delnea, Sean McCormack, and David duChemin have written articles exclusively for this eBook. Topics such as making sharper images and learning to shoot in manual mode, developing smarter, balancing flash with ambient light, learning to see light, developing style and consistency, isolating your subjects, experimenting with B&W, and coping strategies for challenging light.

Get the entirely FREE eBook HERE

I started this blog hoping to share my photography and my knowledge of photography. Over the past few years I have suffered from what many bloggers have, lack of consistant content. Well, I have decided that maybe I need to ask my readers what you want to read or learn. So, the one or two readers I have, I’m asking you, what kind of things are you interested in learning? Please leave a comment below.

There are still things I want to learn, I have recently started collecting old film cameras. This has sparked my interest in learning to develop my own film in the darkroom. Never having a traditional photography education I didn’t get a chance to learn darkroom skills. So, I am registering for a class at Phoenix College this summer!

I had a great opportunity to speak to photography students at Scottsdale Community College this week. Did a fun presentation and demo on HDR Photography, this experience reminded me how much I love teaching. Thanks to my friend Barri Chase for inviting me to speak, I had a great time.

The image above was shot at the Grand Canyon during the winter AZ Highways workshop I attended in January.

This weekend I’m heading out to either Boyce Thompson Arboretum or Desert Botanical Gardens, I will post some images next week.

This book is now my essential wildflower photography guidebook. What I love about the book is that it has the state divided in sections and gives lists of the best places in a given area to spot and shoot wildflowers. The authours give detailed instructions on locations, time,  seasons and what gear to bring.

I checked desertusa.com today and see reports of various wildflower spottings all over the valley. I’m looking forward to getting out this weekend and doing some scounting and shooting of wildflowers myself. I will hopefully post some photos on Sunday or Monday. In the mean time, here is a iPhone shot of some Mexican Gold Poppies I found in my  neighborhood. And don’t forget to check out Colleen and Paul’s book, I included a link to amazon below.

I’m excited to be a vendor again this year at the Melrose on 7th Ave Street Fair. The event takes place along 7th Avenue between Indian School and Campbell. The street fair includes a classic car show, live music, 150+ vendors, food and fun for all ages.  It runs from 11am-5pm on Saturday March 2nd.

I can’t wait to show off my new canvas prints  from my recent trips to Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon! Check out one of the photos below, by the way, it looks great on canvas. So, if you are in the area stop by and say hi.

Stay tuned to the blog for an update on the workshop and some photos of the day tomorrow.

In the meantime, check out another shot from my Monument Valley trip. This is the moonrise over the Totem Pole and Yei Bi Chei formations.

There’s something about the white stuff that makes a landscape of rock and sand so much more beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, Monument Valley is beautiful anytime of year but in my opinion the wintertime there is just magical. We arrived right before sunset and I got there just in time to shoot a handheld panoramic right there at the edge of the parking lot of the hotel/vistors center. This shot is a 6 shot panoramic adjusted in Lightroom 4.2 and stitched into a pano with Photoshop CS6. Photoshop never ceases to amaze me in it’s ability to stitch these panos, the technology is just ming boggling.

Click on the image to view large, it looks much better larger!

I had an incredible 3 night/4 day stay in the Valley. We did an awesome private photographic tour, drove the loop road twice, saw snow flurries, horses, sheep and lots of other cool stuff. I even set out to shoot the classic “Forrest Gump” scene of the road heading into the Valley. Stay tuned to my blog next week for more stories of the Valley. This weekend I am headed to the Grand Canyon National Park for an Arizona Highways Photo Workshop, I’m excited about more snow:)

Happy Holidays

Hope all of you received great photo gear for Christmas this year! My gift to myself was a trip to Monument Valley, AZ. I’m headed there this afternoon. Probably won’t get a chance to blog much this week but will post images of Monument Valley hopefully with snow soon. Have a wonderful holiday! Follow me on Facebook and Google+ to get updates during my road trip.

A Sense of Place is about finding your eye at home and while traveling. I love the subject matter of this book as I am one of the first to admit that it’s easy to get bored and complacent photographing your hometown. Younes offers great ideas and tips on how to make exploring your hometown or any other place exciting to photograph. He offers several “self assignments” that if truly embraced will help you get a whole new perspective on your photography.

With so many places to photograph in Arizona it’s easy to get either bored or overwhelmed living in Downtown Phoenix. I plan to spend some time this weekend before my Christmas road trip using some of his tips on “finding my eye” again in downtown Phoenix. Look for a post on my results next week.