Photoblog originally titled, Desert Dream, by Nathan Arizona.
I dumped all photos into one category for an archive!
Here’s a few polaroids from about 6 years ago when I was going through an Instant Film craze and picking up some of these old #Polaroid cameras at thrift stores. There has always been something fascinating about #InstantFilm that stems clear back to my childhood? I often had a Polaroid Camera in my middle school years. These shots were captured along #Route66 in #Arizona.
I just returned from a three day trip to Las Vegas, Nevada and stayed in the El Cortez hotel on Fremont Street. I was testing the Sigma DP3 Merrill and the Sigma DP2 Quattro which Sigma has out on loan to me. I will be writing up a review pretty soon on my experience with the DP2 Quattro. It’s a nice camera. This cityscape was shot with the DP3!
Okay… So I deleted all the old categories for this photoblog and will be adding new categories by camera and lens whenever I can. It’s not a perfect setup but it will allow visitors to se image examples from various lenses and cameras. This shot here is Havasu Falls in Grand Canyon, in Havasupai. It’s a ten mile hike into the canyon to get here! The guy up on the ledge in the photo is getting ready to jump.
I love rusty trailers with turquoise doors, being one of my favorite colors. Found in Kirtland, New Mexico.
The beauty of editing with an iPhone and Instagram is a marriage of technology which I’m trying to still figure out. The apps on the iPhone are phenomenal to the point of giving Adobe Photoshop a run for it’s money. Things are moving towards the cloud and having access to simplified apps and tools that are readily accessible to everyone. The conundrum I need to resolve is how to sync the workflow between my Mac and iPhone better?
During a lazy afternoon tracing around the vast and empty desert, I’m always keeping my eyes peeled towards the sky looking for some sort of shimmering-flickering object darting in and out of a cloud, or behind it; something that could be labeled a UFO? They are real. I’ve seen them and witnessed the phenomena. Non-believers can call us crazy but it doesn’t change the truth of the matter. There is buzz all over the world about aliens and extra-terrestrial creatures. I know they are here amongst us and all around us. We cannot know for sure why they are here but I do believe they play a pivotal to the future of humanity. Are they really ETs or are they just an extension of ourselves? I want to go to this! What is the UFO Congress!?
I photographed this near Modena on July 4th, 2014. It’s a neat old bus, off the highway a bit, with two abandoned trailer homes nearby that have been wind torn and beaten by the desert. Awesome rural decay resides in and around Southern Utah.
This old wall art is found inside the San Xavier mission about 17 miles South of Tucson, out on the Pima Reservation. The church has a very strong sense of eerie. It could very well be haunted. It’s well over 200 years old.
This is located in Ely, Nevada, near the downtown area. My brother and I, stayed in this ratty motel but that has never scared me away from cheap motels. If they have excellent neon signage and Americana, I’m always down. Simply unroll a sleeping bag on-top of the bed spread and you never have to worry about what might have happened in that bed?
Picture was shot with an iPhone 4S and then edited with Snapseed and resized in Photoshop CS5
This waterfall is over 2oo feet in Havasupai. It is powerful because it has taken lives. This is one of the most beautiful places in the Southwest but it also commands respect.
A man’s inner strength is what makes him beautiful and gives him the ability to believe in himself. This morning I was reminded of this skill and that it’s what attracts the good things in my life. My connection to the land and the people around me is very real and the power of that spirit manifests itself in many ways. It’s easy to get lost or wind up in the rut but that’s the purpose for trials and tribulations, because in the long run those struggles make us more powerful. Someday, when I look back at this picture, I want to remember what I looked like in my younger years. It will also serve as a reminder about where I’m going…
This is a cottonwood tree below a beautiful cloudscape a few years ago. Image was shot with one of my Panasonic Micro Four Thirds cameras. Later, I edited the raw image in Lightroom and just recently exported it to my iPhone 4S where I ran it through an iPhone app that creates the sepia, grain, dust and scratches. It’s called Scratchcam! This may be an effect that some people don’t like, but for me it communicates how I feel about my art and the intuition that I share deep inside with my images. I think it’s awesome that digital technology has come such a long way that we can now edit images from an handheld device. I’m having a blast shooting images with my iPhone 4s as well and enjoying the art of what they call, iPhoneography. If these new changes to photography are revolutionizing the way we view and capture the world, then I want to be at the forefront of this photographic rennaisance instead of sitting on the sideline.
Okay… I’m being overwhelmed with technological advances in photography from using an iPhone 4s to capture and post-process landscape images to using the iPhone to edit and print my DSLR and mirror less camera shots… Okay! I’m not going to give up my regular camera equipment anytime soon, but the iPhone apps are causing me to fall in love with photography all over again. It’s like a rebirth! So stay tuned. This photoblog is going to undergo a lot of different types of photography. I’m trying to post to Flickr, Instagam, Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Not an easy feat. Also, this image was shot on a micro four thirds camera then edited with photoshop CS5 and then further processed with the frame using Lo-Mob on my iPhone 4s. I’m integrating my computer and iPhone using Dropbox. It’s pretty crazy. Photo title: Haunted Hallway -Historic Overland Hotel – Pioche, Nevada.
This is an ancient Pueblo Kiva that was used for community gatherings and religious ceremony in the old days and is still considered to be sacred to modern Pueblo people. The site is located in the heart of Farmington, New Mexico. This was a very hard image to capture with the low-light and all the traffic coming and going through the Kiva. In the old days, there were no stairs into the Kiva. You have to descend down a latter through an entrance in the ceiling or a window. The Kiva served as a church and I try to show respect when I visit such sites.
The ocean has always humbled me when I visit the West Coast. It’s quite spooky and mysterious at the same time. I still believe that in the deep waters lays the creatures of myth. Who knows what’s out there? The Earth is a beautiful place and I have respect for that which is much more powerful than me.
The Sonoran Desert is the most beautiful desert in the Southwest in my opinion. It’s quiet and thought provoking. Not to mention it has some of the most exotic succulents and cactus species. All is peaceful in Southern Arizona.
Just outside of Phoenix by Apache Junction on the way to Globe, Arizona. Traveling to Arizona several times a year, I usually stop to grab saguaro landscapes. The Sonora Desert it one of the most beautiful places on the planet!
Beauty is all around out in the Grand Canyon south of the Utah Border. You take a dirt road from Colorado City, 67 miles across the rugged Arizona Strip before getting to this spot. The dirt road is so primitive that a lot of people are not willing to take the risk. This area is a hot sport for serious landscape photographers who are familiar with the Southwest. I photographed this with an emphasis on the porous sandstone bathed in early morning light.
