Tempe, AZ - Tempe Town Lake at Sunset

A coworker wants to practice photography skills for an upcoming trip so we went to Tempe Town Lake to capture some sunset shots.

Phoenix, Arizona - Sunset and Moonrise

I am always excited when there is a full moon.  I drove to several places this afternoon to scout out my "ideal spot" for tonight's event.  I have found a new favorite.

Pending thunderstorms threatened to block the full moon, but I was happy to be out shooting.  Keeping a positive attitude (not always easy when it is 108 in the desert), I set up the tripod and tested the settings.

I was disappointed by the cloud cover in the direction of the moon, but was able to get a few photographs before it was hidden.  The sunset, however, did not disappoint.

Here are the photos, in the order that I took them.  Running back and forth from sunset to moonrise!!

Thunderstorms on the way in and I was able to catch a lightning strike in the east.

Facing the northwest.  The tower is at the Phoenix airport.

North east, big zoom, playing with the zoom lens to see what I could get.

The virga (the dark thin lines coming down from the cloud...rain!) near downtown Phoenix.

The moon peaks between the storm clouds for a moment.

My favorite is the view of the sunset light shining on clouds.

Prague, Czech - Sunset and Moonrise from Charles Bridge

Curiosity got the best of me and I opened my "PhotoPills" app on my phone to see get time information for the full moon rise and the sunset.  As luck would have it, both would occur within an hour or so of each other.  And the best spot would be from the Charles Bridge, a famous bridge in the Old Town part of Prague.  I found a few travelers from the group that were open to walking tonight (remember, we arrived in Prague this afternoon!!).  We had to have a nice pace to get through the town and to the bridge with enough time to scout out the perfect spot.  Jim knew the way, so off I went with sisters Martha and Jane.

We started off on our street Na Porcini to nám. Republic (Republic Square).  In the distance I see the top of a beautiful building dome.  This is Francouzská restaurace Art Nouveau, a beautifully restored art nouveau restaurant.  I can't stop to visit now, but you can take a brief pause and look at the old and new photos here http://www.francouzskarestaurace.cz/galerie/#

 Across the street I see Divadio Hibernia, a repertory theatre building on the site of a former 17th century Irish Franciscan monastery.

 Back to the art nouveau restaurant.  Kavárna Obecni Dûm is a coffee shop next to the fancy art nouveau restaurant.  Wow. Beautiful!

The tall dark building is The Powder Tower.  It is a city gate, built in 15th century, destroyed in the Battle of Prague and restored. It is a landmark in this area as in "turn right at the Powder Tower".

We turned right at the Powder Tower on to the street Celetná.  Some street musicians working the crowd.

 Stay on Celetná for a block or two until you reach the large open plaza.  This is "Old Town Square". On the left is Staroméstská Restaurace, a long standing Czech beer restaurant.  On the right is a large tower, Old Town Hall and the Astronomical Tower.

 Left is the astronomical clock tower, and on the right side are the towers of

Chrám Svatého Mikuláše.  High tech taxis wait for people in need of a lift home.

 I turned quickly to get the sun shining off the towers of Church of Our Lady before Tyn.

 Dodged the crowds and walked on nam Male (street name) past the clock.  The clock is known for its intricate works as an astronomical clock.  Old Town Hall is a 14th century tower.

 Marker in the pavement.  The street Male Namesti twists and turns. We follow signs (haha) and take the right at Karlova.

 Karlova twists left and right until it meets another plaza in front of the Catholic Church Kostel Nejsvětějšího Salvátora.  The golden hour was upon us and the beautiful light put an amber glow on the face of the church.

 The group made plans to meet later.  I started my photo tour at the fence with the locks. Shout-out to Kalen and Tiffany...all lock photos are for you!

 Looking at the Charles Bridge with its statues.

 Across the river, the sun dips behind the castle and church on the hill.

 Golden light makes the riverside buildings glow.

 Bridge street light and shadow silhouettes against the glowing sky.

 Businesses start to turn on lights reflecting amber on the river.

 We enter the "blue hour" following the sunset.

 Lights are suddenly every where: on the castle wall and in the street lights.  More restaurant lights reflect on the river.

 It's time to leave.  I turn around to see the castle glowing in the night and the photographers lined at the fence.

Some fun shots from the night.  My iPhone panoramic of the Charles Bridge and the river.

 The city lights are too bright to see the Milky Way but I am always curious.  IFFFF we could see it, this is what it would look like from the Charles Bridge in Prague.  Wow.  (Taken with the PhotoPills app on my iPhone.)

 I traced my route back to the hotel.  It is very interesting how black the sky now is.  Gone is the Blue Hour and we are now pure night sky.  I didn't have to look at my map very often, just follow the crowds.

It took me about 40 minutes to walk back to the hotel. The other travelers said that they couldn't find me and decided to leave at 9:00.  I waited about 15 minutes and left at 9:30.

And I did get my moon rise over Prague photo.

Gold Canyon, Arizona - Sunset on Peralta Trail

The Peralta Trail is located on the southwest edge of the Superstition Wilderness in Gold Canyon east of the Phoenix metropolitan area.  The colors were better than expected.

A fellow photographer is shown in the bottom right corner working on lighting the cactus for his photo.

I had the camera packed up and put away.  I turned around to look back up the trail and the view was so beautiful.  You can see the starburst light on other photographers returning to the meet up area.

Belle Vernon, PA - Sunset at Cedarbrook Golf Course

I saw the sunset at the Cedarbrook Golf Course the night that we met for the Pre-Reunion gathering.  I didn't have my camera with me that night so I went there a few nights later to see what I could capture.

The first photo is about 60 minutes before sunset.  Light was filtered by the grey clouds.

 We were rewarded for our wait.  The clouds stayed high and the sun cast golden light as it sank in the sky.

 This shot is looking north, north east.  I don't know how people can play golf with these beautiful views.

 One more photograph as the sun sank from view.

Sedona, Arizona - Red Rock Sunset and Moonrise

Cathedral Rock in Sedona was the scene of today's adventure.  I stopped by to pick up Karl in my new Jeep Patriot 4x4 and off we went to meet a group of photographers venturing to Cathedral Rock in Sedona.  As I prepare the photographs for this post, I see that today's learning was mainly around making panoramic shots.  In my opinion, the views pushed me to do this as a single photo doesn't capture the wide vistas with the vibrant colors of rock, sky and vegetation.

We left Phoenix early and had a lot of time to stop at viewing points that I normally drive by.  Here is a panoramic with the dramatic rocks and sky.

We had a little time so we drove in to Sedona and had coffee at The Hidden Garden Cafe at the Tlaquepaque shopping area.

We met the group leaders at Weber's IGA Parking lot (corner of Highway 179 and Verde Valley School Road) at 5PM.  We then drove down Verde Valley School Road, past where the pavement ends and parked in the dirt parking lot. (The Jeep did a great job!)  It started to rain so I grabbed the umbrella (which also was a great walking stick), backpack with camera equipment, and tripods and off we went.  We were a little bit behind the group so we made our way towards the noise and found the set of tripods all pointed in the same direction.  This was more like a "hike" than a "walk", so I texted KPR to let him know that I was already hiking after having the new adventure car for only a day!

The area was filled with family and friends enjoying the cool water on a hot summer day.  I think that this activity is a beautiful part of the Red Rock State park.  For the photography group, the ultimate goal was to get the scene without people, but I really like this one as it shows people enjoying the water.  I was not ready to dive in and didn't bring other clothes.  I would like to return and enjoy this spot.  Also, take note of the color of Cathedral Rock in the background.  The bright sunlight washes out the reds.

We took a lot of test photos and all found the perfect spot.  We watched the threatening weather, covered the cameras with plastic covers from time to time, and moved under trees when cloudbursts rolled over.  We were eventually rewarded with red rocks that glowed in the sunset.  My camera was on a tripod and I was using a remote controller so I was able to watch as the rocks glowed red and continue to take photographs.  This is the "classic shot" with the reflections in the pond.  Other photographers were set up to my left and had a more open view of both of the rocks.

The red coloring was amazing and if I had not seen this happen myself, would not believe that this colorful change actually happened.  Beautiful.  Karl had turned to photograph the actual sunset, so if I can get him to guest post a photograph here I will update the blog post and resent it.

We then had about a half hour to wait until the  moon made it from the horizon to a place above the rocks. The cloud cover was heavy and chances slim.  We waited and waited, changed lenses for the changing light conditions and waited.  No moon viewing.  This is my last photo of this trip.  My new f1.8 50 mm lens was able to capture the night color with deep blue cloudy skies, the red rock and the green of the trees.

I am very happy to now know about this location and would like to return.

Notes on getting there: park and walk to the end of the dirt road, go to the right and walk with the cliffs rising to your right.  Follow the path until you come to a large tree growing across the path. There is room to pass underneath, then take the path to the left to get to the reflecting pools.

[Trip leader Larry lives in Sedona and the photos on the Meetup page link below are his. You can see what we were trying to capture: Sunset and Moonrise Cathedral Rock.  The first paragraph on the Meetup page ends in "see all".  Click the "see all" to open up the description of the outing and Larry's photos.]

This panoramic was taken from a rest stop on the way from Oak Creek to the I17 freeway.  I am experimenting!

This photo was taken on the way home from Sedona on Sunday.  It is from the rest stop Sunset Point and is of the Bradshaw Mountains with the little tiny town of Bumblebee at the base of the mountains.  The panoramic is experimental as I have never made one this wide.  It's not perfect but you can get an idea on the view and the summer storm.