A Walk

My wife walking through a meadow at sunset with the San Francisco Peaks in the background.

Sprouting

The tips of a young fern in a meadow off of Brookbank Trail just northwest of Flagstaff.

Sunset View

My wife and I took a hike on Brookbank Trail the other day and I got this shot of her watching the sunset near the San Francisco Peaks.

Gambel Oak

Rocky Ridge Trail 3075a, originally uploaded by dustinjblodgett.

As the sun hit this gambel oak tree, the contrasting light and shadows made for a perfect black and white photo.

Stowaway

I took several photos of this flower before I got one that I liked, and it wasn't until I got home, uploaded the photos to my computer and had my wife go through them, that she noticed the spider in the upper left-hand corner of the photo. Shows you how observant I am sometimes. :-)

Butterfly

During a hike on Rocky Ridge Trail yesterday, I was able to capture this shot of a butterfly as he rested on a flower near the trail. I was only able to get about 3 shots before he fluttered away.

Sailing

A sail boat takes a lazy ride on Upper Lake Mary one warm, weekend afternoon. In the corner, you can see the ubiquitous desert indian paintbrush flower adding a splash of color to the scene.

Indian Paintbrush

A Desert Indian Paintbrush flower near Mormon Lake, Arizona.

Upper Lake Mary

A view of Upper Lake Mary which is located about 15 miles southeast of Flagstaff. This man-made lake is the reservoir from which Flagstaff gets some of its water supply.

Claret Cup

A macro shot from the flowering claret cup hedgehog cactus that was featured in the photo I posted 2 days ago. The red color of these flowers in so intense, it's amazing.

Tripod

My tripod setup for the panoramic photo that I posted yesterday. The San Francisco Peaks can be seen in the distance.

Mormon Lake Stitched

This is a panoramic view of Mormon Lake, Mormon Mountain (on the left) and the San Francisco Peaks (on the right) created from 3 photos taken using a tripod. It really gives you a feeling for the wide open spaces around Mormon Lake.

Mormon Lake

I took a photo fieldtrip today, out to Mormon Lake. Mormon Lake is one of the few natural lakes in Arizona; however, it is usually dry for a good part of year and is then called Mormon Meadow. Normally, the lake is dry this time of year, but since we got a pretty good amount of precipitation this winter, it still has some water in it. I took this photo from a cliff over the lake where there were tons of cactus tucked into the rocks, many of which were in bloom like this one.

High Point

This photo was taken at the highest point on Fatmans Loop Trail in east Flagstaff. Most of this trail runs along the side of Mount Elden, which brings you up high enough above the city to see far into the distance as evidenced by this photo.

Yucca Flower

On Fatmans Loop Trail, I found this banana yucca flower just starting bloom. Fatmans Loop is a great trail because it has a mix of desert plant species (yucca, cactus, etc) as well as high country plants (aspen, gamble oak and ponderosa).

Contrasts

I took this photo today on Oldham Trail north of Flagstaff. I thought the texture of the wood and contrasting shades of the plant would make for a good sepia version of the photo. I think it turned out pretty well.