I haven’t been to a horse racing track since I was a little girl. If you are going to gamble, this seems the most entertaining way to do it! The racetrack is located in Tucson, AZ.
Rillito Park Racetrack
Tag Archives: Nikon
Sandhill Crane Migration
Hi all! Last weekend I went to see the Sandhill cranes, who spend their winter in and around Wilcox, AZ. The total bird population ranges from 30-40K, although this year it has reached over 47K! These images were taken at Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area. You can view my full Sandhill Crane documentary here.
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Senior Portraits in the desert
This young man wanted his senior portraits to be taken within the desert landscape of Tucson, AZ. This way, when he moves away, he’ll always be able to remember the Sonoran desert!
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Keeping an Eye on the Road (and the Fire)
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A Beautiful Lady Under The Milky Way
The heart of this young lady is even more beautiful than the night sky. 
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Catalina Mountains from Windy Point and the Wildfire
Last night a group of my former photography students and I went to Windy Point to photograph the skyline. We didn’t think we’d see the fire from there, just the smoke. In a matter of hours the fire had climbed over the next peak and was visible from our vantage point. As of 10:00 am today, people are being evacuated from the area at the base of the mountains. In this photo you can see the fire cresting the ridge (far right).
Here we are as a group earlier in the evening. You can see the smoke pluming behind us.
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Breakers Water Park
One of the rewards of staying in touch with former students is that you get to be a part of their life even after they’ve graduated. This weekend one such former student, Caleb Trainor, arranged for me 
and a handful of my current photography students to do some night photography at Breakers Water Park. Caleb had done some drone imagery of the park recently and the owner happened to see it, making a connection which led to official access of the grounds this weekend.
Originally constructed in 1982, Breakers Water Park provided the people of Tucson, AZ with cool, family fun for nearly 35 years. Today the park is officially closed, and while it is kept under lock and key awaiting a buyer, people still illegally enter to vandalize the property. The graffiti makes for neat photography, but I’m sure the owner does not appreciate it. As a former patron in my youth, it was 
very odd coming back to the park in its current state. Pangs of sadness were mixed with nerdy, photography exclamations like, “Oh! Those paint cans make an awesome picture!”
Remember trying to get up the ladder at the deep end of the wave pool? That was quite a feat! What are your favorite Breakers memories?
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High Dynamic Range
Despite my dislike for HDR photography, I can understand its advantages. This week I decided to try it out myself as I am introducing the concept to my high school photography students as an end of the semester project.
In the below two images, I layered three images for each, taken in the middle of the day. I used Photoshop as my processing software and used Photos in Color as my tutorial. These images were taken at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, AZ. For my full post on this visit, please visit my other site.
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Desert Dash Color Run
Last month’s Desert Dash Color Run was a lot of fun to photograph. I enjoyed helping my school raise money for future families who need help with tuition assistance by providing photography coverage. 
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Puppy Play
Well, they aren’t puppies anymore, but to me, they’ll always be “the pups.” The best time to catch these two playing is in the early morning when they first wake up from a long night’s rest. Plus, it gets hot in Tucson, AZ very quickly! Watching these two (sometimes my oldest will even play along) with a cup of coffee makes me giggle every time.
Stages Photography 