Susan and Eugene: Wedding Photography at The Buttes

Here are some of our favorite images from Susan and Eugene's wedding on October 6th at Dayspring United Methodist Church and the Marriott Buttes. They did a wonderful job to make us feel like part of the family! We wish the best for this special couple!

Arboretum at Flagstaff photography

Amanda, Rocher and I headed up to Flagstaff this past Labor Day to escape the Phoenix heat. It took us about 4.5 hours to get there, almost 2 hours longer than normal as the rest of city decided to come with us. But it was definitely worth the effort.

We stopped in at the Arboretum at Flagstaff on Saturday to take in the wildflowers and fresh air. It is one of the highest elevation arboretums in the world, with a short but spectacular growing season. The sunflower maze was my favorite of the gardens this time around.

High Country Raptors was also there to exhibit rehabilitated birds of prey, including a feisty kestrel, barn owl, great-horned owl, Harris hawk, and crested caracara. Amanda and the caracara had a bit of a staring contest, luckily no one was hurt. The birds were beautiful and it was a real treat to observe them so close.

The next day we headed out about 30 miles NW of Flag to the Red Mountain Geologic Area, the remnants of a volcano. Shane, Ryan and Jade (a beautiful Boxer/Rhodesian Ridgeback mix) came along for the hike. While I was taking photos, Jade wanted to follow me up the cinder slopes. She happily trotted ahead of us most of the time, making sure the trail was clear. The hoodoos were fun to explore although a bit treacherous to climb on. You could easily pass two or three hours here just checking things out.

On the way out we were treated with a nice view of the west side of the San Francisco Peaks in the distance.

Best of Italy

One of my great English students from Berlitz, Gennaro de Gennaro (yes, that's his real name!) and his wife Monica recently opened up their own pizza and sub shop, Best of Italy. They have been here in the states for about 9 months, and came over from Caserta, Italy.

I was very excited for Gennaro and his wife to open up their new business, and decided to help them out with some marketing photos. Needless to say, the pizza is amazing! I get hungry every time I look back on these images! If you're ever in downtown Scottsdale to see the antique shops or out for a Thursday night artwalk, stop by Gennaro and Monica's place and try the pizza: 7111 East 5th Avenue, just off Scottsdale Road. They're open till an incredible 2 or 3am on Fridays and Saturdays.

Kelly and Nathan: Wedding Photography in Pinetop, Arizona

After photographing their engagement session, we had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Kelly and Nathan's wedding on July 28, up in the cool ponderosas of Pinetop, AZ, at the Hon-Dah Resort-Casino. Kelly and Nathan are a beautiful couple and were well complemented by their 10 flowergirls, 2 ringbearers, 6 bridesmaids and 6 groomsmen, all in matching sage and lilac! It was our biggest wedding to date.

Birdman's Ordeal

I have had many nicknames over the years: Dave-O, SpencerDave, Oreo, Nature Boy, and some I can't mention here. My wife's favorite is "Birdman", a term she came up with to describe my ability to name wild birds, plants, etc. when we are on outings in the wilderness. I have my avid birdwatcher mother and retired Forest Service father to thank for my exhaustive knowledge of all things natural. My bookshelves house several field identification guides for insects & spiders, wildflowers, rocks & minerals, mushroooms, trees, fossils and shells. Being able to categorize and name everything I see is my excuse for taking time to bond with the natural world.

Our recent monsoons here in Mesa brought yet another close encounter with the "natural" world in our yard. On Monday we were slammed with 1.73" of rain in about 30 minutes, an incredible storm that caused near white-out conditions with the sheer volume of falling water. The runoff park across the street was full of several feet of water within minutes. Water filled the gutters and overflowed above the sidewalks. Our neighbor and his two kids were out in the thick of it, running around and screaming like James Stewart at the end of "It's a Wonderful Life." It was quite fun to watch.

Then I discovered two fledgling white-winged doves on the ground, below our pine tree "Mr. Big." The wind had been gusting and there was no sign of a nest. I figured they must have fallen a good 15 - 40 feet from somewhere up in the tree.

Unfortunately one bird was already nearly dead from the fall. The other sat miserably, soaked and cold. Amanda got home from work and quickly set about building a "nest" from pine needles, while I dried and warmed the bird with some washcloths. We put the baby dove up in its new nest on our block wall for the night, in case of predators.

The next day I did some research, and realized that the dove's parents would probably be looking for it beneath the tree. So I moved him back to the ground and fed him some baby parrot formula, as advised on several websites. His feathers were dry and full and he showed quite a bit of energy. I hoped that his parents or even some other birds would see this helpless baby and decide to adopt and feed him until he was back on his feet.

I then went back inside to work as I didn't want to spend too much time around the bird and imprint him with my human behavior. When Amanda got home from work a few hours later I heard her shouting frantically. I ran outside (with brother Geoff who was over for a visit) to see our outside cat Bubu proudly marching with a baby dove in his mouth, headfirst. My heart sank as I knew immediately where the bird had come from. The baby dove was already dead and there was nothing to do but let our cat finish his meal. We all lamented for a bit at our horrible luck. Bubu had only been out front for about 5 minutes with a bowl of catfood before he found the fledgling dove.

The storm had brought some tragedy, and yet, the air was clean and cool, the grass was springing back to life, and our lantanas were in full bloom. Birds were singing everywhere. The neighborhood kids had figured out how to tow a wakeboard across the water in the park using an electric golfcart. We had all been waiting for rain like this for a year since last summer, and look forward again to another monsoon season a year from now.