Originally I used this image for testing purposes while I was tweaking the design of my blog a little bit but after looking at it I just decided to leave it up… This image was captured September 4th, 2009 west of Buckeye, Arizona somewhere along the I-10 freeway.

Checking on Southwest Lightning confirmed that it was worthwhile to venture out and try to get some shots. Not wanting to go too far I decided to head north on the Loop 101 and found a spot to shoot from just north of the 101 on Hayden Rd. After getting situated with my tripod and camera I started to click away.While I was concentrating on framing a shot and making sure that I was focused I heard a car pull up near to where I was parked and sure enough there was a guy getting out of his car with a tripod and a camera bag.

There was no way to ignore each other, especially considering the fact that we both spotted each other’s Nikon gear from the distance. We quickly exchanged “hello” and it turns out that this  Nikon shooter is a fellow European, from former Yugoslavia. Ivan told me that he just recently got into photography and picked up a Nikon D40 but is already looking to upgrade to a D90 very soon.

Ivan set up right next to me and started to click along. How cool is it to keep meeting other photographers out in the desert during monsoon? Funny how small the world becomes when there is good storm brewing in the Arizona desert. Not too long ago, we ran into Tony Laubach of Tornados Kick during a Monsoon Storm, August 23rd 2009 at the I-10 and Ave 75 E Exit, east of Quartzsite, Arizona.

I am just surprised that I haven’t run into other local Flickr storm chasers yet…

I captured this image on August 23rd, 2009 just east of Quartzsite, Arizona near I-10 and Ave 75 E.

That evening there was hardly any cloud to ground lightning at this position despite the size of that storm cell, but the drama unfolding in the sky was just spectacular. “Highway to Hell” was the first thing which came to my mind when I saw the image on my screen…

This image was taken in Fountain Hills, Arizona near the Fountain looking towards Saguaro Blvd. August 21st 2009 was a beautiful day to chase Monsoon Storms in the Valley of the Sun. There were storm cells in every corner of the valley.

A capture of Monsoon Storm over Phoenix, Arizona

This image was captured July 20th, 2009 from the look-out at South Mountain Park in Phoenix, Arizona. Chasing after Monsoon Storms all over Arizona and photographing mother nature unleashing its power is one of my favorite things to do.