Explore The Light Photography

Explore The Light Photography Landscape photography by Guy Schmickle which focuses on the Desert Southwest and beyond.

Before the rainbow appeared last week (two posts down in my feed) , a storm had passed to the south of where I was photo...
07/25/2026

Before the rainbow appeared last week (two posts down in my feed) , a storm had passed to the south of where I was photographing Cathedral Rock. While it looked menacing, it wasn't overly active and it was distant. I decided to combine the three lightning strikes I captured over a ten minute span to make a bit more dramatic scene. So here ya go!

There was some wild monsoon action moving along the Mingus Mountains near Cottonwood, AZ yesterday. I captured this scen...
07/24/2026

There was some wild monsoon action moving along the Mingus Mountains near Cottonwood, AZ yesterday. I captured this scene from Sedona's Cultural Park.

I caught this beautiful rainbow last night while looking down at Sedona's Cathedral Rock. The monsoon just keeps on givi...
07/22/2026

I caught this beautiful rainbow last night while looking down at Sedona's Cathedral Rock. The monsoon just keeps on giving!

Here is yesterday's monsoon action as I saw it from the Yavapai Vista near the Village Of Oak Creek. Unfortunately, the ...
07/21/2026

Here is yesterday's monsoon action as I saw it from the Yavapai Vista near the Village Of Oak Creek. Unfortunately, the monsoon activity stayed a bit farther north than I had expected. Thus, the bolts were distant and much harder for my lightning trigger to properly capture. It's a beautiful view nonetheless!

Fog along the Oregon Coast is a very common occurence as the marine layer moves in and out along the shore. I got lucky ...
07/19/2026

Fog along the Oregon Coast is a very common occurence as the marine layer moves in and out along the shore. I got lucky one foggy morning when the wife and I were tide pooling on Bandon Beach as the fog began to recede and sunlight worked its way to the beach and lit up the sea stacks. I quickly switched over from photographing the marine life to sea stacks as the lighting was quite surreal. There were also many reflection opportunities using the tide pools and the sheen of water on the hard sand, courtesy of the low tide. Here's a few shots from that morning.

Here's yesterday's monsoon storm as it approached Sedona. Lot's more rain fell in an overnight storm and more precip is ...
07/17/2026

Here's yesterday's monsoon storm as it approached Sedona. Lot's more rain fell in an overnight storm and more precip is on its way today. Thank goodness!

I got to experience one fantastic sunset during my time exploring Bandon Beach. It was early on during the trip, so I ha...
07/16/2026

I got to experience one fantastic sunset during my time exploring Bandon Beach. It was early on during the trip, so I had no idea there wouldn't be any other opportunities. Fortunately, I came away with a number of shots to capture the conditions (including one I've already posted). Here they are...

I was out shooting the monsoon yesterday as the storms looked promising. While there wasn't near as much lightning as I ...
07/14/2026

I was out shooting the monsoon yesterday as the storms looked promising. While there wasn't near as much lightning as I hoped, at least many areas surrounding Sedona got some good rain. Most importantly, the area on the southern edge of the Pocket Fire got belted with 1-2" of rain. You can see evidence of that in this shot I took of Maroon Mountain. From the reports I've read, the only burning now happening is in the interior of the fire and that is mostly contained. Great news!

Here is the second sunrise shot I managed to get at Oregon's Secret Beach in the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corrido...
07/13/2026

Here is the second sunrise shot I managed to get at Oregon's Secret Beach in the Samuel H. Boardman State Scenic Corridor. This shows Wridge Creek spilling onto the beach and emptying out in the ocean. The sunrise light was fading, but still hanging in there. One of the awesome advantages of being the first to the beach that morning was that the overnight high tide had erased all the footprints, leaving a pristine beach at sunrise.

Sentinels Of The Sea I was heading to the beach in Bandon one particular morning to do a bit of tide pooling in the clou...
07/11/2026

Sentinels Of The Sea

I was heading to the beach in Bandon one particular morning to do a bit of tide pooling in the cloudy, drizzly conditions that I awoke to. When I arrived, I noticed there were breaks in the clouds to the east which soon began throwing bits of light onto the beach. I quickly scurried over to one of the overlook locations I had scouted on a previous day and captured this scene with the Howling Dog sea stack on the left and Face Rock on the right. I really loved the lit up stacks reflecting in the watery sheen on the beach. Soon thereafter, the light vanished and an all day rain set in. Surprisingly, it was the only rainy day we had on the trip.

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