Maricopa Sunflowers

My dear sweet little nephew Jonathan and I took off on an adventure to find sunflowers. I had seen people on Facebook post that there were sunflowers in Maricopa. So I did some internet searching and figured out where they might be.

First Jon and I went to In N Out, because this growing boy is always a little hungry. Usually the In N Out near us doesn’t take too long, but oh boy was it a long wait this time, so we got on the road to Maricopa a little later than I wanted to.

We made it to Maricopa and then I just had to guess which direction to drive on Ralston Road, which is where I thought maybe the sunflower fields were located. I drove south and drove all the way to where Ralston Road ends, but we didn’t find any fields of sunflowers. We did however find orchards of pecan trees, and a super overgrown abandoned plant nursery with huge palm trees in rows (the place looked haunted in the waning light of the day - I wish badly that I could wander through it -all the coolest places have No Trespassing signs, those signs are the bane of photographers everywhere.) We came across the Maha Ganapati Temple and fields of corn surrounded by wild sunflowers - those smaller sunflowers that grow more like bushes. The wild sunflowers were a good find, and I could see going back to use them as a photography backdrop.

When we couldn’t find the sunflowers, I turned around and went north on Ralston Road and just a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the Palo Verde Mountains, we found the thick jungle of sunflowers. There were a few other people there taking photos. Jonathan and I got out of the car and started exploring. He was so curious and I think he looks so cute wandering around the rows. I’m so glad it was a long summer day and the sun sets so late and that we found the flowers just in time! Jon really did not want to go back to the car after it was too dark to see very well. I’d love to go back and see the sunflowers before they are harvested.

When these sunflowers are in bloom again, I am thinking of taking photos here. If you would like a sunflower portrait session here with me, fill out this form and I will email you to let you know of session times.

Rocker 7 Farm Patch Sunflower Portraits

FILL OUT THIS FORM IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BEING NOTIFIED WHEN FALL 2022 SUNFLOWER SHOOTS ARE ANNOUNCED! (Click Sunflowers for sunflower shoot info or Other photo shoot if you are interested in something else.)

Rocker 7 Farm Patch is a magical place - acres of sunflowers under wide open skies with the Estrella and White Tank Mountains in the distance. You drive out into the country and down a dirt road to the parking lot of the farm. Admission is only $6 and then there are acres of sunflowers, a pumpkin patch, and fields of cotton and maize to wander through.

I’ve now photographed at Rocker 7 Farm Patch for two years in a row, in Fall 2020 and Fall 2021 and I plan to photograph there this October and November in 2022 when the sunflowers are in bloom.

This family was a delight to photograph and I love how their images turned out. Something to know about these photos as you scroll through is that most of them actually had people in the backgrounds. I photoshopped the people out of the images. If you are wanting to experience the sunflowers with less crowds, I recommend going on a Thursday or Friday. When I went on those days, we pretty much had the place to ourselves!

Sparklers Portraits

Wendi and Rai came over to my house in Tempe, and I took photos of them with sparklers. I had hung up a seamless paper backdrop from Savage Universal against my garage. And over that I hung up rainbow streamers from Party City.

It felt like such a fun and festive thing to do just a few days before the 4th of July. It was so much fun to see Wendi and to meet her husband. Wendi is a midwife and Rai creates custom shoes, amongst other things. They frequently have music nights at their home in Tempe. I keep wanting to go, I have to really try to go next time a music night happens!

I feel like everyone should have photos of themselves with sparklers for the 4th of July.

Contact me if you want sparklers portraits!

Salt River Portraits

My sister and I photographed Nancy and Kevin and their daughter at the Salt River before they welcome their brand new baby. Nancy and her family live in our neighborhood, just a 5-10 minute walk away. I’m so glad we are neighbors!

The Salt River has always been one of my favorite places to go for all sorts of recreation - I love going stand up paddle boarding, getting to see the wild Salt River horses, going out there for picnics and just to sit by the water, I love tubing down the Salt River and I’ve been biking out there. My absolute favorite thing to do is to go out there and watch meteor showers. Darker skies = seeing more falling stars!

But something I’d never done, and been wanting to do for quite a while, was do a photo shoot at the Salt River. I’d love to do another one. Something we learned is that it’s pretty busy at the river, week days might be less crowded than a Sunday afternoon. I photoshopped a lot of people out of their images. I’d rather make it so that clients have a more peaceful experience and find a quieter time to go.

We met up at Phon D Sutton and then just before the sun set, we headed to Granite Reef. Phon D Sutton was beautiful, but I’d really like to go back to Granite Reef. I feel like it has a lot of potential.

Are you looking for a Salt River photographer? Let’s chat! Here’s where to find more info and message me!

Big sister to be!

To a little brother!