
Guy Schmickle
Explore The Light Photography
Occupation: Professional Nature Photographer
Location: Sedona, AZ
Birthday: 05/05
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His ProfilesRankThis is the rank of 'Guy Schmickle' out of all Google+ Profiles. in United States: 3,300 (GenderRankFor the gender 'Men'.: 2,170)
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Followers: 6,322
Following: 88
Cream of the Crop: 05/09/2012
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Latest postings

2013-05-10 22:43:02 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 41 +1s)
Nothin' fancy here. Just a view into a wonderfully green aspen and pine forest in southwest Colorado's San Juan National Forest.
#forestfriday
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-05-08 15:15:05 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 34 +1s)
The East Fork of Dallas Creek makes its raucous ride through the Mount Sneffels Wilderness of southwest Colorado in spectacular fashion. Waterfalls abound and it provides the water source for the beautiful Blue Lakes. Here's one such waterfall just upstream of lower Blue Lake. The wildfower grouping in the lower left really caught my eye for this composition.
#waterfallwednesday curated by +Eric Leslie and +Leon Turnbull


2013-05-03 14:38:56 (6 comments, 3 reshares, 35 +1s)
As spring draws to a close in the deserts of southern Arizona and triple digit temperatures settle in (yuck!), here's one last shot of the colors of the season. Brittlebush blooms and globemallow color the hillsides above Bartlett Lake northeast of Phoenix with the Mazatzal Mountains forming the backdrop.
#fourseasonsfriday curated by +Stephonie Schmitz
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins

2013-05-03 05:21:48 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)
Say it ain't so, but today I launched a facebook page for my photography business. It won't effect my activity here on G+, just expanding my social media presence. Check it out at the link below...


2013-05-01 16:10:01 (4 comments, 5 reshares, 27 +1s)
Spring art shows (coupled with home projects) are keeping me too busy to get out and shoot much lately, so here's one from last summer at the Toroweap Overlook of the Grand Canyon. I really lucked out during my one night stay there as storms were all around me for much of the evening hours, making for some fantastic shooting conditions. It was definitely worth the long, arduous backcountry drive to get there!
#weatherwednesday curated by +Jason Borg
#widewednesdaypanorama curated by +Ken McMahon and +Lucille Galleli
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-04-25 15:27:35 (9 comments, 22 reshares, 70 +1s)
Yesterday was my lovely wife's birthday and we capped off the day by hiking out to my favorite location to view the nearly full moon rise through the spires of Cathedral Rock at this time of the year. Being a budding astrologist, she has a fascination with the moon so it was cool to see her face light up when it first came into view! This scene was shot nearly two miles away from this formation with a 500mm lens to give the moon more prominence within the scene.
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-04-24 23:12:18 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 36 +1s)
Beautiful Chittenango Falls outside Syracuse, New York. This jaw-dropping 167 ft waterfall along Chittenango creek is a beautiful sight even during low water flows such as this.
#waterfallwednesday curated by +Eric Leslie
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins +Carra Riley +David Heath Williams +Bill Wood


2013-04-22 17:37:11 (7 comments, 3 reshares, 38 +1s)
Every photographer who's ever been to Grand Teton National Park undoubtedly has this scene of Moulton Barn backdropped by the Teton Range in their portfolio. Well this is my take on this iconic scene, which I felt was stronger in a toned monochrome presentation. It was a beautiful morning with the final remnants of storm clouds draped over the Tetons.
#monochromemonday curated by +Hans Berendsen, +Jerry Johnson, +Steve Barge, +Dominique Hilbert, +David Orr and +Martin Heller
#mountainmonday curated by +Michael Russell


2013-04-20 17:36:49 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 35 +1s)
While I love shooting birds as a nice respite to my landscape work, it isn't very often that I attempt to shoot songbirds. That's not because I have some deep-rooted hatred for them or anything like that (ok...maybe when they dive bomb my newly washed vehicle :-) ). It's mostly because they usually require such long lenses to effectively photograph them. Even the 750mm I have right now (with my Bigma 50-500 shot in crop mode on my D800), songbirds are generally a blip on the sensor.
Every now in then, something will change that and I'll give it a go. For the few years I lived in Colorado, every spring my feeders would be invaded by migrating grosbeaks (mostly evening and black-headed). These guys were beautiful, fearless, hungry and LOUD!! They'd allow me to get as close as I'd like as long as I kept those feeders full! They'd stick around for a few weeks (right around... more »


2013-04-19 17:55:48 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 37 +1s)
Here's another view of this year's spring season in the sonoran desert of southern AZ. An explosion of brittlebush blooms color a hillside in the Tonto National Forest northeast of the Phoenix area.
#fourseasonsfriday curated by +Stephonie Schmitz
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-04-17 15:05:53 (2 comments, 6 reshares, 46 +1s)
I took this beautiful panoramic view of Bryce Canyon last fall. The gorgeous sunset sky (even more so behind me), really had the park's famous hoodoo formations glowing and the rising moon was a nice bonus. This was shot from Inspiration Point.
#widewednesdaypanorama curated by +Ken McMahon and +Lucille Galleli


2013-04-11 15:59:46 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 41 +1s)
The cascading water of Oak Creek (north of Sedona, AZ) is colored by the reflections of the morning light bouncing off the red rocks above. The deciduous trees in lower Oak Creek Canyon are slowly beginning to leaf out, which will make it a hotspot for visitors to the area looking for something a bit different than Sedona's desert environment.
#thirstythursdaypics curated by +Giuseppe Basile and +Mark Esguerra


2013-04-10 14:32:17 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 35 +1s)
Here's another hummer shot I took a few weeks back for #wildlifewednesday curated by +Mike Spinak and +Morkel Erasmus. Specifically, this is a male black-chinned hummingbird and I had a blast spending a few midday hours one afternoon capturing this little guy feeding on an aloe vera bloom. It seems you can never have a fast enough shutter speed for these birds as not even 1/2000 sec was quick enough to completely stop his wings. I don't worry too much about that though as a little blur conveys a nice sense of motion imo. The black background you see here is simply a shady area behind the bloom. The scene was so bright that a proper exposure on the bird and bloom turned it to black.


2013-04-08 19:06:00 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 41 +1s)
Been playing with my latest software purchase...the Nik collection of post processing tools. In particular, I've been paying special attention to Silver Efex Pro for its black and white conversion capability. Here's one such conversion of Wotan's Throne, shot a few years ago along the Grand Canyon's North Rim. I found my results via Silver Efex to be far superior than what I'd achieved through photoshop in the past. This will definitely be a nice tool to add to the bag of tricks. And to top it off, Google (which purchased Nik a little while back) has drastically reduced the price of this software to a greatly more affordable level.
#monochromemonday #blackandwhitephotography #landscapesinblackandwhite


2013-04-02 17:01:46 (6 comments, 6 reshares, 33 +1s)
A beautiful stretch of volcanic coastline along Kauai's south shore (near the town of Poipu). I spent many mornings walking this wild stretch of coast while my wife slept in. The bonus was that it was only a five minute drive from where we stayed.
#seatuesday curated by +Julia Anna Gospodarou
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-04-02 20:54:16 (7 comments, 20 reshares, 65 +1s)
Been busy traveling and photographing the wildflower bloom in southern AZ over the last ten days or so. It's times like these which make being a professional photographer so much fun! After all my travels, the best place I found for wildflowers was, without a doubt, over at Bartlett Lake near Carefree. So here's another image of the lake from a high vantage point atop a brittlebush clad hillside during a rather subdued sunset (which I kind of liked).
#fourseasonsfriday curated by +Stephonie Schmitz
#floralfriday curated by +Tamara Pruessner
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-03-21 16:29:49 (4 comments, 6 reshares, 36 +1s)
Here's an aerial view of Kauai's north shore including Ke'e and Tunnels beaches for #coastalthursday curated by +David Polzine and +Jon Kahn. This was shot during the doors-off heli tour my wife and I took one beautiful afternoon.


2013-03-20 16:08:44 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 36 +1s)
Here's another image I shot while out in the desert surrounding Bartlett Lake northeast of Phoenix. It was one of those (all too common) situations where the best light at sunset was not over my chosen subject (the lake), but was instead behind me. Fortunately, the sonoran desert is full of alternate subjects and I found these saguaro cactus to silhouette against the spectacular sky and crescent moon.


2013-03-18 19:57:02 (4 comments, 7 reshares, 44 +1s)
I spent last weekend in Carefree, AZ exhibiting my work at the Sonoran Festival Of Fine Arts. All day Friday I kept gazing at the beautiful sky above me, knowing full well that Bartlett Lake and its renowned wildflower bloom were just 20 minutes away. Once 5pm hit and the show ended, I rushed out there to catch the last light of the day. Fortunately, the mexican poppies and lupine are really starting to bloom so I found the first golden hillside I could and recorded this scene. Bartlett Lake is one of many man-made reservoirs found in the sonoran desert surrounding Phoenix. It is the result of the damming of Verde River and is flanked by the beautifully rugged Mazatzal Mountains to the east. Twas a great place to unwind after a long day!
#mountainmonday curated by +Michael Russell
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-03-13 15:47:11 (4 comments, 2 reshares, 27 +1s)
One more art show this weekend down in Carefree (AZ) and then I'll have a whole month off to do some spring shooting. Can't wait!! Here's one I liked from last spring while visiting the San Diego area. I found these ice plant blooms along the coast in Cabrillo National Monument. Unfortunately, the ever-present marine layer made sunrise/sunset shooting a bust so I had to settle for some filtered late afternoon light for this scene. Better than nothing, I guess!
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-03-08 15:42:00 (4 comments, 4 reshares, 45 +1s)
There's winter storm warnings in the areas north of Sedona for the next couple of days and I'm bummed I won't get a chance to shoot anything as I've got to head down to the Phoenix area today for a soggy art show setup in Litchfield Park. This is the second winter storm in a row I'll have missed due to shows and its ticking me off! The whole working for a living thing sure gets in the way of some fun shooting.
Anyway, this view along West Fork Canyon (taken a couple of years ago) is undoubtably what it'll be looking like in the canyons north of town by tomorrow. Hopefully, all this moisture will really kickstart the spring flower season in the southern Arizona deserts. We'll see.
#fourseasonsfriday curated by +Stephonie Schmitz


2013-03-04 20:40:05 (2 comments, 4 reshares, 47 +1s)
Here's an oldie but goodie from five or so years back when I made a couple winter visits to Colorado's Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs. Pikes Peak sure makes for a fantastic backdrop to the sandstone formations found in the park.
#mountainmonday curated by +Michael Russell
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-03-01 16:06:25 (7 comments, 2 reshares, 32 +1s)
A trio of sandhill cranes put down the landing gear. This was taken during a recent trip to the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area in southern Arizona. The area surrounding this wetlands has the highest concentration of sandhills I've ever seen (and that includes the wildly popular Bosque del Apache NWR in New Mexico). The late morning fly-in I experienced each of the two days I spent there was absolutely incredible.


2013-02-28 17:30:07 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 12 +1s)
While my images have appeared in a number of publications, I don't often get magazine covers (only two that I can remember from small local mags). So when I learned that my image of a trio of sandhill cranes at Monte Vista NWR would grace the cover of Colorado Life's March/April issue, I was quite pumped.
Colorado Life is a new lifestyle magazine that's less than a year old, but its quickly picking up steam and it's an honor to have gotten the cover. If you're a Colorado resident (or just love Colorado), I encourage you to start up your subscription at http://www.coloradolifemagazine.com/.


2013-02-21 15:14:46 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 34 +1s)
Busy, busy, busy is my excuse for not being too active on G+ lately. I'm in the midst of doing five art shows in a six weekend span so I'm up to my eyeballs in printing, matting and just plain running around like a crazy dude! This weekend's show will be the Fountain Hills Great Fair (northeast of Phoenix). With nearly 500 artists and expected crowds exceeding 200,000 over three days, this will be by far the largest show I've exhibited in. Hopefully, I'll survive!
Here's a quick post from a much quieter time last December on the Hawaiian Isle of Kauai. This blowhole is called the Spouting Horn and is located on the south shore near Poipu. What a beautiful morning it was.
#thirstythursdaypics curated by +Giuseppe Basile and +Mark Esguerra


2013-02-11 16:08:00 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 37 +1s)
Some beautiful late day light hits Utah's La Sal Mountains with the red rocks of the Windows section of Arches National Park glowing in the foreground. A sight worth missing a bit of the Super Bowl for!
#mountainmonday curated by +Michael Russell
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-02-09 15:51:58 (13 comments, 20 reshares, 80 +1s)
The parade of icons continues here. Dead Horse State Park in southeast Utah is as pretty as it gets. This was my fourth or fifth visit here and the first time I came away with a nice sky to compliment the view. I got lucky with the timing on this particular morning as it wasn't long before the clouds filled in and the light disappeared for the rest of the day.
#sunsetsaturday curated by +TJ Kelly
#stonesaturday curated by +Antoine Berger
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-02-08 19:36:37 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 41 +1s)
I just returned from a ten day road trip where I was shooting the sandhill crane migration in southern Arizona and landscapes in the area of Moab, Utah. In Moab, I was generally showing a good photographer bud around Canyonlands and Arches. It was his first time in the area so he wanted to see all the major attractions. That was ok by me as most of my images from the area were shot a few years back with lower resolution cameras so it gave me a chance to get higher rez refreshes of those scenes (and go hunting for new ones). This panoramic take on Mesa Arch is one such refresh. Fortunately, we shared the limited space in front of the arch with a good group of photogs who were friendly and willing to move around in search of different comps. Regardless, I don't plan a return visit anytime soon...just too many people for my tastes.


2013-01-28 15:01:35 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 55 +1s)
Here's an image to remind us of the warmer days to come. This scene is classic Colorado...clear skies, calm winds, wildflowers and an awesome early morning glow in the high elevation tundra. This was shot in the San Juan Mountains not too far from the tiny town of Silverton.
#mountainmonday curated by +Michael Russell
#mirrormonday curated by +Gemma Costa and +Elizabeth Edwards


2013-01-26 16:12:25 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 32 +1s)
Last weekend while staying down in the Phoenix area at a friend's house, I noticed the occasional hummingbird feeding on their blooming aloe vera plant. So during some down time I decided to try my hand at a little hummer photography. This little Anna's Hummingbird stopped by several times making for an excellent subject.
#songbirdsaturday curated by +John Briggs


2013-01-24 22:15:56 (6 comments, 2 reshares, 77 +1s)
Wintry Oak Creek Canyon at Slide Rock State Park, Arizona. Slide Rock is a very appropriate name for this area when the weather gets like this. I almost slipped and cracked my skull numerous times trying to get out to this spot! My contribution for #thirstythursdaypics curated by +Giuseppe Basile and +Mark Esguerra.


2013-01-23 17:44:41 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 37 +1s)
I spent last weekend photographing the wintering birds down at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve (also known as the Gilbert Water Ranch). It was a blast as the birds were plentiful and the action was non-stop in the mornings and late afternoons. Here's a shot of a neotropic cormorant who was comically trying to find a way to get its catch down the ol' gullet! It kept flipping the poor fish in an attempt to find the right alignment for the big swallow. After a number of tries, it finally succeeded.
#wildlifewednesday curated by +Mike Spinak and +Morkel Erasmus


2013-01-17 20:32:59 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 33 +1s)
In a sick, demented kind of way, I'm kinda missing seeing and playing in snow right now. Particularly mountain snow. While its been unseasonably cold here in Sedona for more than a month now, it just doesn't feel right without any snow to go with it. So I dug up this image of Twilight Peak in Colorado's San Juan Mountains to satisfy my craving. A craving which certainly won't last long, by the way!


2013-01-10 15:30:40 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 29 +1s)
Lately I've been looking for a change of pace photography-wise, so I've dived into a bit of bird photography. The winter months here in the Arizona are an excellent time for such endeavors as the streams and ponds are full of northern migrants. So far this shot of wood ducks spotlit on a pond in Page Springs has been my favorite capture. Woodies are my favorite of the waterfowl species so I was thrilled when I finally found some close to home.
#lowanglephotography curated by +Jeremy Lavender


2013-01-08 16:18:25 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 21 +1s)
Ok...it's back to Kauai and something a little warmer for today's #treetuesday post curated by +Christina Lawrie and +Shannon S. Myers. This was shot on Poipu Beach on the southern end of the island. I had hoped to get these gorgeous sunrise clouds over the ocean, but it wasn't meant to be. So instead I opted to isolate some of the taller palms situated in the other direction against the sky.


2013-01-06 18:17:36 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 51 +1s)
In sticking with the wintry theme of my latest posts, here's an image of a beautiful cloud deck hovering over the Grand Canyon during the aftermath of a winter storm. I shot this on the south rim somewhere between Mather and Yaki Points along the rim trail.
#skysunday curated by +Patrick Scherkenbach and +Randy Scherkenbach


2013-01-03 17:53:13 (5 comments, 2 reshares, 54 +1s)
Here's another shot of the sugar coated goodness that could be seen on the last morning of 2012 in Sedona, AZ.
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2013-01-01 16:31:14 (6 comments, 3 reshares, 31 +1s)
Happy New Year everyone! Mother Nature ended 2012 with a bit of flair here in Sedona with a nice dusting of snow. I drove up the Schnebly Hill Road (which was a bit of adventure in itself) and caught the storm clearing over Mitten Ridge. Unfortunately, the sun didn't decide to join in the festivities until much later in the morning. Still, it was a good morning to be out and about.
#landscapephotography curated by +Margaret Tompkins


2012-12-30 16:03:45 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 26 +1s)
We had some interesting weather develop a couple of days ago when a wintry cold front moved through Sedona. While it didn't drop anything more than flurries around town, it did provide some wonderful atmospherics. Here a snow squall passes between Coffee Pot Rock/Sugarloaf Butte and the shadowy Wilson Mountain.
#skysunday curated by +Patrick Scherkenbach and +Randy Scherkenbach


2012-12-27 16:24:05 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 21 +1s)
One of my favorite places to hang out and explore on Kauai's south shore were the Maha’ulepu Beaches. These beaches allowed a good measure of solitude and were largely the domain of local kite surfers (which were a hoot to watch) because the surf was just too crazy to do anything else with. This long stretch of undeveloped coast line can only be reached by a rutted dirt road, but the opportunity to explore was endless. I caught this rainbow in the late afternoon along Kalaiwoa Bay before being doused by yet another rain squall. The only downside of this area for photographers is that it resides on private property and the company that owns it closes the access road from 6pm to 6am. That makes shooting sunrises/sets very problematic. I found out the hard way that the 6pm closing time is firm when I almost got locked in when trying to push the limit shooting the early part of sunset.
