Out Their Front Door – Rick Young

If you have been following the site for any length of time, you have heard me refer to LightAsMagic.com’s unofficial legal council. If you have been following the site for a long time, you know the unofficial legal council is Rick Young. You also know that Rick was the first guest blogger ever to grace the site. I think that was over a year ago? Outside of being a long time photo buddy and unofficial legal council, Rick is an inspiring photographer. Before he sent his post to me, I was sure that I had no business in Phoenix Arizona. Way too hot for me. After I complied the images, I’m pretty sure I will be visiting soon. Take a look. I think you will agree.

• Rick’s Website: http://www.ryoungfoto.com/
• Twitter: @RYoungFoto

I first came across Lightasmagic.com in a Nik Software newsletter. Justin did a great screencast tutorial involving a futuristic looking wine cellar. I was instantly hooked and became a daily visitor. He is a great photographer and has an uncanny ability to not only capture great images, but then explain the “why behind the what”. Whether it is with his DSLR, point and shoot, or iPhone he always seems to deliver. So, when Justin asked me to be a “guest blogger” I was thrilled. At any rate, that’s enough about Justin, after all I am the “guest” and this post is all about ME!

The idea behind this series is to showcase what is out your front door. For me though, it is what’s behind my front door that got me started into photography. Like so many of us, I simply wanted to be able to take decent pictures of 5 1/2 years, 3 boys, and 3 cameras later, I feel I am starting to get the hang of it.

Phoenix, Arizona is a a great place to be a photographer. There are sweeping Sonoran Desert vistas:

There is the high desert:

There are open plains:

There are mountain streams:

Hidden waterfalls:

And there are snowy roads:

Within a few hours drive you have

Vegas

and the ocean

Don’t get me wrong, Phoenix is also a lot like your other major cities. You have your downtown area:

Courthouse

airports

and abandoned buildings

Somewhere along the wayI managed to pick up a few commercial jobs, mainly doing model homes and country clubs,

That brings us back to my front door. Once inside, I am reminded of what brought me to photography in the first place.

One of the challenges is not being pigeon holed into one type of photographer. I don’t want to be a children’s photographer. I don’t want to be a wedding photographer or a commercial photographer. I don’t want to be a landscape or HDR photographer. Even though I do each of these things on a regular basis, I simply want to be a “photographer”… period.