Shaun Tia at Fossil Creek (Patreon)

Finding a locations near Phoenix that isn't a desert filled with cactus, and countless other prickly plants is a pretty difficult task.  Its so bad that once Nicole and I get south of the Rocky Mountains we start calling it the Pokey Forest.  The search for a little oasis to shoot at is always a challenge, so when we found out about Fossil Creek, we decided to make a bee line there.

The road to this location is a rough one.  About an hour north of Phoenix you turn off the highway and not long after that you turn onto a rutted up dirt road that runs 20 miles to the creek.  We got into the canyon about 30 minutes before the golden hour, hiked out quickly and plotted a few spots to hit for shooting on our way back.  The lush forest gave so much beautiful color, and the soft light was perfect for shooting.  Shaun Tia is an absolutely amazing model, so shooting was pretty much a cake walk here.  We started in the woods, and then headed down to the creek at the end.  The water was ridiculously cold, and I shot from the bank for a little bit, but eventually realized I was going to have to get in to take the photos that I wanted.  Off came the boots and into the water I went.

These were all shot with the Sigma 85mm F1.4. except for the very last photo, which I shot with the 17-40mm F4 L.  The photos in the woods were taken at ISO 100, and I continued to raise my ISO as it got darker by the creek eventually stopping at around ISO 1250.  One thing that really made my photography much better is when I quit worrying about noise from using higher ISO.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/drz8l6d6vxd5ahx/AACeCzHA2Y6SonGQLpPV8KEha?dl=0