Shutter Mike Photography

The Palo Verde branch of the Phoenix Public Library system is located in the Maryvale neighborhood in west Phoenix.  Designed by Wendell Burnette Architects the library mirrors the neighboring community center building and has a very modern look and feel.  The first floor’s walls of glass make the large steel box above appear to be floating above the ground.  The panels on the upper portion of the library and neighboring community center reflect the landscape integrating the building with its surroundings.

This is the final set of images from Taliesin West in Scottsdale.  Be sure to check out the first and second sets to get the whole picture.

The roof of the drafting studio is made of canvas; a reminder that this was originally a desert camp.  In the off season the canvas was removed and stored to help prolong its useful life.

In the 1930s the Taliesin West site was miles from “civilization.”  Materials to construct the buildings were taken right from the site which further tied the buildings to the site.  The early evening sun brings out the reds and oranges of the store used in the concrete form walls.

This fire breathing dragon originally spout out water but was later fitted with a gas line to make it more authentic.

Taliesin West on a desert night is a beautiful place to photograph.  The Night Lights on the Desert tour gives you the opportunity to see the school in both the golden hour and lit up in the dark of night.

One post of six images from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture at Taliesin West is not enough to do justice.  So as a follow up to my first post of images from Taliesin, here are six more photographs.

The Iconic View

This view of Taliesin West is probably one of the most photographed of the campus.  The school has been served by natural ground water since construction began in the 1930s.  To this day it still in not hooked into the city water system.

Many of the roofs at Taliesin are canvas.  The original intent was to build a desert camp making canvas a fitting material.  Today some innovative methods have had to been devised to prolong the life of the canvas in the harsh desert climate.

Frank Lloyd Wright had an infinity for Asian art.  There are hints of it placed through out the property such as these figures which Wright bought in pieces and had an apprentice reassemble.

The Cesar Chavez library in Laveen, AZ (part of Phoenix) is a great architectural photography spot.  Architecturally, the library was designed by Tucson based Line and Space to be integrated with the site without significant negative impact on the site or the environment.  It boasts green features such as significant overhangs for shading the building, a rain water collection system for irrigation and it was partially built into the hillside and bermed with earth to help regulate the interior temperature.  These features were combined with a very aesthetic and photographic design.

If you decide to photograph this library keep a few things in mind; 1) make sure you cover all sides of the building, each one has some very unique angles and shots; 2) I was not able to get there at night, but if you can the lakeside facade looks great at night; 3) the library is located in the Cesar Chavez Park, so there can be a lot of people in addition to library patrons – if you want to focus just on the building without the “human element” after library hours will help cut down on the crowds.

I recently took the Night Lights on the Desert tour at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West.  Taliesin West is the winter home to the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and is located in North Scottsdale, Arizona.  If you are familiar with Wright’s style you will immediately recognize the buildings of the school as his architecture.  Work began on the school in 1937 when that part of Scottsdale was just open desert.  Today the suburbs have encroached, but the school’s 300 acres of land keep a buffer between it and urban sprawl.

The Night Lights on the Desert tour is a great tour for anyone, but it gives the photographer the opportunity to see the architecture of Taliesin at the golden hour when the light is prime.  The only way to photograph the grounds and buildings are with a guided tour so your photography prospects may be a bit limited.  But with a little preparedness you should not be impeded too much.  Here are few things to keep in mind:

1. Try to hang out at the back of the pack.   You do not want to stray from the group or fall too far behind, but being at the back will give you a chance to get some “tourist free” shots once the tour group has moved out of space.
2. Fidgeting with lens changes while trying to pay attention to a tour guide and stay with the group can be a challenge.  Pick one good universal lens and stick with it.
3. Try not to rely too much on flash photography.  You will have enough natural light for most of the tour (in the summer months in particular) to capture what you need with ISO, aperture and shutter speed adjustments.
4. Some photographers have ruined it for the rest of us.  Until not too long ago, photography for personal use, was allowed most everywhere on the tour.  But when images of Wright designed furnishings and other artifacts began showing up for sale on the internet the Foundation stopped allowing photography in the interior spaces.  Make sure you abide by the restrictions so that they are not forced to eliminate photography altogether.

Taliesin Petroglyphs

This rock art was found in the McDowell Mountains on the Taliesin land back in the 1930’s and relocated to the site of the buildings by Wright.  The second image from the left on the bottom was incorporated by Wright into his logo design.

The roof lines of the buildings at Taliesin West reflect the lines of the McDowell Mountains in the background while the stone used from the site reflect the color of the landscape.

Similar to the roof line image above, the slope of the roof of the building that served as Mr. Wright’s office follows the slope of the mountain behind it.  The colors of the rocks and concrete used in the walls further connect the building to the site.

When you head out to photograph one key thing you want to keep in mind is that the best photo opportunities are not always right in front of you.  Pay attention to all of your surroundings.  Look down, look up, change perspectives, get up high, get down low.  The everyday street level view can be good at times, but when you get that shot from a perspective most people never think of or never pay attention to you are showing the world how you see and interpret it through your lens.

A recent walk around downtown Phoenix with my camera pointed up resulted in some perspectives I might not otherwise see had I stuck with only what was immediately around me.

f/9.0 – 1/60 sec – ISO 100 – Focal Length 28 mm

The plaza in front of downtown Phoenix’s Orpheum Theater and the Phoenix City Hall is a great starting spot for a photography tour of downtown Phoenix.  This image was captured just as the sun was setting and the lights began coming on.

The Burton Barr Central Library is the first, and largest, library on my 10 Phoenix Public Libraries Worth Photographing list.  The architecture of this building, the central library of the Phoenix library system, sets it apart from your ordinary everyday library.  It is grand in scale and uses modern materials such as glass and steel as representations of Arizona’s canyons, landscape and climate.  The building is an excellent example of architecture responding to its environment.  A classic Greek or Roman style “traditional” library was not built, rather a work of art was designed.  The library’s site describes the architecture as:

Inspired by Monument Valley, the building’s shape resembles a curving copper mesa split by a stainless steel canyon. Focusing on light and illusion, the design features shade sails on north windows fashioned by sail makers in Maine, an entrance tunnel with one back-lit wall and another of blue Venetian plaster with splashes of brightly colored Venetian plaster throughout the building.

The Crystal Canyon, a five-story atrium, has nine skylights at the top to track the sun. The glass-enclosed elevators and grand staircase are surrounded by a black bottom pool which mirrors their images and that of the Crystal Canyon.

A 32-foot high “Floating Ceiling” is suspended by cables over the Great Reading Room of 43,000 square feet on the fifth floor. Six-inch-wide skylights run the entire 300 foot length of the east and west walls. Round skylights covered by lenses create an illusion of flames at noon on the summer solstice, June 21st.

The thought put into the design of the  Burton Barr Central Library makes it a great photography spot in Phoenix.  I went very early in the morning to get the best lighting and avoid car and pedestrian traffic in my images.  But late afternoon/early evening light can be ideal as well and photographing the library in use can add a different dimension to your images.

f/5.0 – 1/100 sec – ISO 100 – Focal Length 28 mm