Archives for Chandler Area Photography category

Photograph of a train car in Chandler, AZ

On Track
f/5.6 – 1/125 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 45 mm

Cash for Cans
f/6.3 – 1/40 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 200 mm

I had the opportunity to do some architectural photography of Ironwood Hall at Chandler Gilbert Community College in Candler, AZ recently.  The building was designed by the Tempe, AZ based architectural studio Architekton.  It is an LEED Silver building that serves as classroom, lecture hall, ceramic studio and office space for the community college.  It is also a great building  to photograph.  The colors, lines and geometry not only make it a great work of architecture but make capturing it in photographs fun.

Architectural photo of Iron Wood Hall in Chandler, AZ

Ironwood Hall Courtyard
Chandler Gilbert Community College
f/4.0 – 1/4 sec – ISO 320 – Focal Length 28 mm
Architectural photo of the bridge at Iron Wood Hall in Chandler, AZ
Ironwood Hall Bridge
Chandler Gilbert Community College
f/5.0 – 1/4 sec – ISO 320 – Focal Length 35 mm
Architectural photo of the bridge at Iron Wood Hall in Chandler, AZ
Ironwood Hall Bridge
Chandler Gilbert Community College
f/5.0 – 1/10 sec – ISO 320 – Focal Length 28 mm
Photo of the corner of a red brick building in Chandler, AZ
Busy Corner
Downtown Chandler, AZ
f/5.0 – 1/15 sec – ISO 400 – Focal Length 28 mm
Detail photograph of a steel chain
Chained
Chandler, AZ
f/5.6 – 1/50 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 105 mm
Photo of train cars with grafitti at sunsetSunset on the Trains
f/5.6 – 1/250 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm
Close up photo of train tracks
At Track Level
f/5.6 – 1/40 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm

Photo of giant springs

Train Springs
f/5.6 – 1/30 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 110 mm

Photo of a sterring wheel on a train car

Steering
f/5.6 – 1/80 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm

Photo of grafitti tagged train cars

Tagged
f/5.6 – 1/80 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 28 mm

Photo of a train car steering wheel

Wheel Silhouette
f/5.6 – 1/400 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 200 mm

Detail photo of a train car

Treads
f/5.6 – 1/30 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 80 mm

Photo of a twilight sky.

Twilight (sorry, not THAT twilight)
f/8.0 – 1 sec -ISO 100 – Focal Length 28 mm
Photo of red, white and blue fireworks
Red, White and Blue
f/8.0 – 4 sec (bulb setting) – ISO 100 – Focal Length 90 mm

I came up with a few more tips for photographing fireworks while shooting the fireworks show last night.

  • Use manual focus rather than auto focus.  Set it once and then leave it alone.
  • Don’t fuss with the aperture setting.  An f-stop in the neighborhood of 8.0 worked really well for me.  I set it and forget it.
  • Leave your ISO pretty low.  I kept it on 100.
  • Manage your exposure using the shutter speed.  If your camera has a bulb setting that is the ideal way to go.  Just remember that too long of an exposure will over expose.  It may be night, but fireworks give off a lot of light.

Detail photo of eye hooks and tension cables in a parking garage

The Eyes Have It
Downtown Chandler, AZ parking garage
f/5.6 – 1/20 sec – ISO 100 – Focal Length 80 mm
Black & White post processing in Photoshop CS4

My photography tends to go in one of two directions, urban/architecture or nature/landscape.  As a result most of the Phoenix photography spots I write about fall into one of those two categories or a blend of the two.  One spot that I have written about and photographed often in the nature category is the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.  Always on the look out for new places to photograph in Phoenix and the Valley, I happened upon a similar spot not too far from the Preserve.

The Chandler Veteran’s Oasis Park is located in the Southeast valley at Lindsey Road and Chandler Heights Road.  The concept of the park is very similar to that of the Gilbert Riparian Preserve.  They both serve first and foremost as water management facilities but they have also been designed to serve double duty as urban parks and environmental education centers.

Photo of Chandler Verteran's Oasis Park

Chandler Veteran’s Oasis Park
f/25 1/200 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 40 mm

The Chandler Veteran’s Oasis Park has a main lake fed by a water fall similar to the one you will find in Gilbert.  The lake is part of the Valley’s urban fishing program and you can usually find anglers trying their luck to pull the next big one out.  A traditional park surrounds the lake with ramadas, picnic tables and a playground.  But for the photographer, it is the trails that branch off from the main lake that are the true gem.  The 4 1/2 miles of trails lead off to several catch basins that serve as habitat to many of the same wildlife you will find at the Gilbert preserve.  Although keep in mind, for wildlife photography, especially birds that may be migratory, you will have better luck at some times of year over others.  June, when I first visited the park, is probably not the best to photograph the birds as many have already returned north.  But until fall rolls around again and I can get a better idea of how many wildlife photo ops there are, there are still a variety of birds as well as other desert wildlife for photographing.

Photo of Chandler Verteran's Oasis Park and San Tan Mountain

Chandler Verteran’s Oasis Park
San Tan Mountains in the backgorund
f/11 – 1/80 sec – ISO 200 – Focal Length 100 mm