Shutter Mike Photography

There are many Christmas light displays, both public and private, in the Phoenix area.  Some of those are stand out opportunities to capture some Christmas spirit with your camera.  As Christmas fast approaches there is still time to get out and see and photograph some of these beautiful displays.  Here are some of the more colorful and well done displays around the valley.

1. Mill Ave – The APS Fantasy of Lights displays 1000’s of lights in the Mill Ave. District in Tempe.  The combination of the historic buildings and the bustling atmosphere of Mill Ave. with the Christmas lights make for some ideal photograph opportunities.  With a tripod and proper exposure settings you should be able to create some great holiday images.
2. Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa – The Biltmore’s Christmas decorations are very classic which is appropriate for this classic Frank Lloyd Wright influenced historic resort.  From the enormous live tree towering over the hotel to the collection of ginger bread houses these Christmas decorations and the architecture and furnishings of the resort make for a great setting for photography.

3. LDS Temple – Mesa, AZ – The Mormon Temple in Mesa does a fantastic job of stringing up the Christmas lights.  The large temple complex is decorated with traditional Christmas lights and biblical scenes.  Set against the backdrop of the monolithic stone temple this makes for a chance to capture some beautiful images.  Be sure to take the time to explore the details of the temple grounds; particularly the reflecting pools that bring a very different perspective to the building and Christmas lights.

4. McCormick Railroad Park – Scottsdale, AZ – The McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale drapes most every surface of the trains in Christmas lights.  There is also a carousal and miniature trains on display which both make great subjects for holiday images.

5. Desert Botanical Garden – Los Noches de Las Luminarias – I wrote about the garden’s holiday display in the past and the garden generally makes most of my top photography lists for Phoenix.  This display is much more of a traditional Southwest Christmas than the flashy bright lights of the others.  But it is ideal for exploring with your camera and capturing some brilliant images.

Vulture City is the remnants of a gold mine town in the Arizona desert from the late 1800’s.  As far as ghost towns go, Vulture City is rather well preserved.  It is privately owned which helps keep people from looting whatever remains of its buildings.  But at the same time the owner charges admission to tour the 1/2 dozen or so remaining buildings and has taken some “artistic” liberties by staging things a bit and adding back in some “artifacts” to keep the tourists happy.  Nevertheless, the photographic opportunities are plentiful.  There are old mining equipment, adobe and wood buildings and a multitude of paraphernalia scattered about.  With some careful composing and taking time to explore and see you are sure to walk away with some great images.

This image took some work both in the camera and in Photoshop with post-processing.  I was working without a tripod – because I left it in the car – so it took several shots to get a steady properly exposed image.  I was using my 50 mm f/1.7 prime lens and getting both the lit hotel in the background and the tree int he foreground to come out right was not easy.  But a little adjusting in Photoshop using adjustment layers to get the brightness and contrast right for both the foreground and background independently seems to have done the trick.

The Arizona Biltmore does an amazing job of decorating at Christmas.  From this huge tree out front to some very detailed and large gingerbread houses in the lobby the whole hotel is decked out for Christmas.  Throw in the fact that the architecture is influenced by the Frank Lloyd Wright style and I am in photography heaven.

“Art” is a very subjective word.  Urban graffiti on an alley wall is considered anything from a crime to artistic expression.  This wall is much less ordinary and far more noticeable with the addition of this artist’s touch.

Blurred Motion Photography

This is part of a playground “ride.”  A child would stand on this disk and hold on to two handles at the top of the orange pole and spin.  By using a slower shutter speed for this image, 1/8 second, I was able to get the effect of blurred motion.  This is something you can do with almost any subject that is in motion either within your frame or moving across your frame.  The slower the shutter speed the more blurred the subject will be giving an indication of motion in the photograph.