Shutter Mike Photography

Located on 7th Ave. in Phoenix, the First Christian Church was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1950s.  But it was not built until after his death in 1971.

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The McDowell Sonoran Preserve is in North Scottsdale and consists of 16,000 acres.  It is considered one of the most significant wildlife habitats in the valley and is managed by the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy along with the City of Scottsdale.

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Modern Phoenix put on the Founding Fathers of Modern Phoenix home tour today.  The tour featured homes in the Arcadia and Uptown Phoenix areas by mid-century modern designers such as Ralph Haver, Al Beadle, Calvin Straub, Ned Sawyer, Harold Ekman and Donn Wooldridge.

In addition to the  homes on the tour, a local classic car club had cars on display at most of the homes.

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This weekend’s  photography outing was to the Phoenix Zoo.  Since most of my photography tends to be of inanimate objects (or at least objects that don’t move) this was a little different for me.  But I was happy with most of the results.

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The Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area sits on what was until recently a dump.  It is a five mile stretch of the Salt River south of downtown Phoenix.  The plan was to get there before sunrise in order to photograph the sun coming up.  Unfortunately the park does not open until sunrise and it required a little bit of hiking to get to a good vantage point.  But this is a really nice park in the middle of very urban Phoenix, so well worth it.

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After I went to the Chihuly Exhibit I wanted to go back at night and see what I could shoot.  Night photography is very different than during that day.  But I did get a few photographs that I liked.  The night photography is going to take some practice.

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As I mentioned before the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden is one of my favorite places in Phoenix and a great place to spend the day photographing.  While I was there for the Chihuly Exhibit I took some other pictures as well.

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The Phoenix Botanical Garden has The Nature Of Glass exhibit by Dale Chihuly in place until May 31st.  These innovative glass sculptures are located throughout the garden.  The vibrant colors of the glass against the desert plants makes for some great photo opportunities.   The exhibit is open both day and night.  I went during the day, but will definitely need to go back at night before it ends to see the sculptures lit up.

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On Saturday I went to a couple of the places I listed in my earlier post to see what I could capture.  I always end up taking 100 plus photographs (thank God for digital) and find only a few that I like.  But that is all part of the process I guess;  weeding out the bad and improving upon them the next time around.

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