Shutter Mike Photography

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

For these libraries in the Phoenix metro area you will want to bring more than your library card. It has been tradition of sorts to make civic buildings such as public libraries and municipal complexes both functional and true architecture in the artistic sense of the word.  As municipal budgets are continually cut I wonder if we will see the designed aspect of civic buildings decline and they will fade into the strip mall-esque cookie cutter sameness.  I hope not.  But for now, the Phoenix area offers a bounty of well designed and beautiful public libraries.  Library architecture can be very photogenic so here are 10 14 of my favorite libraries in the Phoenix metro area worth photographing.  Check back from time to time (or everyday if you are so inclined) as I will be adding posts featuring architectural photographs from each of these photographic Phoenix libraries.

For a map of these libraries click here.

1) Burton Barr Central Library – Central Ave., Phoenix

2) Cesar Chavez Library – 35th Ave and Baseline, Phoenix

3) Palo Verde Library – 51st Ave., Maryvale

4)  Scottsdale Civic Center Library – Scottsdale

5) Southeast Regional Library – Guadalupe and Greenfield, Gilbert

6) Desert Broom – Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix

7) Agave Library – 36th Ave., Phoenix

8) Harmon Library – 5th Ave., Phoenix

9) Glendale Foothills Library

10) Mesquite Library – Paradise Valley

11) Juniper Library – Union Hills Rd., Phoenix

12) Sam Garcia Western Avenue Library – Avondale

13) Sunrise Mountain Library – 98th Ave., Peoria

14) Cholla Library- Metrocenter, Phoenix

A quick introduction and overview of Depth of Field:

Understanding Aperture:

Understanding Shutter Speed:

What is ISO?