Shutter Mike Photography

On Friday, May 7th, at the After Hours Gallery in downtown Phoenix, a unique art project entitled 26 Blocks will be unveiled.  The project has paired 26 of the best photographers in the Phoenix metro area with 26 of the best writers and assigned the duos one of 26 downtown Phoenix city blocks.  Their assignment was to capture their assigned block’s past, present or future in one photograph (with up to four images in it) and 500 words.  Sculptor, Rafael Navarro joined the writers and photographers as well to combine the essence of the entire 26 Blocks into one work of sculpture.

I have spent some time perusing the 26 Blocks web site (which in itself is pretty well done) and this looks like a very exciting project.  It combines three things I love, photography, writing and downtown, urban environments.  I am definitely looking forward to seeing this exhibit.  If you miss opening night on Friday the project will be on display at the After Hours Gallery from May 7th through the 31st before it goes on a tour of Phoenix (tour details are still to be announced).

Red and green are complementary colors on the color wheel and tend to work well together when composing a photograph.  I think the textures in this image also work well together.  The smoothness of the concrete and “roughness” of the grass complement each other just as well as the colors.

This is the final post of photographs from the AIA Phoenix 2010 Home Tour.  These last two homes are similar in that they both share very modern designs with clean lines and hard surfaces as the celebrate the materials used.  Concrete, steel, block and glass are not covered up with drywall and stucco but left exposed as significant structural and design elements.  Homes in the previous posts can be found here:  AIA 2010 Phoenix Home tour Part I, AIA 2010 Phoenix Home tour Part II, AIA 2010 Phoenix Home tour Part III.

I have been shooting with a Sony DSLR even since I switched from a film SLR to a digital SLR.  I had two main reason at the beginning for getting my first Sony Alpha 100.  The first was mostly practical and economical,  my film SLR was a Minolta so the lenses I already had would fit the Sony line of DSLRs.  This would save me from having to buy all new lenses for a Canon or Nikon had I gone that route.  The second reason was the features of the Sony DSLR line of cameras.  The image stabilization, Steady Shot, was built into the camera itself, meaning it would work with whatever lens I had.  The mega pixels were right at the time.  Everything lined up and I have been very happy with my purchase of the Sony Alpha 100.  This was the camera that I spent time with learning the fundamentals of photography.  So when I started considering an upgrade I really only looked at Sony models.  I saved up for a new big investment and my new Sony Alpha 850 Full Frame DSLR came yesterday.  The initial assessment after only about an hour of shooting is that I love it.  As I read the manual and get more time with the camera I will post more thoughts and a review in more detail.

This is the third of four posts featuring the homes on the 2010 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Home Tour in Phoenix.  Part I features photographs from a home that blended with its desert site almost seamlessly.  Part II had three homes of varying styles.  This post features two homes that were remodels of mid 20th century homes.  The resulting residences are a blending of the original structures and modern needs.  Each used diverse and rich materials to some very beautiful architecture.

This is part II of my architecture photography from the AIA 2010 Home Tour in Phoenix.  Images from part one and more details on the tour can be found here.

The three photographs below are from one of my favorite houses on the tour.  The attention to detail was amazing.  Everything from the materials used to the placement of windows to the entire layout of the home was obviously done with an incredible amount of thought and planning.  The end result was a truly spectacular home.