Assortment

I haven’t been on any major photo excursions since returning to Arizona early last month. But I have taken a few pictures and today I’ve chosen to share a few with you. There is no particular theme, they’re simply an assortment of shots I’ve taken that appeal to me.

This first picture features a house perched on the flank of nearby Black Mountain. This home is visible from virtually anywhere in our community and I’ve thought about photographing it for some time. I had even chosen a location and a couple of days ago, I got around to taking the picture. My subject is the house in the centre of the frame . (If you’re not interested in the technique I used to create the image, please skip the italicized paragraph below.)

This photograph is composed of two images identical in every respect except for the point of focus. I used this technique (focus blending) to overcome the significant difference in my distance from the house (approx. 1 mile) and my distance from the cactus in the foreground (110 ft.). Using a telephoto lens at 170 mm focal length, focused on either the house or the cactus produces a less than satisfactory focus on the other (insufficient depth of field). By blending the images to use the best focus from both images, I was able to achieve good focus in all areas of the image. 

Soon after we arrived in Scottsdale, a month ago, I was getting my camera from the small vault in my den. As I sat there with camera in hand, my attention was drawn to the patterns created by light shining through the window shutters. I was meant to take this picture. 

As is our custom every autumn, we join a friend for her birthday brunch at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel . This is a grand old hotel, located in central Phoenix, dating back to 1929. 

The Arizona Biltmore’s architect was Albert Chase McArthur, yet the design is often mistakenly attributed to Frank Lloyd Wright. This is due to Wright’s consulting on the “Textile Block” construction used in the hotel. Albert McArthur had been a draftsman for Wright, and specifically asked Wright to assist with implementing the textile block system, which became a signature element of the hotel’s appearance. Interestingly, the restaurant in the hotel where we have brunch is named “Wright’s”.

Earlier this week, I made a short visit to nearby Lake Pleasant. My intention was to get a few early morning shots of the sunrise on the water. Before getting the opportunity to do so, I encountered a small herd of wild burros. Not having seen these animals before, I paused to take some photographs, including this shot.

Lake Pleasant was a little disappointing as a source of photo scenes. It’s a nice lake, large by Arizona standards and very  popular with boating, kayaking and fishing enthusiasts. After some considerable scouting of the area, I failed to locate great places to get a photograph. The difficulty I encountered is access to the shoreline. Access has been developed for boats, not surprisingly. There are numerous”day use” areas for picnicking that offer good views of the lake, but they’re very distant from the water and don’t offer the type of pictures I was hoping to take. I think there are likely good scenes to be had, possibly from on board a boat. Something to consider for another occasion.