Random Portrait

Random? Yes. I've been going through a backlog of photos that I've sporadically taken over the last few months. Most of my shooting lately has been very spur of the moment and so I typically come out with only one, if any final photos that I'm happy with. This photo was one such instance from our anniversary in which we got dressed up to go out in Prescott. Before we left, I decided to take a few shots of my wife against our room's wall. I used the single light which was over the door to light the image, opting not to use my flash for any fill. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Homegrown and homemade

So my camera hasn't been silent. This past couple of weeks my wife and I have been reaping some serious rewards from out first attempt at home gardening and I had my camera handy for capturing our successes. With over 10 tomato plants we have had more tomatoes than we know what to do with. Along with a few pepper plants we had quite a collection the other day. I decided to capture it before it was put to use in a home made tomato soup.

Then, tonight we put to use yet another bundle of tomatoes and peppers. This time into a homemade pizza, which we were happy came out amazing. As with the veggies, I couldn't resist photographing the pizza before it vanished. Needless to say, it was kind of fun turning our kitchen counter into a small studio: setting up my flash, reflector and foam core to evenly light everything. I apologize if you haven't eaten before reading this post, maybe I should have put a warning prior to the photos.

AZ Jeep Tours - Lake Pleasant and Castle Hot Springs

This weekend I went on a half day ride up to Lake Pleasant and beyond. The occasion was due to my brother-in-law writing an article for AZ Jeep Tours. The tour company is owned and operated by Fred Amator. We were given the choice of several tours that he gives, it should be obvious which one we took, otherwise the title here would be a bit different. The trip started with us traveling up Litchfield Road and over to the 303 loop. Along the way we made a quick stop next to our local rose fields. It was here that I jumped out to snap off a few shots.

After some history and information about Goodyear and the west valley, we finally arrived at Lake Pleasant. It wasn't my first time at the lake, but it was a different area that we were at. While stretching out our legs and grabbing a snack, I took a couple of shots overlooking the marina. At this point, we were given two choices for our other destination. We opted for Castle Hot Springs.

Explaining the hot springs is a challenge. Its a good 20 minute drive from the last spot; 20 minutes to the middle of no where. Winding around turns in the lower Bradshaws, we finally came face to face with quite a strange view. Amidst barren desert is what could only be described as an oasis. A large green field, almost completely surrounded by palms and other trees greets you as well as the large yellow building which made up the once popular resort. Being privately owned, and warned by Fred not to enter, I was only able to take pictures from the fence surrounding the property. It was hard no to want to run closer in for better views, but parts of the Arizona desert still hold up to the old west tradition so I chose to remain on the right side of the fence. It is a shame that such a beautiful place is sheltered away and not shared as it once was. Hopefully one day, the resort could be reopened.

Arabian Horse Show

Every February Scottsdale hosts their annual Arabian Horse show. My wife and I always try to attend as it always falls on Valentines day and has become something of a tradition for us. Its a great event to go to, there is great food, tons of art, and oh, plenty of horses to watch. What makes it fun is the particular events: traditional, English riding, western, etc.

I've never been a big horse guy, not saying that I don't or haven't liked them. I've never really had the opportunity to be around them much. But over the last year or so, I've found myself in closer proximity to them and more often than I've ever been too. Maybe since horses are synonymous with the west and the fact that I live in Arizona has something to do with it. Regardless, I am finding myself enjoying and looking forward to opportunities in which I can photograph horses.

Something that's always kinda fun for me is when I get back from an event shoot like this. I didn't have anything in specific that I was looking to focus on and yet, as I edit, a theme becomes apparent. Without thinking about it, the bulk of my photos were focused on either the rider-horse relationship or the lines and form of the horses neck. It's fun to surprise yourself in the end with a theme that was unknown to you while you were actually shooting. Well, I hope that you enjoy and I hope to be pulling some new work together soon.

South Meyer Ave - At Your Doorstep

So we return to Meyer Ave this week. With a final peek at the street, its homes, and the last few details hidden in this small corner of Tucson. The homes have been photographed a million times and at the start I figured, "here I am just doing what everyone else has already done." I took some of the typical doorway shots commonly seen, trying to add something slightly new when I could.

After making one pass through the street, I turned around and walked back down looking for something new. A lot struck me in the details and the environment. The artistic touches to doors and windows. The shadows cast across walls, doors, and windows. The selection of colorful pots lining the dirt street and even the cactus and agave contrasting with the warm tones of the buildings themselves.

There is definitely a lot to see in such a small corner of an already beautiful, colorful city (yes, I love Tucson, even thought most hate it). So if you find yourself down in southern Arizona, make a quick stop at South Meyer Ave and take a moment to enjoy one of the most colorful neighborhoods you'll ever find.

South Meyer Ave - By the Numbers

There's nothing like having a backlog of photos that you are working on while still going out and taking new ones. I'm hoping to balance new with some old and get myself caught up all at the same time. Today is a "part one" post. For those that make trips to Tucson or anyone seeking some amazingly colorful homes, I'd suggest making a drive through South Meyer Ave, located in the historic barrio, you guessed it, just south of downtown Tucson.

I didn't photograph the entire street of numbers and homes, but I decided today to start with just the house numbers. Its in part a tease for whats to come with the entryways. The homes are, needless to say, very bright and colorful, but so are the residents. We ran into a few of them, one of which, Jamie Williams, was a photographer herself (many of them are artists in fact). I stopped to talk with her for a bit and I have to say, she does some great commercial work, check out her site www.thatgirlproductions.com

I really had fun both photographing and editing this time around. Meyer Ave is a short street but its easy to wander about for a long time as there is so much color, art and detail to the small corner of the barrio.

Happy Birthday Arizona!

It's a tad bit belated but Happy Birthday Arizona! For those of you that didn't know, this past Tuesday, February 14th, was Arizona's centennial. To celebrate, Phoenix had their Best Fest celebration from the 10th through the 12th. We went downtown for the party on Saturday since that was the biggest of the days and the day in which the centennial motorcycle ride took place. I'm not sure on the numbers, but an estimate that I heard was somewhere around 2500-3000 bikes in the ride. I was hoping to get a few shots showing the immensity of the event, but alas, at ground level it all turned into a blend of steel and Harley logos.

There was a lot going on that day and for the most part I was there to enjoy. I had my camera out in case I felt the need to go photographer on the fly, but for the most part I perused the different tents, food stands, events, art shops, food stands (I said that already didn't I). Anyways, if you missed the event, keep looking around as other cities will be holding smaller events themselves throughout the remainder of the year.

Pony Express Video

Around the start of the new year I started playing around with the idea of doing some photo videos to showcase large sets of photos. One such video that I felt I had to do and thus worked on first is a selection of photos from the Pony Express ride from last year. I've uploaded it to my newly established Youtube page (needing some improvements of its own). I hope to put out some more such videos in the future. For now, enjoy:

Three Hoots and a splash of Garnacha

This past week I did a small shoot in order to get some photos for my sister-in-law, Renee. I've posted before on the subject, in a nutshell: she has a wine blog, I take photos for said blog. I really enjoyed this particular shoot as I tried some new lighting methods and worked on using multiple exposures for the final products. More on this momentarily.

My victims in this shoot were bottles for Three Hoots and Garnacha de Fuego. The Three Hoots shot was primary for use in her post, the Garnacha secondary for its good looks. I am extremely happy with both results and as a bonus for you guys, I'm going to give you an inside the studio view of this shoot.

Your first thoughts are probably "Wow, whats going on here?" Well, first off, my studio is my office, nice and unorganized most of the time. What I've done for the platform and backdrop is simple. I have a roller cart that I placed in front of the wall and draped a black sheet from the wall to the cart. The lighting is the fun part. For the bottle I wanted to faintly light the edges and put a splash of light to the label. Using my singular flash (seen above) I took 3 photos: One lit from the right, left and from above in the front. I bounced the flash off of a piece of white matte board to soften the light as well as expand it along the edges of the bottle rather than blast a singular point. Once in Photoshop, I blended the three photos together and finito.

I hope you guys enjoyed this first ever glance into my work methods. Once your done here, check out Renee's blog at www.wineabit.net.

Phoenix Zoo In Black and White

I would be lying if I said these photos haven't been floating around my computer for some time now. Back in December my wife and I made a trip to the Phoenix Zoo. It had been a while since our last visit and I was curious to see if things had changed much. Needless to say, they've added or changed a lot and it looks like they have a lot planned for the future.

Before our trip I was toying around with settings on my camera and decided that I haven't really done much black and white. As a result I shot straight to b&w on much of our trip. As I was editing later, I pushed myself to dive more into to monochrome realm.

I used to actually dislike monochrome images, but over the last several years I've found myself gravitating to it more. I love it because I personally feel that color can distract from some elements such as texture and pattern (obviously not color patterns). More importantly, there is a mood and even a closeness to subjects that monochrome images exude that often is not captured in color.

To me the biggest risk I took with this set was taking a macaw, known for its beautiful colors and converting it took monochrome. Even as I was working on it I was thinking to myself, "this is stupid." But, I feel that in this case, it paid off. With the focus of color taken out, the focus becomes the shape and detail of each feather.

For me this was a fun shoot and editing experience. I'd definitely recommend to take a photo in color, then try it out in black and white (most new cameras have this setting). You may really enjoy the results.

I made it into Arizona Wildlife Views!

I don't typically post twice in a day, but since I've been away so long and have great news I figured that I could go ahead and do it. Today in the mail I received two copies of the Jan/Feb issue of Arizona Wildlife Views. Inside is the published article that my brother-in-law Jason Keele wrote covering the Tres Rios Restoration Project. The awesome news is that they chose to use one of my photos for the article. Needless to say that I was super excited by the news.

Phil and Beth Jackson Wedding

Well, its been quite some time since my last post. After a busy fall followed up by a wedding shoot I'm finally back. If you haven't noticed, I've finally made a change in that I've found a more permanent "home" for my blog. No longer does it reside at an unmemorable blogger address, I now have it resting at benelyphoto.com. A small change, but non the less, a big step.

With that being said, the last month I've been busy at editing the photos for the wedding that I shot just before Christmas. The new husband and wife are Phil and Beth Jackson. Both have been family friends for the last several years and are an extremely fun and nice couple. The wedding was held at the Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, which turned out being a very nice venue.

Weddings are definitely a strange beast to photograph. There is only so much planning that can be done, after that, its a whirlwind until the nights all over. The nice thing was that I was able to move around several areas of the hotel for both the ceremony and portraits. With my wife Samantha helping during the ceremony, we were able to get several shots not just from ground level but also from a balcony over looking the courtyard. Now at the end of it all, I have to say that I am happy how the photos came out.