My Initial Light Rail Experience

I had my first chance to ride on the new Phoenix Light Rail tonight. I took it from my Central Phoenix Station (a picture taken with my iPhone of a sculpture at the station is close by) near my house downtown to Mill Avenue in Tempe. I grabbed some dinner and then a coffee before heading back home. I have spoken with a many people that don't see a difference between the LR and the typical city bus, so here are couple of observations, particularly how the LR differs from taking a city bus:

1. There are multiple doors to get on a light rail train which allows for much faster entry and exit for large number of people, on a city bus there is usually just the front and back door and the entire vehicle is much narrower making it harder to get on and off.

2, There are platforms on the LR that also assist in getting people on and off faster, also for people with disabilities there is no special time needed they can just roll on and roll off.

3. Because the train is on tracks that are specially build for it, the ride is extremely smooth as compared to a bus - in fact I am typing this entry while we are moving currently, something I would never attempt on a bus.

4. Powered by electric the train is very quiet, I would also assume that because it has unlimited power to the cars, the air conditioning in the summer is going to be very good.

5. Because it is a dedicated transportation route, I have been told that there will be a much greater commitment to development along the route because real estate investors can identify their property as close to a committed transportation infrastructure such as development is created along freeways.

So those are my initial observations. The total trip time between downtown Phoenix and downtown Tempe was about 25 minutes. There is also a shuttle that takes people to the airport so I might actually try that in the future.

For those people reading my blog from cities that already have public transportation, don't laugh at the novelty that we are all experiencing here in Phoenix.

Lightrail Begins

Today the light rail system began in Phoenix. The rides were free and it being so highly anticipated the trains were packed all day. I wasn't able to get on today because I didn't want to wait in line and I know that I will have the chance to ride it many times over the next few years. The opportunity to document and explore the impact that this new system has on this city particularly the way the everyone will interact with it, the reaction to it and the art work that was create around it. I hope to explore it some of these ideas in the coming months thorough my photography.

Nearby I have posted photos of the train cars as they past the stop on Encanto and Central; along with a photo that I took of the new bridge that crosses the Salt River near Tempe that was built as part of the system.

Holiday Pictures

My sister and brother-in-law invited me over to take some holiday photos of my little niece, Erin. She is a great little kid and very photogenic. We had fun running around the different locations near their house where we were able to take shots. We were not the only one out there today as many people were setting up family group photos. It was great to see my sister, brother-in-law and Erin and I got to watch a video of a recital that Erin was in this morning - very cute and very funny.

Not much done to the photo other than a slight warming filter effect in Photoshop to cut the white color cast of the flash. Click on it to see a larger version.

I have been taking pictures of a lot of models during the last year and sometimes I feel a bit self-conscious about it because I really don't think of myself as a fashion or glamour photographer. I do have fun with the models that I work with and consider many of them friends. But one thing that I realize during the past few months is that by working with models I am constantly learning and using new techniques. If you look at this photo and the one in the entry right below you'll see a very similar style and feel. I did use a more powerful light with Christina in the photo below, but the bigger difference is, that last Saturday, I was with Christina for several hours setting up and shooting. Today with my niece I had maybe 20 minutes. It was the time practicing beforehand that helped me feel more confident today and to be able to capture an acceptable image.

Rainy Day in Maricopa

Spent part of Sunday down in the town of Maricopa. My friend Jim has a house there and I discovered that there are so many places to shoot. The town reminds me of a past time in Arizona when there was the old, mixed with the new, and things seemed less crowded.

Our friend Christina, had agreed to model for us and did a great job. I'm still trying to learn my relatively new light which is an Elinchrom Ranger. We lucked out when we had some stormy clouds move in which gave us a great backdrop to shoot against. One of the images from Sunday is near by, click on it to see a larger version.

A quick head shot set up

I went to Scott Kelby's Lightroom 2 Live Tour this week in Los Angeles. As always Scott did a great job covering the material and bringing everyone up to date on how to use the software, but it was something he said about a lighting setup towards the end of the seminar that peeked my interest. As an example for an ad for a beauty product he brought up an image of a model that he had shot previously. It was a simple head shot against what I had originally thought was a white seamless paper roll. But instead he had shot the model in front of another light. I have done the same thing in the past, but instead of shooting with the light directly pointing at the back of the model and towards the camera, he pointed the back light upwards at a 45˚ angle. This had the pleasing effect of wrapping the light around the models cheeks, neck and shoulders. I really liked the look and was anxious to try it myself.

As luck would have it my friend Vicki had asked me to create some head shots of a friend of hers who had agreed to model for us both. Melanie was great and was very patience with me even though she had not model much before. I used the technique to create the near by image of her and I was pleased with the results. This setup is another tool in the bag that I can go to for a quick clean head shot of a model.

A Successful Thanksgiving

How do you know when you have a successful Thanksgiving Day dinner? The picture nearby shows the evidence. I went to my brother John's house for dinner yesterday and had a terrific time and meal. It was a lot of fun to see the family and joke around.

I was even able to get in a few other shots of friends and family. We rarely have clouds here in the desert and with such a good storm coming through we were able to use the sky as a terrific backdrop.

The best laid plans...

So my friend Crystal asked me if I could take a few photos of her son and their two dogs for a Christmas card this year. I was happy to do it and suggested that we scout out a location at Phoenix South Mountain Park as a great location to shoot.

The conversation went something like this:

"You do realize that I'm pregnant, my son is only a year and a half old and we own bit bulls, right? Oh, and my dogs pant when they are outside in the sun" Crystal said as I related my plans on how I envisioned the shoot going.

"What's panting? Never mind. It will be great, I have the ideal location, we will just hop out of our cars set up and take a few quick photos. We will be done in a half hour." I said confidently as if I knew what I was talking about.

"Ok...but wouldn't it be simpler in your backyard, we would have more control" said Crystal

"No, no this is going to be great, the best Christmas card you ever had!" I said as I hung up the phone.

Let's just say Crystal was right and I was wrong. Trying to control two bit bulls while balancing lighting equipment on the rocks in the middle of a dessert park ain't so easy. And although, Caden, her son, was a trooper, but he wasn't so keen on being left in a toy fire truck under a huge strobe while I confronted him with a menacing camera lens.

Nearby you'll see some out takes from the shoot. Click on them to see larger versions. Crystal's husband Joe, a real firefighter and the reason for the toy truck, tried his best to get things in order but to no avail. Oh, and you'll notice from one of the shots that Crystal's dogs pant when there outside in the sun.

Let's just say we rescheduled the shoot for later in their backyard.