Phoenix: Behind the Lens
I have to say traveling/shooting sick is no fun. Right before I left for Phoenix this last week I started to feel a cold coming on. Which in itself is no fun, combine that with it being 115 in Phoenix and you are pretty much guaranteed to be in trouble. With all of that being said I still love Phoenix/Scottsdale (preferably not in the summer) and finally got to stay at the always classic Hotel Valley Ho. Give them a try, it’s like being transported back to the 50′s/60′s and if you love midcentury modern furuntiure, architecture, and the lifestyle you will fall in love with the Valley Ho.
Also on the list of positive things about my phoenix trip was that I was there to do aerial shots via a helicopter. I find shooting aerials and absolute blast. Surveying a city from a helicopter is great. There is no substitute for the vantage point you get from 2,000 ft in the air. At times it’s strangely intimate as you fly over these people’s houses and lives. Overlooking dried up lawns next to bright green lawns, kidney shaped pools flanked by electric green pools that have been let go and taken over by algae. And at the same time its incredibly impersonal and distant which is more like a game of monopoly as the rows and rows of houses get reduced to patterns lining the streets.
Either way I have really enjoyed the little bits of aerial work I’ve been fortunate enough to shoot. This is my second time with Quantum Helicopters based out of Chandler Arizona and they are the best. Please call them up if you either want to learn how to pilot a helicopter or if you need a helicopter for hire like I do. Again, they are amazing!
Enough about how much I love helicopters and midcentury modern design. I was there to shoot aerials of two hospitals that were to be re-skinned/updated and then while I was there I made a visit to the Camelback Ranch Spring Training Complex that I shot earlier this year (see more here 1, 2). Fortunatly and unfortunatly we had a morning of cloudy weather. While the clouds provided for even and soft lighting for the aerial surveys of the hospitals they also provided a bleak backdrop for the Camelback Ranch shoot which I had hoped would yield shots with great mornining light with the backdrop of orange and yellow desert landscapes. Well, 2 out of 3 aint bad and since the Camelback Ranch shoot was kind of a freebie and not the original purpose of the trip I can’t complain too much.
I wish I had shot more from the air to show off some of the oddities you see up there but I was struggling to survive while I was sick and was just happy to be able to shoot what I needed for the jobs. Good news is I’ve got some nice shots from a previous Phoenix aerial trip that I’ll try to post later. Until then, enjoy a small video from the shoot.
Blake Marvin Photography: Phoenix Aerials from Blake Marvin on Vimeo.
