Scottsdale, Arizona - Chris Birkitt's Winter Wonderland

I wanted to get out to photograph some Phoenix area lights and a group was meeting at Chris Birkitt's so I decided to join them.  I wanted to get there before the crowds as these things are often too crowded for me to comfortably stand with a tripod.

It was about sunset, so this mild mannered neighborhood home looked festive with the lights starting to turn on.

But as the sun dropped, the real glow began.  This is a closer view of the front of the house, with detailed pictures.

 This is hard to see.  It is Rudolph in blue with his red nose.

I walked over to the entrance to go to the back yard.

 Cozy fire pit.

 I took one last photo as I left and the colors were so, well, Christmasy.

He does not charge for admission, but does as for a donation there or on his website.

He does a really nice job.  Here is his website: http://www.birkettentertainment.com/winterwonderland/

This house was next door.  I agree, if you can't beat them, join them!

More lights...I think that there is a website on "the best in Phoenix".  

Yes, there is!! Here is the list, and "Winter Wonderland" is in first place.  Congrats to Chris!!

Gold Canyon, Arizona - Sunset on Peralta Trail

The Peralta Trail is located on the southwest edge of the Superstition Wilderness in Gold Canyon east of the Phoenix metropolitan area.  The colors were better than expected.

A fellow photographer is shown in the bottom right corner working on lighting the cactus for his photo.

I had the camera packed up and put away.  I turned around to look back up the trail and the view was so beautiful.  You can see the starburst light on other photographers returning to the meet up area.

Tempe, Arizona - Tempe Town Lake and Bridges

These are taken from the north shore of Tempe Town Lake at the marina.  Several bridges cross the lake at this point as well as the light rail crossing.  The first one is my favorite.  The light rail bridge changes colors.  The red, orange and white streaks are from the train zipping across.

This is the original Mill Avenue bridge just after the sun set leaving a pretty blue sky.  This bridge carries people and vehicles from Phoenix in to downtown Tempe.

This is the same bridge when the sky became black.  It is a moonless night.

This is a newer Mill Avenue bridge on the left.  Traffic is leaving Tempe on this one.  The older bridge is on the right.

The light rail bridge dressed in different colors.

Wadell, Arizona - Roses and Roses and More Roses

Ooo Ooo Ooo Look at this.
I spent the morning on a photo shoot with Lindsey and Kevin in the Wadell area west of Glendale.  They took me to the local fields of roses.  It was beautiful and we ran from rows of reds to yellows to whites to reds to mixes.

 The fields are located north of Interstate 10 around the 303 new highway.  The sky was a perfect contrast blue and the white clouds added something a little interesting.  I tried several different focal points to try to capture the beauty of a field of roses.  The first section had rows of red roses.

 The yellows pulled us to the next section.

 And then we saw really RED roses.

 These were yellow framed in red.

 And there were some white ones with soft yellow centers tipped in red.

 Purple!

 I turned around to take a photo with the White Tank Mountains in the distance.

I needed a step ladder to capture the sense of the huge fields!

Phoenix, AZ - 2014 Arizona State Fair

Here are my entries for the 2014 Arizona State Fair Photography.  The judges will be hard at work this weekend and the fair opens in less than two weeks.  This post will be updated and resent with results and pics from the display.

These are all works from the past year, reflecting classes and travels from August 2013 - August 2014.  If a ribbon was won, it is noted.  If the work scored high enough to be displayed, it is noted as "displayed" although no ribbon was awarded.

The first four are entered in the "Experimental Division".

Double exposure - Honorable Mention

 Arizona Country Club Fireworks - First Place Blue Ribbon

 International Hoop Dancing Contest - Second Place Red Ribbon

 "That's What Makes Paris Paree" - displayed

These are entered in the Small Color Division.

Muse D'Orsay clock in Paris - Displayed

 A very large Hawaiian Fern Frond - Displayed

 Nellie, Queen of the Monongahela - Displayed.  A copy of Nellie's portrait will hang in her human Tom's home.

 Old Gas Cans in Payson, Arizona - displayed.  A man in Prescott bought a copy of this!  My first "at the Fair" sale.