Things To Do
Vision of the Valley
Author: Editorial Staff
Issue:
June, 2012, Page 122
For our second-annual reader photo contest, we asked you to focus your lenses on the Valley, in all its urban-meets-desert glory. We selected the top 10, and you voted for the winner, who received a luxurious getaway. Check out the finalist photos and the reader favorite.-Click on each photo for a larger viewRed Dawn
For semi-pro photographer Keith Lester, getting to work pre-dawn has its advantages. As the sun rose, “It looked like a ball of fire and was headed our way,” says the Gilbert resident, who’s launching his own business, Keith Lester Photo Video. He ran to the roof to capture this sky, which needed no photoshopping. |  | Photo By:Keith Lester
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 | Photo By:Mark Anderson
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| Gilbert Water Tower
Risking his life to shoot two of his favorite subjects – storms and downtown Gilbert – Mark Anderson had set up behind Liberty Market when he felt “a distinct change in the air.” He bolted for shelter in a covered parking lot just as the sky erupted: “Huge rain drops crashing on the tin roof, the wind and the unceasing lightning and thunder all made for an amazing experience,” the Gilbert resident says. The proximity meant the shot required no color correction, he notes, because “nearby lightning is almost as white as the sun.”
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Troon Stonehenge
Phoenix resident Dean Andersen burned calories to capture this shot in the McDowell Mountains near East End Trail. To outrun the sunset, the amateur photographer jogged with his pack and tripod to a vantage spot, then scrambled over rocks when he spied these curious granite boulders. “It was only later at home that I recognized the similarity of the circular grouping of rocks to Stonehenge,” he says.
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| Photo By:Dean Andersen
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 | Photo By:Eric Lizcano
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| City by the Lake
Though semi-professional photographer Eric Lizcano specializes in portraiture and commercial images, “I love photographing at night to show how cities can come to life,” the Mesa resident says. Plus, this cityscape is “proof that Arizona is not just about desert, cacti and tumbleweed.” |
Mystery Castle
Realizing she needed a hobby, Katherine Halstead rifled through her closet and dusted off a Nikon D40 camera. Her newfound passion took her to Mystery Castle near South Mountain, where the “mother-in-law” staircase caught her eye. “It was amazing how it appeared to be suspended in air,” says the Mesa resident, who used a pseudo high dynamic range (HDR) effect to step up the surrealism.
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| Photo By:Katherine Halstead
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 | Photo By:Allen Cook
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| Scottsdale Horses
Amateur photographer Allen Carroll Cook found a model subject at a horse corral near the 101 and McDowell Road. “The horses seemed to be very interested in me and my camera and the one in the shot pranced around the corral as if to draw my attention,” the Scottsdale resident says. “Although, once they realized the camera was not actually food, they lost interest pretty quickly.” |
Chihuly’s GardenSelf-taught amateur photographer Matthew Girard was strolling through Desert Botanical Garden when he “noticed a tour walking through the massive sculpture, hearing many ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ at [glass sculptor Dale] Chihuly’s work,” says the 19-year-old Paradise Valley native. “I just had to get a photo to capture it all.”
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| Photo By:Matthew Girard
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 | Photo By:Geraldine Lim
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| Tempe by NightIt was amateur photographer Geraldine Lim’s first visit to the Tempe Town Lake Bridge, which was unveiled last fall. The Edmonton, Canada resident captured the bridge’s neon blue glow with a Nikon Coolpix P7100.
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Buckhorn Baths, Apache Trail
Fate must have led Broken Arrow, Oklahoma resident Steven Robert Kaller to Buckhorn Baths. He read about the now-shuttered east Mesa mineral waters motel in the April 2009 issue of PHOENIX magazine. Then, on his Southwest Airlines flight to Phoenix, he read another article about the baths in the airline’s Spirit magazine. “I was intrigued and insisted that my sister Suzanne and I go out to Mesa so that I could photograph the old resort,” says the semi-professional photographer, who has won or placed in numerous photo contests.
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| Photo By:Steven Kaller
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 | | Photo By:Kenneth Herout |
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| WINNER!
Sundown South MountainAmateur photographer Kenneth E. Herout – who divides his time between Varna, Illinois and Phoenix – visits South Mountain frequently, so he’s an expert on its viewpoints and visages. “I try to go there at different times of the day,” says the retired firefighter and paramedic. “I am always trying to get different types of shots, so I took a lot of pictures and got very lucky with this one!” He did indeed. This shot from Dobbins Lookout won him the contest and a weekend at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale. |
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