I recently went on a mini photography excursion to St. Philip’s Plaza. St. Philip’s Plaza is a small, upscale shopping center here in Tucson. Normally it’s quite busy. However, with Covid-19 restrictions, it’s become a ghost town. This meant I could actually find a parking space. After all, we have to take the good with the bad. Right?
Like much of the architecture in southern Arizona, you can see the Spanish influence. The spring flowers were also in bloom, which made for a lovely day. I also came in the late afternoon so I could play with the lights and shadows. As I shot my photos, I was reminded of the excursions I took for my college photography course.
Sometimes you get lucky. While getting ready for my next shot a heard a loud, whoosh to my left. A bicyclist right flew past me. Don’t worry. He was several yards away when he flew by. And because I was ready to shoot, I caught him at just the right moment. He’d cleared all the interesting shadows on the ground, putting him in the perfect position to lead the eye into the photo. Best of all, his back was to the camera. This resulted in him being completely unrecognizable.
The rest of my series is a study of lights, shadows and depth. It was a fun afternoon, and a rare opportunity to photograph local architecture without a big crowd.
Gayle Martin
