5:15 Is Now the Photo of the Day

It seems like I'm the only one of my group of friends that's been keeping the 5:15 alive. So instead of adhering to taking photos at 5:15 since I'm usually on the road at that time, I am taking a stand and shifting to a Photo of the Day post.

Today on my way home I took a bit of a detour onto the Salt River, Pima, Maricopa Indian Reservation and found this water tower backdropped by some beautiful, pink-hued clouds.

Later, on my way to my parents' house I noticed the recent rains had filled this otherwise grassy retention area. It was nice to see some standing water. It felt like I was in Michigan...You know, the land of 1000 lakes?...

5:15 Day 30

Ahhh....The Arizona desert. Where else can you see a holy saguaro cactus basking in the late afternoon sun with a beautiful red mountain scene in the background in the middle of winter?

5:15 Day 29

I pulled off the road into the parking lot of a business park on the way home today and found this interesting piece of art. Enjoy.

5:15 Day 28

Guitar Hero is the devil.

ASU vs Washington

Just a couple of shots from last Thursday's game. The College Times distributed pseudo-newspapers to the student section so they could act disinterested when Washington's opening lineup was introduced. It was a hard-fought game, but the Sun Devils fell short.

I like this shot because I caught the ball as it was smashing into the court, and the Washington player in the background is making an interesting face.

5:15 Day 27

I took a walk just outside my neighborhood at 5:15 today and found this little path between adjacent communities. 

Day 26

Today I helped my best friend and his girlfriend move from one condo in north Phoenix to another condo in north Gilbert. 

Here is their 8-week-old yorkipoo (that's a yorkie/poodle mix) puppy they named Stanley. He looks like a miniature wookie.

And here's Ryan hooking up the HD cables to his TV...Ya, he's kind of special...

5:15 Day 25

I work in Tempe so at 5:15 I've decided to start exploring the city instead of fighting rush hour traffic to get home. Here's a shot of the high-rise condos that are under construction near Mill Avenue.

5:15 Day 24

I met up with Ashley at the Tempe Center for the Arts so we could shoot our 5:15's today. The exercise turned into a sort of shoot off where we kept one another in our respective sights. 

5:15 Day 23

Today's 5:15 is reminiscent of my old black and white film days...I was all about angular patterns. This is the train bridge over Tempe Town Lake.

5:15 Day 22

I was headed to my buddy's place in north Phoenix today when 5:15 rolled around. He lives near the Point Hilton resort where I found this fountain. 

5:15 Day 21

I took a walk around the neighborhood today looking for inspiration, but none was found. Instead I captured a regular scene at my house. My miniature dachshund Maya is a bit of a bully and likes to pick on Charlie, though he's three times her size. Here she's biting his snout in play...

Black Cherry Clothing

This morning I met with the owners/designers of Black Cherry Clothing to take pictures of model Jenna Moore wearing some of their designs. The College Times will be running a feature on the clothing company in an upcoming issue, and I can't imagine they wouldn't want to use one of these shots for the cover. These are my favorite frames. Enjoy.

5:15 Day 20

At 5:15 today I was on the road heading to an assignment. I decided on another driving self portrait since I had a long way to go to get to Glendale, which is on the opposite side of the Valley from where I live in Gilbert. See my previous post for a taste of what I had to shoot...

Glendale Glitters

One of my assignments today had me taking photos of the Glendale Glitters block party that had ten or so hot air balloons spread throughout the streets in the downtown area. I guess the blast of flames went along with the Christmas light theme... 

5:15 Day 19

I don't even want to post today's 5:15 because of how lame it is...I was at home again and decided to take a walk around the neighborhood. There were tons of kids running around, but I just felt creepy stalking around with my camera. Put me on the street with an assignment and I have no problem approaching strangers, but when I'm in my own neighborhood doing my own thing it just feels wrong approaching people for some reason. So I settled on these blooms. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

5:15 Day 18

When 5:15 hit today I found myself at home once again, but decided to get out of the house this time. I walked to the alfalfa field next to my neighborhood to see what I could find. Aside from a discarded Christmas tree, there wasn't much. I call this: "Paw Print in Mud." Enjoy.

5:15 Day 17

At 5:15 today I was hanging out in the basement in the State Press photo room waiting for Ashley Lowery to pick me up so we could go shoot another Style Watch for SoScottsdale! together... Chelsea Kent, my subject for today, was looking at the MySpace page of a model she will be shooting soon. Notice the intense concentration...

5:15 Day 16

Stephanie had jury duty today in downtown Phoenix and got out around 4:00 or so and decided to come by my office. We decided to go grab something to eat on Mill Avenue once I got off at 5:00. My 5:15 today is of Stephanie getting frustrated with a broken parking meter and realizing that it just ate our money.

5:15 Day 15

At 5:15 today I was on the road to get a shot of a new pizzaria in Phoenix. I pulled over at Central and Indian School and found this little scene... I guess the guy in the background didn't get the memo.

5:15 Day 14

I've  been a little under the weather lately, so after running around shooting the marathon all day I made myself some hot tea... And that's when 5:15 struck.

And here's my eyeball... Just for kicks.

P.F. Chang's Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

Maybe I'm a little slow, but I realized only a couple of days ago that it's called the Rock 'n' Roll marathon because they actually have rock bands spread along the marathon route playing rock and roll music.

This lady looks way too happy for just having run a marathon for 4 hours and 15 minutes... Craziness.

5:15 Day 13

I was on my way to Scottsdale on the 101 today when 5:15 hit... Instead of endangering my life and the lives of my fellow motorists on the freeway with another self portrait at 70 miles per hour, I decided to actually pull off of the freeway to get a few photos. There wasn't much around at this particular exit... Just the most pathetic saguaro cactus I've ever seen and a fire hydrant.

5:15 Day 12

I was supposed to have today off because I have to shoot the marathon on Sunday, but a last-minute assignment came up and at 5:15 I found myself shooting a motley crew of custom bicycle builders called the Phoenix Phreaks. Enjoy.

5:15 Day 11

There was some debate in the office today when 5:15 rolled around whether or not it was actually 5:15 because, depending on the person, the time differed by as much as 10 minutes. So my 5:15 today (which I found out was actually 5:11) is of my editor Ed looking up on the internet the atomic time for our time zone. That's Megan and Mike looking on. They were trying to get out of being photographed by leaving before 5:15, which sparked the debate in the first place.

Sun Devils Top the Wildcats in Overtime

The big rivalry game on Wednesday night was one for the record books, and one exciting match-up... Here are some shots from the game; from tip-off to ASU students and fans rushing the court in celebration. 

The last frame is my favorite. It shows ASU junior guard Steve Jones (center, white shirt) in a sea of crazy at center court.

5:15 Day 10

My editor Ed Baker bought a digital video camera on Ebay recently so I could start shooting video packages for College Times' website (www.ecollegetimes.com). 

When I got off of work today I headed over to Ed's house to pick up the camera so I could use it after the ASU/UA basketball game to shoot the press conference with some of ASU's players and the head coach. 

As it turns out, when I arrived at Ed's house it just happened to be 5:15...And Ed was in the middle of a pilates workout...