It’s Gonna Be May! Chihuly Exhibition in Phoenix

You heard that right; it’s going to be May soon, and the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens will soon close the door on their Chihuly exhibition. That knowledge prompted me to drag my friend along to go see the amazing works of blown glass. What’s brilliant about this exhibition is that they place the glass throughout the garden so that they become a part of the landscape. It was fun to ramble along the paths and spot pieces of art spread out among the flowers, cacti, and various herbs they have showcased or peeking through the trees. 

I had recently (just the day before) gotten a 50 mm 1.8 lens to go with my camera so that I could achieve some of the more “artistic” shots I was interested in taking. After all, there is only so much one can do with a kit lens, and I certainly needed no encouragement to buy it. Long story short, I fumbled my way through the garden with a lens I wasn’t quite sure how to work. I mean, switching lenses should be easy right? Wrong- it was hard. The first and last half of the collection were shot with my 50 mm and in the middle I ended up switching to my regular kit lens because I am a wimp. 

My friend and I went during the 4 pm-8 pm time slot so that we could take pictures during the day and at night. Unfortunately by the time nightfall actually arrived, I was tired of taking photos and dealing with people being in my shots. There won’t be a lot of shots at night, but I think that the ones taken around the “golden” hour turned out well. I hope that you enjoy the exhibition as much as I did 🙂 

This is the first piece as you enter the park. I shot it using my 50 mm f/1.8 and 1/2000 shutter speed. I also shot this one at night (below) as we left. These are very uninspired shots, but I think they do a good job of highlighting the enormity of the pieces.

 

As you move further in the park, you will encounter the next blue piece: 

 

(f/1.8; 1/1600) 

This one was my favorite because it reminded me of tendrils snaking its way through and around itself while reaching for something much bigger than itself. This is one of my favorites because of the way the light filters through the right side of the piece while leaving the left in the dark. 

(f/1.8; 1/600) 

This one provides a good perspective on how the glass is worked into the landscape. 

(f/1.8; 1/3200) 

The red, orange, and yellow pieces were equally impressive. As I gazed into the sky to see this particular sculpture, I loved the way the red contrasted with the blue sky. It was a clear day outside (as always), so there weren’t any clouds to obfuscate the true beauty of the way the light hits the blown glass. 

(f/1.8; 1/3200)

Here is another good look at how the glass was worked into the landscape. I liked how they utilized pieces where the shapes were similar to the plants when they could. 

 

(f/1.8; 1/500) 

This is another favorite of mine because of the contrast between the green and the purple. The photo also still allows you to see the different details in each of the pieces of glass without them being overwhelming. I am also more drawn the photos with a blurred background to emphasize the subject of the photo. 

(f/5; 1/500) 

This is when I started to switch back to the kit lens. During the exhibition I wanted to take some photos further away from the work to further demonstrate the way the glass was incorporated into the desert landscape. This particular piece reminded me of Medusa since the outer layers of the glass move outward and undulate like a snake. 

(f/5; 1/500) 

Once I tired of the glass work, I moved on to the various plants in order to feature the different aspects of the gardens. Below I have the lavender with some yellow glass work behind it. 

(f/5.6; 1/40) 

In this photo my main goal was to highlight a few stalks so that you could see detail, but use a blurred background to denote the volume of the flowers. 

(f/5.6; 1/40) 

I don’t normally get to see this kind of cacti, so I made sure to snap a quick picture. The tops of the plants look like tiny viking helmets- fitting for such a hardy plant. 

 

(f/1.8; 1/50) 

And last but not least, another shot of the tiny fuzzy flowers with the glass behind it. Again, I love the contrast between the colors and that the background almost looks like it is on fire. Here I switched back to the 50 mm and felt a little more confident after using the kit lens to get back into practice. Overall I feel as though I didn’t do poorly and gained some valuable practice. However, I had to shuffle through a lot of terrible shots just to get to a few good ones. That, I suppose, is normal for any photographer. 

Until the next time!