I had a few hours to kill before a rehearsal (St. Patrick’s day gig with a Pogues cover band) in downtown Phoenix so I grabbed my camera and a tripod and went for a walk. One of the places that has caught my eye a few times in the past is the old bank building at 15 East Monroe (previously known as “The Professional Building”). Built around 1931, the building currently sits empty, the result of a failed rennovation after the market crash. If I were to tilt the camera down you would see an entrance boarded up with sheets of plywood.
I still thought that the building could tell a story so I set up the tripod and camera for a long exposure and gave it a shot. I liked what I saw on the monitor but it wastn’t until I got home and viewed the file full size on the computer monitor that I noticed I had captured the clouds and stars. The sun had not been down very long so there was still a dark blue hue to the sky and the light pollution from the city helped the low clouds stand out against it. A slight tweak of the clarity slider in Lightroom helped to bring out the lovely textures in the stonework.
5D Mk III with 24-105mm f/4.0L IS USM lens. ISO 200, f/5.6, 8 sec.