(Lillian Reid/DD)
There was swing dancing all around at the Hotel San Carlos as professionals taught guests the basics of swing. This woman looked so classy standing on the sidelines with her perfect hair and light dancing in her martini glass. She simply observed from the corner, seemingly waiting for the right song or partner to come along and literally sweep her off her feet.
Contact the reporter at lcreid@asu.edu
(Brittany Lea/DD)
Beautifully lit gardens at the Arizona Center are a peaceful sight for shoppers and passersby. I noticed these while practicing different aspects of my camera and working with my tripod.
Contact the photographer at Brittany.Lea@asu.edu
(Lillian Reid/DD)
When I drive downtown to class, I normally have to park pretty far away and then hoof it a few blocks. On Friday, I decided to walk down the alley between First and Second streets for a change of scenery and noticed these bedsheets hanging to dry. Such a simple thing, but somehow it suddenly made Phoenix seem smaller and less like a concrete jungle. I was happy that I stopped and took a photo because 20 minutes later when I walked back by somebody had taken them in.
(Madeline Pado/DD)
While waiting for the light rail last week, I managed to capture this colorful shot of streetlight reflections in the rain-soaked street.
Contact the photographer at madeline.pado@asu.edu
(Madeline Pado/DD)
A friend told me to look out of my window in Taylor Place and take a picture of the Freeport-McMoRan building. I rushed to take a look at what could be so interesting and was met by the sight of two men dangling by a few ropes, washing the large glass windows on the skyscraper. It almost looks as if the men are levitating 18 stories in the air. I snapped a few shots through the narrow opening of my window while wishing that the men could come and wash my own dust-covered window.
Contact the photographer at madeline.pado@asu.edu
(Evie Carpenter/DD)
Over a month ago, I had been shooting on an assignment south of the stadium and noticed this large piece of graffiti on the side of the Phoenix Design Museum. It read, “Right to Remain.” I thought it was interesting because although it matched the recent theme of the Occupy movement, the paint was chipping and faded, as if the piece of art had been there for years. I guess people had been fighting to stay in Phoenix long before anyone camped out in Cesar Chavez Plaza.
Contact the photographer at evie.carpenter@asu.edu
(Evie Carpenter/DD)
(Evie Carpenter/DD)
(Evie Carpenter/DD)
The other day I was driving by the Valley of the Sunflowers to check on the little sprouts’ progress when I noticed some full-grown sunflowers across the street at Grow House. The sun was just setting so all of the sunflowers’ heads were pointing toward the West and the lighting was beautiful. It almost felt like a farewell to the summer as these colder temperatures finally move in.
Contact the photographer at evie.carpenter@asu.edu
I took this photograph from my dorm room window. The window opens just enough for me to stick my camera out. I wanted to get a shot from a high viewpoint where I could capture the city along with the mountains and gorgeous clouds.
Contact the reporter at madeline.pado@asu.edu
(Madeline Pado/DD)
On my way back from an assignment at CityScape, I decided to take a look at a building I knew to have an art deco style of architecture: the Luhrs Tower. I was excited to capture this shot of the building, which features the same art deco style that many buildings in New York City also feature.
Contact the photographer at madeline.pado@asu.edu
(Evie Carpenter/DD)
Nearly 50 demonstrators were arrested in downtown Phoenix late on October 15, but the shot of one man’s final moments before being taken away by police has been a lasting image of the Occupy Phoenix protest.
Ken Hrdina, seen wearing a No. 83 jersey and framed by the flashlight of one Phoenix police riot officer, is the main subject of a picture snapped by Downtown Devil reporter and editor Mauro Whiteman. The image went viral shortly after being published. It was picked up by a local news affiliate and several blogs, shared hundreds of times on Facebook and turned into an Internet meme.
In the photo, Hrdina, 42, appears to be communicating with the police, which he later confirmed when interviewed. Before police arrested him and his peers, Hrdina said, he read the officers the First Amendment. He recited the five freedoms off his phone and reminded them that they took an oath to uphold the Constitution for all citizens of the United States.
The officers began pointing him out but arrested a few others before finally taking him “gently,” Hrdina said.
Hrdina, who spoke with the Downtown Devil upon his release from the downtown Phoenix Fourth Avenue Jail, said he didn’t make it out to protest on October 15 until late in the evening, or “just in time to get arrested.”
Hrdina said he joined the protest because nothing has felt right for him since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He has wanted to help bring change to America for years, and the Occupy movement was the opportunity for the bouncer and food runner — who works on $10 an hour — to do so.
After a couple of hours protesting at Margaret T. Hance Park, Hrdina decided to leave around 10 p.m., just as most of the crowd began to dwindle and Phoenix police began asking people to leave.
But after riding away for about 20 feet, Hrdina said he decided to turn back.
“I just — I couldn’t leave,” he said. “The moment’s here.”
Hrdina turned back, and his refusal to leave the park when surrounded by 70 police officers in full riot gear became an image of Occupy Phoenix not soon to be forgotten.
For Hrdina, though, his resistance was a simple protest statement, not a photo op.
“No one here wants a hand out,” said Hrdina, who plans to keep protesting. “We just want a chance.”
(Mauro Whiteman/DD)
Contact the reporter at salvador.rodriguez@asu.edu
Contact the photographers at evie.carpenter@asu.edu and mauro.whiteman@asu.edu