Fourth Stop: Tempe Town Lake (The Last of Arizona Part 5)
Three weeks. Two cameras. One man desperately speedrunning all his favorite photography spots.
24mm, 1/4000, f/1.8, ISO 100
“Lake” is a generous way to describe the radioactive cesspool of toxic waste that sits north of downtown Tempe. Personally, I would argue that it can be described as a lake in much the same way that a zombie can be described as a person.
The water is green, it’s filled with trash, and it absolutely reeks of dead fish for 8 months out of the year.
Set apart from all that, though, it makes for a great photo spot.
35mm, 1/800, f/8, ISO 100
It’s only 80 degrees, but the sun is beating down on the concrete pathways around the lake. The people running and biking around don’t seem to mind, though.
The sky is almost entirely devoid of clouds, and with the sun shining directly down it makes the world feel like an unfinished video game level abandoned by its developers and lost to time. The Phoenix skyline on the horizon is a reminder that Tempe is only a small part of a metro area that’s evolved into a megalopolis.
70mm, 1/800, f/8, ISO 100