Last month I had a business trip to Phoenix for a week.  While I knew I was going to be busy working late nights, I decided to bring my camera since Phoenix was a city I had only stopped over when I flew from Sacramento to the East Coast 10 years ago.  For the most part, my camera was usually secured in the trunk of my rental or in my hotel.  On a few occasions I had the opportunity to take some photos but they were usually rushed.  The majority of the photos I took where of the littered aqueduct that ran parallel  to my hotel.  After given my family the slideshow of what they didn’t miss, many of them made their way to the recycle bin.  Overall, the Downtown was an embarrassment for a city ranked 5th in population and the neighborhoods of the city were all littered with strip malls and run down homes that usually ended in a dead end to a gated community of McMansions.  The two saving graces for the metro were Scottsdale, ironically an upscale suburb and the Frank Lloyd home that is located in Scottsdale.  The night before we departed, we were able to at least have dinner on the main strip and see where all the people were hiding.  Let’s hope that the Reds rethink their decision to move their spring training home to the Phoenix exurb of Goodyear, Arizona.  It will be a big disappointment for many from the Gulf Coast of Sarasota.  The Phoenix gallery can be viewed here.

Tonight, I went to Wright State University to listen to Barack Obama speak.  Even though I waited over three hours, it was worth the experience.  I met some friendly people, engaged in some good conversation and took many photos throughout the evening.  I struggled through poor lighting and the distance from Barack with some of my photos.  I had my ISO setting at 800-1250 most of the night and while it helped, I wish I had the Nikon 80-200mm 2.8f lens.  Even though noise is prevalent in the photos, I think I captured the evening.  Since the rally was in Dayton, the photos are located in the Dayton gallery in the World Cities section.  You can view the gallery here or the entire photo thread at urbanohio.com.