Creative Arts Competition photo shoot, Tempe Center for the Arts, March 3, 2014.

Creative Arts Competition photo shoot, Tempe Center for the Arts, March 3, 2014.

One of my favorite days in the magazine’s year has to be the annual lawyer–artists photo shoot. This year’s version occurred on Monday afternoon.

Once again at the beautiful Tempe Center for the Arts, the shoot requires huge coordination and the establishment of numerous “shots.” We have single portraits (for each winning artist’s page in the printed magazine), as well as numerous group shots for the winners, honorable mentions, entire group, and other spur-of-the-moment combinations.

Karen Shell has been our go-to photographer for a number of years now, and I’m continually impressed by her creativity, willingness to adapt, and calm in the face of chaos.

Kudos also to Karen Holub, our Art Director. She herds multiple cats in the effort to get this whole affair launched, implemented, and sewn up.

Photographer Karen Shell (left) and Art Director Karen Holub consult on a shot.

Photographer Karen Shell (left) and Art Director Karen Holub consult on a shot.

In previous years, we’ve shot the photos in the light-filled lobby and on the lakeside patio of the TCA. But this spring, we wondered whether it would be possible to do something different. Could we get on the main stage and include shots of the gorgeous cherry-wood theatre?

You never know. Theatres and the acting companies that inhabit them can be a tetchy lot.

The happy answer: Yes. The result is a series of shots that capture the evocative theatre as well as the moody-black of the stage itself.

Here are a few photos (click to make them larger. The real deal—shot by Karen Shell and not be me on my Canon S110—will be in the May issue of Arizona Attorney. (Here is last year’s coverage.)