Friday, January 29, 2010

365 Photo Project - Day 29


Taken: January 29, 2010, appox. 4:30 p.m.
Location: Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, Ca.

My days of being a commuter have been few and far between but they've never been farther away now that I live in the rural confines of wine country. In my town, "traffic" is seeing another car on your street. "Commuting" is a five-minute drive or a 20-minute bike trip to my office and rush hour is a distant, painful experience that happens to other people.

In L.A., "going nowhere fast" refers to your career but going somewhere slow, well that's another word for "sig alert".

I've seen more traffic jams in the last five days here in Los Angeles than I've seen in three years living in Healdsburg. A pictorial diary of my stay here would just not be complete without some image of L.A.'s notorious traffic. Few places get jammed up as completely as the stretch of Sunset Blvd. between Brentwood and the 405 Freeway. It's a mess that turns what would normally be a five-minute trip into a 50-minute one. Scenes like the one above can only be confronted with what I call "Traffic Zen," which is infinite amounts of patience and a full iPod, preferably turned up high. Singing at the top of your lungs is always a good time-suck, though if you've got pipes like mine, it's preferable to make sure the windows are rolled up all the way. 

If you're gonna be out there, might as well make the most of it.

Taken with my K100D. The license plates of the cars in the foreground were digitally altered. I used Photoshop to do an enhance and edit, including using a high-pass filter.

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